top, about 900 feet above the scrubs which surrounded it.  The horizon was broken by low ranges nearly all round, but scrubs as usual intervened between them.  I descended and walked into dozens of gullies and rocky places, and I found some small holes and basins, but all were dry.  At this spot I was eighty miles from a sufficient supply of water; that at the camp, forty-five miles away, may be gone by the time I return.  Under these circumstances I could not go any farther west.  It was now evening again.  I left these desolate hills, the Ehrenberg Ranges of my map, and travelled upon a different line, hoping to find a better or less thick route through the scrubs, but it was just the same, and altogether abominable.  Night again overtook me in the direful scrubs, not very far from the place at which I had slept the previous night; the most of the day was wasted in an ineffectual search for water.

On Sunday morning, the 29th September, having hobbled my horses so short, although the scrubs were so thick, they were actually in sight at dawn; I might as well have tied them up.  Starting at once, I travelled to one or two hills we had passed by, but had not inspected before.  I could find no water anywhere.  It was late when I reached the camp, and I was gladdened to find the party still there, and that the water supply had held out so long.  On the following morning, Monday, the 30th of September, it was at a very low ebb; the trickling had ceased in the upper holes, though it was still oozing into the lower ones, so that it was absolutely necessary to pack up and be off from this wretched place.  It was an expedition in itself to get water for the camp, from the rock basins above.  The horses dreaded to approach it on account of their tender feet.  It required a lot of labour to get sufficient firewood to boil a quart pot, for, although we were camped in a dense thicket, the small wood of which it was composed was all green, and useless for firewood.

I intended to retreat from here to-day, but just as Robinson was starting to find the horses a shower of rain came on, and hoping it might end in a heavier fall, I decided to remain until to-morrow, to give the rain a chance,—­especially as, aided by the slight rain, the horses could do without a drink, there now being only one drink remaining, as the trickling had entirely ceased, though we yet had the little holes full.  The rain fell in a slight and gentle shower two or three hours, but it left no trace of its fall, even upon the rocks, so that our water supply was not increased by one pint.

To-morrow I am off; it is useless to remain in a region such as this.  But where shall I go next?  The creek I had last got water in, might even now be dry.  I determined to try and reach it farther down its channel.  If it existed beyond where I left it, I expected, in twenty-five to thirty miles, in a southerly direction, to strike it again:  therefore, I decided to travel in that direction.