been stopped by a salt
creek, coming direct from the north, the bed of which was too soft for
him to cross. He said that its channel was white as snow, and that every
reed and blade of grass on its banks, was encrusted with salt. Under an
impression that as long as I should continue in the neighbourhood of, and
on a course nearly parallel to this creek, I could not hope for any
favourable change, I decided on crossing it, and with that view turned to
the west; but finding the bed of the creek still too soft to admit of our
doing so, I traced it upwards to the north, along a sandy ridge.

As Mr. Browne had informed me, its channel was glittering white, and
thickly encrusted with salt, nor was there any water visible, but on
going down to examine it in several places where the salt had the
appearance of broken and rotten ice, we found that there were deep pools
of perfect brine underneath, on which the salt floated, to the thickness
of three or four inches. The marks of flood on the side of the sand hill
shewed a rise of 12 feet above its ordinary level. At about a mile and a
half we descended the sand hill on which we had previously kept, and
ascended another, when we saw the basin of the creek immediately below
us, but quite dry, and surrounded by sand hills. Crossing just below it,
we proceeded on a course of 331 degrees over extensive plains, covered
with samphire, excepting where the beds of dry salt lagoons occurred. The
ground was spongy and soft, and the cart wheels consequently sank deep
into it. The plain was surrounded on all sides by sand hills, and that
towards which we were advancing appeared to run athwart our course
instead of nearly parallel to it as heretofore. On gaining the summit, we
found that other ridges extended from it in parallel lines, the ridge on
which we stood forming the head of the respective valleys. A line of
acacia, a species we had never found near water, was growing down the
centre of each, and the fall of the country seemed again to be to the
N.N.W.

Pushing down one of the valleys, the descent of which was very gradual,
and keeping on such clear ground as there was, the ridges rose higher and
higher on either side of us as we advanced, all grass and other
vegetation disappeared, and at length both valley and sand ridge became
thickly coated with spinifex.

At noon I halted, in the hope of obtaining a meridian altitude, but was
disappointed, as also at night, the sky continuing obs