The grassy plain gradually extended to a greater breadth, and the back country was so nearly level that it scarcely rose above the grassy horizon, while to the south the country was so level that the clumps of bushes appeared like islands, and the grassy plain extended to the horizon.  Near one of the waterholes in the creek we surprised a native, who was sitting at his fire with a couple of women, who decamped with all possible despatch.  Several smokes have been observed to the south and south-west, which shows that water must exist in that direction, though it may not be in sufficient quantity to supply our horses.  The morning was cloudy, and at midnight there was a heavy shower of rain.  Judging from the general appearance of the country, the waters of the creek, after spreading over the plain, must escape to the westward, as the grass has been bent in that direction by the current last year, but there has been so little rain this season that the channel of the creek has not been filled.

20th February.

As it appeared that the waters of the creek trended to the west in the wet season, at 6.5 a.m. we steered north 250 degrees east, through a level forest of box-trees, with abundance of good grass; the soil brown loam with fragments of limestone; the shower last night had left many shallow pools of water on the surface.  At 8.40 a.m. passed a small swampy salt flat covered with salicornia; at 9.10 came on the grassy plain which we skirted on a west course, but as it turned to the north-west, again changed the course to 320 degrees; the plain was now reduced to about a mile in width, and we therefore crossed it in search of a definite channel, but without success, though there were some slight indications that during inundation the water flowed to the north-west.  At 11.50 we camped at a shallow puddle of rainwater, on the north side of the plain.  From the camp, till 8.0 a.m., the grass, though very backward, showed that there had been sufficient rain to cause it to spring; but as we proceeded it was perfectly dry and parched up, as at the end of the dry season, showing that little or no rain had fallen for many months in this part of the country.  The day was cloudy, with thunder, and was followed by a heavy shower at night, which prevented my ascertaining the latitude by observation.

Enter western Australia.

21st February.

As we were now three days’ journey from the last water which could be depended on for more than a few days, and the channel of the creek had been so completely lost on the plain that it was uncertain whether the marks of inundations near this camp had been caused by the creek flowing to the west, or by some tributary flowing to the east, I determined to attempt a south-west course, in the hope that, should the country prove rocky, the heavy showers might have collected a sufficient quantity of water to enable us to continue a southerly route, and accordingly