the top of the tank.  They must have stared to see such a piece of excavation in their territory.  When the horses did get water, two of them rolled, and groaned, and kicked, so that I thought they were going to die; one was a mare, she seemed the worst, another was a strong young horse which had carried me well, the third was my old favourite riding-horse; this time he had only carried the pack, and was badly bogged; he was the only one that did not appear distressed when filled with water, the other two lay about in evident pain until morning.  About the middle of the night thunder was again heard, and flash after flash of even more vivid lightnings than that of the previous night enlightened the glen; so bright were the flashes, being alternately fork and sheet lightning, that for nearly an hour the glare never ceased.  The thunder was much louder than last night’s, and a slight mizzling rain for about an hour fell.  The barometer had fallen considerably for the last two days, so I anticipated a change.  The rain was too slight to be of any use; the temperature of the atmosphere, however, was quite changed, for by the morning the thermometer was down to 48 degrees.

The horses were not fit to travel, so we had to remain, with nothing to do, but consult the little map again, and lay off my position on it.  My farthest point I found to be in latitude 24 degrees 38’ and longitude 130 degrees.  For the second time I had reached nearly the same meridian.  I had been repulsed at both points, which were about a hundred miles apart, in the first instance by dry stony ranges in the midst of dense scrubs, and in the second by a huge salt lake equally destitute of fresh water.  It appears to me plain enough that a much more northerly or else more southerly course must be pursued to reach the western coast, at all events in such a country, it will be only by time and perseverance that any explorer can penetrate it.  I think I remarked before that we entered this little glen through a pass about half-a-mile long, between two hills of red sandstone.  I named this Worrill’s Pass, after another friend of Mr. Carmichael.  The little glen in which we dug out the tank I could only call Glen Thirsty, for we never returned to it but ourselves and our horses, were choking for water.  Our supply of rations, although we had eked it out with the greatest possible economy, was consumed, for we brought only a week’s supply, and we had now been absent ten days from home, and we should have to fast all to-morrow, until we reached the depot; but as the horses were unable to carry us, we were forced to remain.