t
out of my reach; and though I felt I had the power, I did not see the
advantage of perseverance, with so many difficulties staring me in the
face. Our distance from the creek may appear to be short; but it will be
borne in mind that our horses had now been more than a year living upon
dry grass and salsolaceous plants; that from the time of our leaving the
Depot, they had been ridden from sunrise to sunset; and that at night
they had been tethered and confined to a certain range, within which
there was not sufficient for them to eat. They had already been too long
without water or food, and therefore that which would have been a
trifling journey to them under ordinary circumstances, under existing
ones was beyond their strength. Nevertheless, though thus convincing my
understanding, I felt that it required greater moral firmness to
determine me to retrace my steps than to proceed onwards.

Regarding our situation in its most favourable point of view, my
advancing would have been attended with extreme risk. If I had advanced,
and had found water, all would have been well for the time at least--if
not, the extent of our misfortunes would only have been tested by their
results. The first would have been the certain loss of all our horses,
and I know not if one of us would ever have returned to the Depot, then
more than 400 miles distant, to tell the fate of his companions to those
we had left there. On mature deliberation then, I resolved to fall back
on the creek, and as my progress was arrested in this direction, to make
that the centre of my movements, in trying every other point where I
thought there might be a chance of success.

I saw clearly indeed that there was no help for this measure. We had
penetrated to a point at which water and feed had both failed. Spinifex
and a new species of mesembryanthemum, with light pink flowers on a
slender stalk, were the only plants growing in that wilderness, if I
except a few withered acacia trees about four feet high. The spinifex was
close and matted, and the horses were obliged to lift their feet straight
up to avoid its sharp points. From the summit of a sandy undulation close
upon our right, we saw that the ridges extended northwards in parallel
lines beyond the range of vision, and appeared as if interminable. To the
eastward and westward they succeeded each other like the waves of the
sea. The sand was of a deep red colour, and a bright narrow line of it
marked the top