In the morning, Mr. Hume walked with me to the hill, a distance of about a mile.  It is not high enough to deserve the name of a mountain, although a beautiful feature in the country, and showing well from any point of view.  We ascended it with an anxiety that may well be imagined, but were wholly disappointed in our most sanguine expectations.  Our chief object, in this second visit to Oxley’s Table Land, had been to examine, more at leisure, the face of the country around it, and to discover, if possible, some fixed point on which to move.

If the rivers of the interior had already exhausted themselves, what had we to expect from a creek whose diminished appearance where we left it made us apprehend its speedy termination, and whose banks we traversed under constant apprehension?  In any other country I should have followed such a water course, in hopes of its ultimately leading to some reservoir; but here I could encourage no such favourable anticipation.

The only new object that struck our sight was a remarkable and distant hill of conical shape, bearing by compass S. 10 E. To the southward and westward, in the direction of D’Urban’s Group, a dense and apparently low brush extended; but to the N. and N.W., there was a regular alternation of wood and plain.  I left Mr. Hume upon the hill, that he might the more readily notice any smoke made by the natives; and returned myself to the camp about one o’clock, to move the party to the swamp.  Mr. Hume’s perseverance was of little avail.  The region he had been overlooking was, to all appearance, uninhabited, nor did a single fire indicate that there was even a solitary wanderer upon its surface.

Excursion to D’URBAN’S group.

Our situation, at this time, was extremely embarrassing, and the only circumstance on which we had to congratulate ourselves was, the improved condition of our men; for several of the cattle and horses were in a sad plight.  The weather had been so extremely oppressive, that we had found it impossible to keep them free from eruptions.  I proposed to Mr. Hume, therefore, to give them a few days’ rest, and to make an excursion, with such of them as were serviceable, to D’Urban’s Group.  We were both of us unwilling to return to the creek, but we foresaw that a blind reliance upon fortune, in our next movements, might involve us in inextricable difficulty.

On the other hand, there was a very great risk in delay.  It was more than probable, from the continued drought, that our retreat would be cut off from the want of water, or that we should only be enabled to effect our retreat with loss of most of the animals.  The hope, however, of our intersecting some stream, or of falling upon a better country, prevailed over other considerations; and the excursion was, consequently, determined upon.

Distress from want of water.