a few miles away ended nearly west, and bare granite rocks appeared a few miles beyond them, which I determined to visit.  This hill was of similar formation to the last-described.  The far horizon to the west being all scrub, Mount Churchman should have been visible, but it was not.  The sight of the country from any of these hills is truly frightful; it seemed as though the scrubs were to end only with our journey.  On descending, we pushed on for the rocks, and reached them in twelve miles from the last camp.  As we neared them, we could distinguish a large extent of bare rock, and it seemed likely that we should find water, as we saw a number of crows and hawks, and we soon became aware of the presence of natives also, for they began to yell so soon as they perceived our approach.  A well was soon found, and our camp fixed beside it.  The natives were numerous here, but whether they were our old enemies or not I could not say; yet I fancied I recognised one or two among them, and to let them see that our ammunition was not yet exhausted, I fired my rifle in the air.  This had the effect of inducing them, whether friends or foes, to decamp, and we were not troubled with them while we were here.  I did not wish for a repetition of the Ularring affair.  The well was shallow, with a good supply of water, and there were a few scores of acres of open ground around the rocks, though the scrubs came as close as possible.  This spot was seventy-seven miles from Ularring; our well was situated at what may be called the north-east corner of these rocks; at the south-west end there is another and larger valley, where I saw two wells.  On Sunday, the 22nd of October, we rested here.  The old lame cow is still very bad, I am afraid she cannot travel much farther.  Yesterday and to-day were rather warm, the thermometer indicating 94 and 96 degrees in the shade.  The upheaval of the few hills we have lately passed seems to have induced an unusually vigorous growth of scrubs, for they are now denser and more hideous than ever.

Alec Ross stated that he had seen, from the last hill, another, far away, due west, but nobody else saw it.  If such a hill exists it is over eighty miles away from where seen, and it must be Mount Churchman.  No views to any distance could be had from these rocks, as the undulations of the scrubs occur continuously throughout the desert, at almost regular intervals of a few miles, from seven to twenty.

After dinner on the 23rd I had intended to leave this place, but upon mustering the camels I found that not only was the lame cow worse, but another of the cows had calved, and our family was increased by the advent of a little cow-calf about the size of a rabbit.  This prevented our departure.  The calf was killed, and the mother remained with her dead offspring, whereby she comprehended her loss, and this will prevent her endeavouring to return to it after we leave.  We obtained a good many bronze-winged pigeons here, and