Having thus imparted my intentions I ordered them to throw away every superfluous article; and a very valuable sextant, which had hitherto been carried turn about by Corporals Auger and Coles, was here abandoned.  These our preparations having been made we moved slowly on in sad procession, and never shall I forget the wild and haggard looks of those that followed me; reason had begun to hold but a very slight influence over some, and I feel assured that had it not been for the force of that discipline which I rigidly maintained some of the party must now have lost their lives.  As it was, not a word of complaint was heard as to the plan I pursued or the route I took; but they all reeled and staggered after me, the silence being only broken by groans and exclamations.  I preserved a slow uniform pace, proceeding still in a south by east direction, that is, in a straight line for Perth.  The same sandy sterile country was around, thinly clothed with Banksia trees.

We had marched for about an hour and a quarter and in this time had only made two miles, when we suddenly arrived upon the edge of a dried-up bed of a sedgy swamp, which lay in the centre of a small plain, where we saw the foot-mark of a native imprinted on the sand, and again our hearts beat with hope, for this sign appeared to announce that we were once more entering the regions of animal life.  We soon found that another part of the swamp was thickly marked with the footsteps of women and children; and as no water-baskets were scattered about no doubt could exist but that we were in the vicinity of water.  We soon discovered several native wells dug in the bed of the swamp; but these were all dry, and I began again to fear that I was disappointed, when Kaiber suddenly started up from a thick bed of reeds and made me a sign which was unobserved by the others, as was evidently his intention.

Fortunate discovery of A moist mud-hole.  Providential supply.

I hurried up and found him with his head buried in a small hole of moist mud, for I can call it nothing else.  I very deliberately raised Kaiber by the hair, as all expostulations to him were useless, and then called up the others.

Kaiber had completely swelled himself out with this thick muddy liquid, and from the mark upon the sides of the hole had evidently consumed more than half of the total supply.  I first of all took some of this moist mud in my mouth, but finding a difficulty in swallowing it, as it was so thick, I strained a portion through a handkerchief.  We had thirsted with an intense and burning thirst for three days and two nights, during the greater portion of which time we had been taking violent exercise under a fierce sun.  To conceive the delight of the men when they arrived at this little hole of mud would be difficult.  Each, as he came up and cast his wearied limbs on the ground beside the hole, uttered these words:  “Thank God;” and then greedily swallowed a few mouthfuls of the liquid mud, protesting that it was the most delicious water and had a peculiar flavour which rendered it far superior to any other he had ever tasted.