been previously from the opposite point. The channel of
the creek was broad, and we traced it to some distance on either hand,
but it contained no water, excepting that at which we stopped; but at
about two miles before we halted, Mr. Browne found a supply under some
gum-trees, a little to the right of our course, where we halted on our
return.

The Bauhinia here grew to the height of 16 to 20 feet, and was a very
pretty tree; the ends of its branches were covered with seed-pods, both
of this and the year before: it was a flat vessel, containing four or six
flat hard beans. I regretted, at this early stage of our journey, that
the horses were not up to much work, although we were very considerate
with them, but the truth is, that they had for about two or three months
before leaving the Depot, been living on pulpy vegetables, in which there
was no strength, they nevertheless looked in good condition. They had
become exceedingly tractable, and never wandered far from our fires;
Flood, however, watched them so narrowly that they could not have gone
far. Since the three days' rain in July, the sky was but little clouded,
but we now observed, that from whatever quarter the wind blew, a bank of
clouds would rise in the opposite direction--if from the east, in the
west, and vice versa--but these clouds invariably came against the wind,
and must consequently have been moving in an upper current.

On the 20th we commenced our journey early, that is to say, at 6 a.m.;
the sky was clear, the temperature mild, and the wind in the S.E.
quarter. We crossed plains of still greater extent than any we had
hitherto seen; their soil was similar to that on the flats of the
Darling, and vegetation seemed to suffer from their liability to
inundation. The only trees now to be seen were a few box-trees along
their skirts, and on the line of the creeks, which last were a perfectly
new feature in the country, and surprised me greatly. The tract we passed
over on this day was certainly more subject to overflow than usual. Large
flats of polygonum, and plains having rents and fissures in them,
succeeded those I have already described. At ten miles we intersected a
creek of considerable size, but without any water; just below where we
crossed its channel it spreads over a large flat and is lost. Proceeding
onwards, at a mile and a half, we ascended a line of sand hills, and from
them descended to firmer ground than that on which we had previously