I therefore ordered the men to come slowly and steadily on, and as I foresaw that they would want more water ere long, I rode ahead to send them some.  On my arrival at the creek I was sorry to find both Mr. Poole and Mr. Browne complaining, and very much indisposed.  During the short time we had been at this spot, the water in the lagoon had rapidly diminished, and was now not more than a foot deep and very muddy.  Fearing that the quality of the water was disagreeing with my officers, I ordered a well to be dug in the bed of the creek, from which we soon got a small quantity both clearer and better.  Having despatched Joseph with a fresh supply for the party with the drays, I sat down to break my own fast which I had not done for many hours.  In speaking to Mr. Browne of the intense heat to which we had been exposed in the pine forest, he informed me that the day had not been very hot with them, the thermometer not having risen above 94 degrees at 2 p.m.

The drays reached the creek at 3 a.m. on the morning of the 2nd, both men and cattle fairly worn out.  I had hoped they would have arrived earlier, but the men assured me that shortly after I left them the heat was so great they could hardly move onwards.  The ground became so heated that the bullocks pawed it to get to a cool bottom, every time they stopped to rest.  The upper leathers of Mack’s shoes were burnt as if by fire, and Lewis’s back was sadly blistered.  The dogs lost the skin off the soles of their feet, and poor Fingall, one of our best, perished on the road.

Amidst all the sufferings of the other animals the sheep thrived exceedingly well under Tampawang’s charge who was a capital shepherd.  Their fleeces were as white as snow, and some of them were exceedingly fat.  On the 3rd I sent Mr. Stuart to the Magnetic hill, Mount Arrowsmith, to verify Mr. Poole’s bearings, in consequence of the great deviation of the compass from its true point, and also to sketch in that isolated group of hills; but as he found the same irregularity in his compass, I did not trust to the bearings either he or Mr. Poole had taken.  The rock of which that hill was composed is a compact sandstone, with blocks of specular iron ore scattered over it, highly magnetic.

In the hope that a ride would do both my officers good, I sent them on the 4th to trace the creek up, and to fix on our next halting place.  I also despatched Flood to the pine forest for the remaining drays, sending an empty one to lighten the other loads; a precaution that proved of great advantage, as the bullocks got on much easier than on the former occasion, but the day also was much cooler.

Mr. Poole and Mr. Browne returned at 11 on the 5th, but I was sorry to observe that Mr. Browne looked very unwell, and Mr. Poole continued to complain.  They had however succeeded in their mission, and as I was very anxious to get them to better water, our lagoon being all but dry, I determined on moving northward on the 7th.