68 DISCOVER A SMALL RIVER. [ciI. III. 



The way to it was all down hill, open and smooth ; while 

 the Wundawar range, now to the southward, presented, on 

 this northern side, a beautiful variety of summits. 



I galloped impatiently towards the line of wood, and 

 found there a meandering channel full of water, with steep 

 banks of soft earth, apparently a small river, and I hastened 

 back with the welcome intelligence to the men. The ex- 

 treme heat, and the fatigue of travelling, could not have 

 been borne much longer. One man (Woods) had been left 

 behind at his own request, being unable even to ride, from 

 violent pains in his stomach ; another was also so ill that he 

 could not walk ; the bullocks still drew, but with their tongues 

 protruding most piteously. I sent a man on horseback back 

 with a kettleful of water to Woods. The cattle being un- 

 yoked rushed to the stream, and in half an hour, we were 

 all comfortably encamped, with good grass beside us for 

 the cattle. The bottom of this small river-channel was in no 

 part gravelly, but consisted of soft earth, in which, however, 

 the cattle did not sink very deep. Fragments of flint, basalt, 

 and quartz, apparently not worn by attrition, abound in the 

 adjacent soil. The general direction of the water-course ap- 

 peared to be about 36° north of west. At a pond above our 

 camp, the carpenter shot two ducks, of a kind not previously 

 seen by us, having a purple speck on the head, behind the ear. 



We had now arrived in the country beyond the mountains, 

 which we had in vain attempted to cross, having found an 

 open and accessible way round them ; it remained to be 

 ascertained wlietlier the large river, as described by the bush, 

 ranger, was near ; according to him it was the first river 

 to be met with, after crossing the range north-east by north 

 ofTangulda. 



At four p. M. the thermometer stood at 101°. The lati- 

 tude was ascertained in the evening to be 29° 50' 20" S. 



Jan. 6.— 'i'lio morning was rather cool, with clouds and 

 distant thunder. We now proceeded in a nortlierly direction, 

 until we were impeded by scrub, about three miles from the 



