of any kind. Our position here was about 138 miles from the
Darling, and about 97 from the Depot. My object in this excursion had
been to ascertain the characteristic of the country between us and the
Darling, but I did not think it necessary to run any risks with my
horses, by pushing on for the hills, as I could not have reached them
until late the following day, when in the event of not finding water,
their fate would have been sealed; for we could not have returned with
them to the creek. They had already been two days without, if I except
the little we had spared them from the casks. I had deemed it prudent to
send Joseph and Lewis back to the creek for a fresh supply, with orders
to return and meet at a certain point, and there to await our arrival,
for without this supply I felt satisfied we should have great difficulty
as it was in getting our animals back to the creek. We descended from the
hill therefore to some green looking trees, of a foliage new to me, to
rest for an hour before we turned back again. There were neither flowers
or fruit on the trees, but from their leaf and habit, I took them to be a
species of the Juglans. At sunset we mounted our horses and travelled to
the edge of the acacia scrub to give our horses some of the grass, and
halted in it for the night, but started early on the following morning to
meet Joseph. We reached the appointed place, about 10, but not finding
him there continued to journey onwards, and at five miles met him. We
then stopped and gave the horses 12 gallons of water each, after which we
tethered them out, but they were so restless that I determined to mount
them, and pushing on reached the creek at half-past 1, a.m. The animals
requiring rest I remained stationary the next day, and was myself glad to
keep in the shade, not that the day was particularly hot, but because I
began to feel the effects of constant exposure. Having expressed some
opinion, however, that there might have been water to the north of us, in
the direction whence the pelicans came, Mr. Browne volunteered to ride
out, and accordingly with Flood left me about 10, but returned late in
the afternoon without having found any. He ascertained that the creek I
had sent Flood to trace when Mr. Stuart went to sketch in the ranges,
terminated in the barren plain we had crossed, and such, the reader will
observe, is the general termination of all the creeks of these singular
and depressed regions.

We returned t