The only direction in which we could see a yard ahead of us was up towards the sky; and as we were not going that way, it gave us no idea of our next line of route.  The big bluff we had been steering for all day was, I may say, included in our skyward view, for it towered above us almost overhead.  Being away when the camp was selected, I was sorry to hear that the horses had all been let go without hobbles; as they had been in such fine quarters for three nights at the last camp on the plain, it was more than probable they would work back through the scrub to it in the night.  The following morning not a horse was to be found!  Robinson and I went in search of them, and found they had split into several mobs.  I only got three, and at night Robinson returned with only six, the remainder had been missed in the dense scrubs.  The thermometer stood at 95 degrees in the shade, and there was a warm wind blowing.  Robinson had a fine day’s work, as he had to walk back to the camp on the plain for the horses he got.  In the afternoon I attempted the high bluff immediately overlooking the camp.  I had a bit of cliff-climbing, and reached the summit of one hill of some elevation, 1300 feet, and then found that a vast chasm, or ravine, separated me from the main mountain chain.  It would be dark before I could—­if I could—­reach the summit, and then I should get no view, so I returned to the camp.  The height was considerable, as mountains in this part of the world go, as it towered above the hill I was upon, and was 500 or 600 feet higher.  These mountains appear to be composed of a kind of conglomerate granite; very little timber existed upon them, but they were splendidly supplied with high, strong, coarse spinifex.  I slipped down a gully, fell into a hideous bunch of this horrid stuff, and got pricked from head to foot; the spiny points breaking off in my clothes and flesh caused me great annoyance and pain for many days after.  Many beautiful flowers grew on the hillsides, in gullies and ravines; of these I collected several.  We secured what horses we had, for the night, which was warm and sultry.  In the morning Robinson and I rode after the still missing ones; at the plain camp we found all except one, and by the time we returned it was night.

Not hobbling the horses in general, we had some difficulty in finding a pair of hobbles for each, and not being able to do so, I left one in the mob without.  This base reptile surreptitiously crawled away in the night by himself.  As our camp was the most wretched dog-hole it was possible for a man to get into, in the midst of dense mallee, triodia, and large stones, I determined to escape from it, before looking for the now two missing animals.  The water was completely exhausted.  We moved away south-westerly for about three miles, to the creek I had scratched in some days ago; now we had to dig a big hole with a shovel, and with a good deal of labour we obtained a sufficient supply for a few days.