I J 



THE INTERIOR OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, 47 



this day and on the 25 th, frequently bogging our horses in the hollow 

 places while seeking their food : I did not therefore attempt to break 

 up the camp until the following morning, when the Avind bad veered 

 round to the S.W., and the rain ceased. We then resumed our 

 N.E. route, passing over for the most part open sandy downs or plains, 

 separated by very dense thickets, through which the axe was in frequent 



requisition to clear a way for the horses. The country was high and 

 level, watercourses had disappeared, and their place had been supplied 

 by numerous small salt or samphire lagoons ; and upon one of the 

 former we were compelled to encamp, with nothing but long coarse 

 rushes for the horses, and brackish water which oozed into our wells. 

 Water was however speedily supplied in abundance by a most severe 

 thunder-storm, which seemed to vent its whole fury in the very midst 

 of our little party ; the lightning darting through and amongst our tents 

 in fearful flashes, and the frequent deafening thunder-claps threatening 

 the destruction of everything around. 



On the 27th the salt -lakes and swamps increased in number and size 

 as Ave proceeded N.E.; but after four miles they ceased, and our route 

 lay up a long ascent, to a country of much greater elevation, but of poor 

 quality, covered with scrub and dense thickets, without timber. Thick 

 showers following each other in rapid succession greatly obstructed our 

 View, but the surrounding country for at least two or three miles ap- 

 peared to be of the same description. While despairing of being able 

 to feed our horses better than the night before, we unexpectedly ar- 

 vived at a small fresh lake, surrounded by good grass in a clump of 

 trees, and gladly encamped there at once, having travelled upwards of 

 16 miles since the morning without seeing either grass or water, not- 

 withstanding the rain which had fallen nearly all day. 



At two miles N.E. from our camp, we were gratified at coming upon 

 some good grass, and a deposit of rain-water, in a clump of ycit-trees, 

 and in observing the appearance of a small grassy granite hill to the 

 northward of our route ; circumstances in themselves very trivial and 

 unimportant in a general point of view, but to us all-important, as 

 giving promise that their recurrence would afford us the means of 

 sustaining our horses. We however encountered nothing but scrub 

 and thicket for the next 14 miles, when we were again fortunate in 

 discovering, amongst the many places examined, some good grass and 

 a native well, in a clump of yeit, where we immediately encamped. 



