went forward,
it was very problematical whether water could be procured within any
distance attainable by our tired horses.

The natives now asserted there was water to the north-west, but that it
was a long way off. As they still seemed willing to accompany us, I
determined to proceed, and pushed on parallel with the coast behind the
front ridges; at nine miles the horses were quite exhausted, and could
get no further, so that I was obliged to halt for the night, where a few
tufts of withered grass were found under the hummocks.

Our sable friends had gradually dropped off, one or two at a time, until
only three remained. These I endeavoured to make friends with, by giving
them plenty of water and bread, and after taking a hasty meal, I got them
to go with me and the native boy along the coast, to search for water.
After going about a mile, they would proceed no further, making signs
that they should be very thirsty, and enabling me clearly to comprehend,
that there was no water until the head of the Great Bight was rounded. As
I did not know exactly, what the actual distance might be, I still hoped
I should be able to reach it, and leaving the natives to return, I and
the boy pushed on beyond all the sandy hills and cliffs, to the low sandy
tract bordering upon the head of the Bight, from which we were about
twelve miles distant. The day was hazy, or the cliffs of the Great Bight
would have been distinctly visible.

We lost a good deal of time in tracking the foot-steps of a party of
native women and children, among some bare sand-drifts, hoping the track
would lead to water; but the party seemed to have been rambling about
without any fixed object, and all our efforts to find water were in vain;
the whole surface of the country, (except where it was hidden by the
sand-drifts) was one sheet of limestone crust, and wherever we attempted
to dig among the sand-drifts, the rock invariably stopped us.

As it was getting on towards evening, I returned to where I had left the
dray, and giving each of the horses one bucket of water and five pints of
oats, was obliged to have them tied for the night, myself and the man
being too much fatigued to watch them.

December 2.--We had not moved far upon our return, when one of our most
valuable dray-horses became completely overdone with fatigue, and I was
obliged to take it out of the team and put in a riding horse, to try, if
possible, to reach the plains where the grass was.