September 25.—­Leaving Refuge Rocks, at a course of S. 37 degrees W., we passed over a wretched country, consisting principally of heavy sandy ridges, very densely covered with scrub, and giving our horses a severe and fagging day’s work to get the dray along for only twelve miles.  I then halted, as we were fortunate enough to find an opening in the scrub, with good grass.  Searching about our encampment, I found in a small valley at one end of the little plain, a round hole, dug by the natives, to catch the drainage from the slope above it.  There were two or three quarts of water in this hole when we discovered it; but by enlarging it, we managed to fill a bucket once every hour from the water which drained into it.  This enabled us to save, to some extent, the water we had in our casks, at the same time that all the horses had as much as they could drink.  I took angles from the camp to all the hills in sight, and at night made the latitude of the tent 33 degrees 18 minutes 34 seconds S. by an altitude of a Cygnus.

September 26.—­After travelling for thirteen miles at S. 40 degrees W., I took a set of angles from a low scrubby hill, being the last opportunity I should have of setting many of the heights, of which I had obtained bearings from former camps.  I then changed our course to S. 27 degrees W. for five miles, and halted for the night where there was good grass.  We could find no water during the day; I had, consequently, to give the horses some out of the casks.  The country we traversed had altered greatly in character, and though still heavy and sandy, it was a white coarse gritty sand, instead of a fine red; and instead of the dense cucalyptus scrub, we had now low heathy shrubs which did not present much impediment to the progress of the dray, and many of which bore very beautiful flowers.  Granite was frequently met with during the day, but no water could be found.  Our latitude by an altitude of a Aquilae was 33 degrees 30 minutes S.

September 27.—­Continuing our last night’s course for about seven miles, we passed through the densest scrub I had yet met with; fortunately, it was not growing upon a sandy soil, and we got tolerably well through it, but the horses suffered severely.  Upon emerging from the brush, I noticed a little green looking valley, about a mile off our track, and sent Mr. Scott to see if there was water there.  Upon his return, he reported that there was, and I at once moved down to it, to rest the horses after the toil of breaking through the scrub.  The day was not far advanced when we halted, and I was enabled to obtain the sun’s altitude at noon, making the latitude of the camp 33 degrees 34 minutes 25 seconds S. There was good grass for the horses, and abundance of water left by the rains in the hollows of a small watercourse, running between two scrubby ridges.