th, that by pushing on, we might
use every exertion in our power to relieve the others, though scarcely
daring to hope that we could save even one of them. It was, indeed, a
fearful and heart-rending scene to behold the noble animals which had
served us so long and so faithfully, suffering the extremity of thirst
and hunger, without having it in our power to relieve them. Five days of
misery had passed over their heads since the last water had been left,
and one hundred and twelve miles of country had been traversed without
the possibility of procuring food for them, other than the dry and
sapless remains of last year's grass, and this but rarely to be met with.
No rains had fallen to refresh them, and they were reduced to a most
pitiable condition, still they travelled onwards, with a spirit and
endurance truly surprising. Whenever we halted, they followed us about
like dogs wherever we went, appearing to look to us only for aid, and
exhibiting that confidence in us which I trust we all reposed in the
Almighty, for most truly did we feel, that in His mercy and protection
alone our safety could now ever be hoped for.

About ten o'clock the tide became too high for us to keep the beach, and
we were compelled to halt for some hours. Our horses were nearly all
exhausted, and I dreaded that when we next moved on many of them would be
unable to proceed far, and that, one by one, they would all perish,
overcome by sufferings which those, who have not witnessed such scenes,
can have no conception of. We should then have been entirely dependent
upon our own strength and exertions, nearly midway between Adelaide and
King George's Sound, with a fearful country on either side of us, with a
very small supply of provisions, and without water.

The position we were in, frequently forced sad forebodings with respect
to the future, and though I by no means contemplated with apathy the
probable fate that might await us, yet I was never for a moment undecided
as to the plan it would be necessary to adopt, in such a desperate
extremity--at all hazards, I was determined to proceed onwards.

The country we had already passed through, precluded all hope of our
recrossing it without the horses to carry water for us, and without
provisions to enable us to endure the dreadful fatigue of forced marches,
across the desert. The country before us was, it is true, quite unknown,
but it could hardly be worse than that we had traversed, and the chanc