these colossal ridges were all at once rocking in the convulsive tremblings of some mighty volcanic shock, which shivered them into the fragments I then beheld.  I said the hill we had ascended ended abruptly in a precipice; by going farther round we found a spot, which, though practicable, was difficult enough to descend.  At the bottom of some of the ravines below I could see several small pools of water gleaming in little stony gullies.

The afternoon had been warm, if not actually hot, and our walking and climbing had made us thirsty; the sight of water made us all the more so.  It was now nearly sundown, and it would be useless to attempt the ascent of the mountain, as by the time we could reach its summit, the sun would be far below the horizon, and we should obtain no view at all.

It was, however, evident that no gap or pass existed by which I could get my horses up, even if the country beyond were ever so promising.  A few of the cypress or Australian pines (Callitris) dotted the summits of the hills, they also grew on the sides of some of the ravines below us.  We had, at least I had, considerable difficulty in descending the almost perpendicular face to the water below.  Carmichael got there before I did, and had time to sit, laving his feet and legs in a fine little rock hole full of pure water, filled, I suppose, by the late rains.  The water, indeed, had not yet ceased to run, for it was trickling from hole to hole.  Upon Mr. Carmichael inquiring what delayed me so long, I replied:  “Ah, it is all very easy for you; you have two circumstances in your favour.  You are young, and therefore able to climb, and besides, you are in the tropic.”  To which he very naturally replies, “If I am in the tropic you must be also.”  I benignly answer, “No, you are in the tropic clime of youth.”  While on the high ground no view of any kind, except along the mountains for a mile or two east and west, could be obtained.  I was greatly disappointed at having such a toilsome walk for so little purpose.  We returned by a more circuitous route, eventually reaching the camp very late at night, thoroughly tired out with our walk.  I named this mountain Mount Musgrave.  It is nearly 1700 feet above the level of the surrounding country, and over 3000 feet above the sea.  The next day Mr. Carmichael went out to shoot game; there were kangaroos, and in the way of birds there were emus, crows, hawks, quail, and bronze-winged pigeons; but all we got from his expedition was nil.  The horses now being somewhat refreshed by our stay here, we proceeded across the little plain towards another high bluff hill, which loomed over the surrounding country to the west-north-west.  Flies were troublesome, and very busy at our eyes; soon after daylight, and immediately after sunrise, it became quite hot.