ircumstances, I left my party in camp behind Point Fowler,
whilst I proceeded myself, accompanied by a native boy, to examine the
country a-head, and I now only detained the WATERWITCH, in the hopes that
by penetrating on horseback beyond the head of the Great Bight, I might
be able to give his Excellency some idea of our future prospects.

"For the last twenty-four days I have been engaged in attempting to round
the head of the Bight; but so difficult is the country, that I have not
as yet been able to accomplish it. In my first essay I was driven back by
the want of water and obliged to abandon one of my horses. This animal I
subsequently recovered.

"In my second attempt, I went, accompanied by one of my native boys, and
a man driving a dray loaded solely with water and our provisions; but
such was the dreadful nature of the country, that after penetrating to
within twelve miles of the head of the Bight, I was again obliged to
abandon three of our horses, a dray, and our provisions. The poor horses
were so exhausted by previous fatigue and privation, that they could not
return, and I was most reluctantly obliged to leave them to obtain relief
for ourselves, and the two remaining horses we had with us. After
reaching the nearest water, we made every effort to save the unfortunate
animals we had left behind; and for seven days, myself, the man, and a
boy, were incessantly and laboriously engaged almost day and night in
carrying water backwards and forwards to them--feeding them with bread,
gruel, etc. I regret to say that all our efforts were in vain, and that
the expedition has sustained a fatal and irreparable injury in the loss
of three of its best draught horses. The dray and the provisions I
subsequently recovered, and on the evening of the 15th December, I
rejoined my party behind Point Fowler, to prepare despatches for the
WATERWITCH, since the weak and unserviceable condition of nearly the
whole of our remaining horses rendered any further attempt to penetrate
so inhospitable a region quite impracticable for the present. In
traversing the country along the coast from Streaky Bay to the limits of
our present exploration, within twelve miles of the head of the Great
Bight, we have found the country of a very uniform description--low flat
lands, or a succession of sandy ridges, densely covered with a brush of
EUCALYPTUS DUMOSA, salt water tea-tree, and other shrubs--whilst here and
there appear a few isolated patc