I should perhaps have been more particular in the description of our interview with the old man and his family on the northern side of the earthy plain.  As I have stated, he called out to us, and in order to discover what he wanted, I held Mr. Browne’s horse, while he dismounted and went to him.  The old native would not, however, sit down, but pointed to the S.E. as the direction in which, as far as we could understand, the horse, “cadli” (dog), as he called him, the only large four-legged brute of which he knew any thing, had gone.  The poor fellow cried, and the tears rolled down his cheeks when he first met Mr. Browne, and the women chanted a most melancholy air during the time we remained, to keep the evil spirits off, I suppose; but they had nothing to fear from us, if they could only have known it.  This confusion of tongues is a sad difficulty in travelling the wilds of Australia.  Both the old man and the women wanted the two front teeth of the upper jaw, and as the former had worn his down almost to a level with his gums like an old horse, he looked sadly disfigured.

We halted about three miles short of the place at which we had before stopped, but as Joseph followed some pigeons to a clump of trees across the plain at about a mile distance, and there found a small pond of water, we moved over to it, and remained stationary on the following day to rest our wearied animals.

The 24th again saw us at the Fish Pond, where Mr. Browne again exhibited his skill in the gentle craft, and caught a good dish of the finny tribe.  The mystery as to how these fish could have got into so isolated a spot, was not yet cleared up, and I was really puzzled on the subject.

On the 27th, as we were crossing the country between the creeks, some natives came in from the north and called out to us, in consequence of which Mr. Browne and I rode up to them.  They were in a sad state of suffering from the want of water; their lips cracked, and their tongues swelled.  They had evidently lingered at some place or other, until all the water, intermediate between them and the creeks had dried up.  The little water we had was not sufficient to allay their thirst, so they left us, and at a sharp trot disappeared over the sand hill.

On the 29th our journey over the sandy ridges was very distressing.  They appeared to me to be much more numerous, and the valleys between them much more sandy than when we first passed over them, and were thickly covered with spinifex, although grass was also tolerably abundant in the flats.  At this stage of our journey, I was the only one of the party who was not ill; Mr. Browne and all the men were suffering, added to which, the men were fairly knocked up.  Their labours were now, however, drawing to a close, and I was only too thankful, that I retained my strength.