In crossing over to this point the ground was stony, but there was a good deal of grass growing in tufts upon it, and bare patches of blistered earth on which flat stools of gypsum were apparently in process of formation.  Immediately to the left there were five remarkable conical hills.  These we successively passed, and then entered a narrow, short valley, between the last of these cones and the hill we were about to ascend.  The ground was covered with fragments of indurated quartz (of which the whole group was composed), in parallelograms of different dimensions.  The scene was like that of a city whose structures had been shaken to pieces by an earthquake—­one of ruin and desolation.  The faces of the hills, both here and in other parts of the group, were cracked by solar heat, and thus the rock was scaling off.  We were here obliged to dismount and walk.  The day being insufferably hot, it was no pleasant task to climb under such exposure to an elevation of nearly 500 feet.  We had frequently to take breath during our ascent, and reached the summit of the hill somewhat exhausted.  The view was precisely similar to that we had overlooked from the opposite point, which bore W. by N. from us.  Again the two little peaks were visible to the N.N.W., and after taking bearings of several distant points, we descended, as I had determined on returning for the night to the creek we had passed in the morning, and tracing it into the hills on my way to the westward.  Accordingly, on the following morning we commenced our journey up it at an early hour, not knowing where we should next find the water.  At about six miles we had entered a valley, with high land on either side, and at a mile beyond reached the head of the creek, and had the steep brow of a hill to ascend, which I thought it most prudent first to attempt on foot.  Mr. Browne and I, therefore, climbed it, and on looking back to the north-east, saw there was a declining plain in that direction.  Over the level outline the tops of the projections of this range were to be seen all exactly alike; but there was an open space to the north-east, as if the fall of waters was to that point.  There were also some low scattered trees upon the plain, seeming to mark the course of a creek.  Anxious to ascertain if we had been so fortunate, I looked for a practicable line for the horses to ascend, and having got them up the hill, we pushed forward.  On arriving at the first trees, there was a little channel, or rather gutter, and a greener verdure marked its course along the plain to the next trees.  Gradually it became larger, and at last was fully developed as a creek.  After tracing it down for some miles, having stony barren plains on both sides, we turned to look for the hill we had so lately left, and only for a red tint it had peculiar to itself, should we again have recognised it.  We now pushed on in eager anticipation that sooner or later water would appear, and this hope was at last gratified by our arrival at a fine