r departure, and who took a great interest in the expedition. We
ascended the hill; more ranges and hills were seen--in fact, the whole
country was one mass of hills and ranges to the south, South-East, and
east. We followed down gullies and over hills, passing two rock holes
dry, until after dark, but could not find any water. The country is most
beautifully grassed, and is a great relief after travelling over so many
hundreds of miles of spinifex; but the season is very dry, and all the
gullies are dry. We camped for the night without water for ourselves or
horses. I have since learnt that these ranges were seen by Mr. Giles, and
were named the Warburton Ranges.

SIGNS OF WHITE MEN.

8th.
Early this morning Windich and I went on foot to search the hills and
gullies close around, as our horses were knocked up for want of water. We
returned unsuccessful about 8 o'clock. Close to where we found our horses
we found a tree with the bark cut off one side of it with an AXE which
was sharp. We were sure it was done by a white man, as the axe, even if
possessed by a native (which is very improbable), would be blunt. We are
now in the country traversed by Mr. Gosse, although I am unable to
distinguish any of the features of the country, not having a map with me,
and not knowing the latitude. Should we find water, and the party reach
here, there will no doubt be little difficulty in distinguishing the
hills. The country certainly does not answer the description given of his
farther westward. However, I will leave our position geographically for
the present, and treat of what is of much more importance to us, namely,
the finding of water. We saddled our horses and continued our search
about South-East, over hills and along valleys--the distance or direction
I am unable to give--our horses scarcely moving, and ourselves parched
with thirst. The sun was very hot. At about noon we found some water in a
gully by scratching a hole, but it was quite salt. As our horses would
not drink it, it can be imagined how salt it was. We drank about a pint
of it, and Windich said it was the first time he ever had to drink salt
water. I washed myself in it, which refreshed me a little. Our horses
could not go much further without water, but we crawled along about
north, and shortly afterwards found a small rock hole in the side of a
large rough granite hill, with about five gallons of good water in it. We
had a good drink ourselves, put half a ga