CH. IV.] EFFECTS OF MOISTURE ON THE AVHEELS. 77 



more socially, three or four together, fronting to one and 

 the same hearth. Each hut was semicircular, or circular, the 

 roof conical, and from one side a flat roof stood forward like 

 a portico, supported by two sticks. Most of them were close 

 to the trunk of a tree, and they were covered, not as in other 

 parts, by sheets of bark, but with a variety of materials, such 

 as reeds, grass, and boughs. The interior of each looked 

 clean, and to us passing in the rain, gave some idea, not 

 only of shelter, but even of comfort and happiness. They 

 afforded a favourable specimen of the taste of the gins, 

 whose business it usually is to construct the huts. This 

 village of bowers also occupied more space than the encamp- 

 ments of native tribes in general ; choice shady spots seemed 

 to have been an object, and had been selected with care. 



We had at length been able to turn westward, keeping the 

 river trees in view, when the rain continuing, we began to 

 experience the effects of moisture on the felloes of the wheels. 

 The heat and contraction had lately obliged us to tighten and 

 wedge them to such a degree, that now, when the ground 

 had become wet, the expansion of the whole broke the 

 tirering of the wheel. Having no forge, we could only at- 

 tempt the necessary repairs with a common fire, and for this 

 purpose I left three men with Mr. White ; and I resumed the 

 journey with the rest of the party. The rain continuing, 

 the soft ground so clogged the wheels, that the draught was 

 very distressing to the bullocks. We pursued a westerly 

 direction for five miles, over ground thinly wooded, with 

 patches of open plain. Changing our course to 60° west of 

 north, we traversed a very extensive tract of clear ground, 

 until, after crossing four miles and a half of it, we reached a 

 bend of the river, and at three p.m. encamped on an open spot, 

 a quarter of a mile from it. At five o'clock the other cart 

 came up, having been substantially repaired, by taking off 

 the ring, shortening the felloes, closing them on the spokes, 

 and then re-placing the ring again, by drilling two holes 

 through it. 



