n Whiting, the old
guardsman, volunteered to remain with him, and bring him on after he had
rested: this in the face of both hunger and danger I duly appreciated,
and long remembered, to his advantage. We soon after came upon some
surface water and refreshed the tired animals. Precisely at eight
o'clock, as I had arranged with Mr. White, a rocket ascended from the
camp, and to us was just perceptible, like a needle in the remote
distance. That little column of fire however was enough to assure the
fatigued men; and it enabled me to mark two stars in the same direction,
which guided me on towards the camp. At length we could distinguish the
large fires made there for the same purpose; and by ten o'clock we had
terminated the arduous labours of the day, and I had the satisfaction to
find that the party under Mr. White had remained undisturbed. Two more
rockets were afterwards sent up for the guidance of Whiting, and a huge
fire was also kept burning until, at three A.M. the old soldier arrived
safe, bringing up the old horse which, after resting a while and drinking
at the water (found by Whiting as well as by us) had come on tolerably
well.

HOMEWARD JOURNEY CONTINUED.

February 19.

Notwithstanding the fatigues undergone by a portion of the party we were
all glad to quit the muddy camp this morning; and we continued to travel
towards the old route, on the same bearing by which we had approached it.

DIFFICULT TRAVELLING.

The ground was still soft, rendering the draught heavy, and our homeward
progress was accordingly very slow. At length however we reached the
ponds, which we recognised as the same we had formerly crossed about a
mile and a half more to the eastward, and I now named them Welcome Ponds.
To these salutary waters Mr. Finch had fallen back when unable to find
any at Mount Frazer. We this day traversed an open plain extending the
whole way between the two camps. I observed, as we proceeded, a hill to
the southward, the summit of which was equally clear of timber as the
plains, above which its height was 80 or 100 feet. The sides were grassy
and smooth. I named it Mount Mud, in commemoration of the difficulties
with which we had contended in its neighbourhood. Welcome Ponds, on which
we now encamped, had been converted by the late rain into a running
brook. The slopes of the ground on its banks were so anomalous that but
for the actual current of the water to the westward, and the situation of
the hill