is sensible of having committed an error, yet is ashamed to make an apology, and who would rather run the risk of being shot, than of having the charge of pusillanimity fixed upon him; but I have never regretted the step I took, and it has been no small gratification to me to find that the Noble President of the Royal Geographical Society, Lord Colchester, when addressing the members of that enlightened body, in its name presenting medals to Dr. Leichhardt and myself, for our labours in the cause of Geography, alluded to and approved “the prudence with which further advance was abandoned, when it could only have risked the loss of those entrusted to my charge.”

We slowly retraced our steps to the valley in which we had slept, and I stopped there for half an hour, but none of the horses would eat, with the exception of Traveller, and he certainly made good use of his time.  The others collected round me as I sat under a tree, with their heads over mine, and my own horse pulled my hat off my head to engage my attention.  Poor brute!  I would have given much at that moment to have relieved him, but I could not.  We were all of us in the same distress, and if we had not ultimately found water must all have perished together.  Finding that they would not eat, we saddled and proceeded onwards, I should say backwards—­and at 10 p.m. we were on the sand ridges.  At the head of the valley Traveller fell dead, and I feared every moment that we should lose the Colt.  At one I stopped to rest the horses till dawn, and then remounted, but Morgan and Mack got slowly on, so that I thought it better to precede them, and if possible to take some water back to moisten the mouth of their horses, and I accordingly went in advance with Mr. Stuart.  I thought we should never have got through the dead box-tree forest I have mentioned, however we did so about 11 a.m., and made straight for the spot where we expected to relieve both ourselves and our horses, but the water was gone.  Mr. Stuart poked his fingers into the mud and moistened his lips with the water that filled the holes he had made, but that was all.  We were yet searching for water when Morgan and Mack appeared, but without the colt; fortunately they had descended into the valley higher up, and had found a little pool, which they had emptied, under an impression that we had found plenty; and were astonished at hearing that none any longer remained.  In this situation, and with the apparent certain prospect of losing my own and Mr. Browne’s horse, and the colt which was still alive when the men left him, not more than a mile in the rear, we continued our search for water, but it would have been to no purpose.  Suddenly a pigeon topped the sand hill—­it being the first bird we had seen—­a solitary bird—­passing us like lightning, it pitched for a moment, and for a moment only, on the plain, about a quarter of a mile from us, and then flew away.  It could only have wetted its bill, but Mr. Stuart had marked the