82 JOUENEY OF DISCOVERY INTO 



eventually reached, but all searcli for the means of keeping our cattle 

 alive was for a time fruitless. Both grass and water were however 

 found on the northern side, and there the party were encamped in the 

 afternoon. I found it absolutely necessary to remain here a few days 

 for the recovery of the horses, several of whom were so weak, wearied, 

 and half-starved, as to be scarcely able to stagger along with their 

 loads, and could scarcely be got on their legs again after falling. This 

 respite also enabled us to examine and dry the provisions and stores, 

 repair saddlery and clothes, and put in order our saddle-bags, which 

 the recent thickets had almost reduced to shreds. A short rest was 

 also very acceptable to the whole party. This welcome retreat being 

 at the most elevated and prominent mass of land we had hitherto dis- 

 covered on our journey, I had the honour to name the whole the Fitz- 

 Gerald Peaks, the highest being distinguished as Peak Charles, and 

 another, of proportionate elevation, as Peak Eleanora. The former is 

 about 1000 feet above the surrrounding plains, and has some excellent 

 grass on its eastern base. The view from this peak, although very ex- 

 tensive, was by no means cheering : in every direction lay spread out 

 one vast sea of dark scrub and thicket, intersected by broad belts of 

 salt-lakes and samphire-marshes, to the visible extent of thirty miles, 

 and doubtless more, winding through a country apparently almost 

 level; the only exceptions being the wooded range we had last quitted, 

 thirty-five miles to the N.W., and another range of similar appearance, 

 somewhat further off, in the N.B. quarter. To the latter I felt most 

 desirous of proceeding next ; but when I contemplated its apparent cha- 

 racter through a telescope, and glanced over the intermediate country, 

 a recollection that my horses had been five days without grass before 

 they reached Peak Charles, forbade me to compromise their safety, and 

 thereby to endanger the results of the expedition by making the at- 

 tempt. Having therefore sufficiently recruited them all, with only one 

 exception, and refitted our shattered equipments, we launched out once 

 more, on the morning of the 9th of November, into the frowning sea 

 of scrub to the eastward, and soon came, as expected, upon country 

 which had not belied its appearance. 



It may be sufficient merely to add that, after struggling with this 

 formidable country for three days, and by forced marches accomplish- 

 ing a distance of fifty miles east from Peak Charles, the expedition be- 

 came almost entangled in a very extensive series of salt lakes and 



