the west of north, or in other words a north-west course, but the reader
will readily believe that in such a country I had no distant object on
which to rely. We were therefore obliged to take fresh bearings with
great precision from almost every sand-hill, for on the correctness of
these bearings, together with our latitude, we had to depend for our true
position. We were indeed like a ship at sea, without the advantage of a
steady compass.

Throughout the whole day of our departure from the camp we traversed a
better country than that between it and Lake Torrens, insomuch that there
was more grass. Sand ridges and flats succeeded each other, but the
former were not so broken and precipitous or the latter so barren, as on
our line to the westward, and about four miles from the camp we passed a
pool of water to our right. At five miles we observed a new melaleuca,
similar to the one I had remarked when to the north with Joseph, growing
on the skirts of the flats, but the shrubs for the most part consisted of
hakea and mimosae with geum and many other minor plants. For a time the
ridges were smooth on their sides, and a quantity of young green grass
was springing up on them. At nine miles we crossed some stony plains, and
halted after a ride of 26 miles without water.

On the 15th a strong and bitterly cold wind blew from the westward as we
passed through a country differing in no material respect from that of
the day before. Spinifex generally covered the sand ridges, which looked
like ocean swells rising before us, and many were of considerable height.
At six miles we came to a small pool of water, where we breakfasted. On
leaving this we dug a hole and let the remainder of the water into it, in
the hope of its longer continuance, and halted after a long journey in a
valley in which there was a kind of watercourse with plenty of water, our
latitude being 28 degrees 21 minutes 39 seconds. Before we left this
place we cut a deep square hole, into which as before we drained the
water, that by diminishing its surface we might prevent the too speedy
evaporation of it, in case of our being forced back from the want of
water in the interior, since that element was becoming more scarce every
day. We saw but little change in the character of the country generally
as we rode through it, but observed that it was more open to the right,
in which direction we passed several extensive plains. There were heaps
of small pebbles also o