y had brought enough
to fill our cans, besides what we drank. They left us quite quietly.

October 12.

We proceeded along the creek by which we had encamped the night before;
the water was brackish. We attempted to go through some mangroves to the
beach, but did not succeed.

October 13.

Jackey, Taylor, and myself took three horses, and tried to get to the
beach more to the northward than yesterday. We passed through a belt of
mangroves, where the ground was pretty firm, the tide coming up only
occasionally; we then proceeded along a sandy ridge to the northward,
when we found it succeeded by a saltwater lagoon, surrounded by
salsolaceous plants and mangroves, which it was impossible to get
through. We returned to our camp, and here Mr. Kennedy abandoned the
thought of going to the beach, as he felt sure H.M.S. Bramble (which was
to have met us at the beginning of August) would have gone; our journey
having occupied so much longer time than we could have possibly
anticipated. This consideration, combined with the great difficulty which
seemed likely to ensue in obtaining water and feed for our horses,
determined him to take a different direction.

October 15.

We had prayers as usual this day, being Sunday, at 11 o'clock; today we
finished the consumption of all our sugar, except a very small quantity,
which was reserved for any particular case of sickness.

October 16.

This morning a horse fell into a rocky waterhole, and finding it
impossible to get him out alive, we killed him, and cured the flesh as
before, drying it in the sun on a stage; the blood, heart, and liver
furnished us with a good day's food. Our meat being well dried by five
o'clock in the afternoon, we sprinkled some salt upon it, and put it in
bags for the convenience of carrying. We left one of our round tents, and
such other things as we could possibly spare behind us at the camp, as
our horses were now so weak they could not carry their loads.

October 17 and 18.

Our travelling was very uneven, our horses giving us continual trouble
from their frequent falls; we had a few narrow belts of scrub to cut
through, but they were not very thick.

October 19.

Several of our horses were now quite unable to carry anything but the
saddle; we passed through open forest land, with a light soil, sub-soil
clay, with isolated blocks of granite rock scattered about. We encamped
by a rocky creek, with water in holes only; it ran westerly, and had