nd that the dry bed of the lagoon to our right passed into a plain of
great breadth immediately in front, the character and appearance of which
was very doubtful, and as it was now sunset, and we had journeyed upwards
of 34 miles, I halted for the night at another puddle, rather larger than
the last, but with sorry feed for the horses. At this place we dug our
second well, by moonlight, as we had dug the first, and laid down on the
ground to rest, fatigued, I candidly admit, both in mind and body.

The day had been exceedingly cold, as was the night, and on the following
morning with the wind at S.S.E., and a clear and cloudless sky, the
temperature still continued low. At about a mile from where we had
bivouacked, we arrived at the termination of the sandy ridge, and
descended into the plain I had been reluctant to traverse in the
uncertain light of evening. It proved firm, however, though it was
evidently subject to floods. Samphire, salsolae, and mesembryanthemum
were growing on it, and one would have supposed from its appearance that
it was a sea marsh. Mr. Stuart shot a beautiful ground parrot as we were
crossing it, on a bearing of 345 degrees, or little more than a N. and by
W. course. At 6 1/2 miles we ascended some heavy sandy ridges, without
any regularity in their disposition, but lying in great confusion.
Toiling over these, at seven or eight miles farther we sighted a fine
sheet of water, bearing N. and distant about two miles. At another mile I
altered my course to 325 degrees, to pass to the westward of this new
feature, which then proved to be a lake about the size of Lake Bonney,
that is to say from 10 to 12 miles in circumference. The ridge by which
we had approached it terminated suddenly and directly over it; to our
right there were other ridges terminating in a similar manner, with rushy
flats between them; eastward the country was dark and very low; to the
north there was a desert of glittering white sand in low hillocks,
scattered over with dwarf brush, and on it the heat was playing as over a
furnace. Immediately beneath me to the west there was a flat leading to
the shore of the lake, and on the western side a bright red sand hill,
full eighty feet high, shut out the view in that quarter. This ridge was
not altogether a mile and a half in length, and behind it there were
other ridges of the same colour bounding the horizon with edges as sharp
as icebergs.

I did not yet know whether the waters o