172 Kennedy's expedition. 



grass which neither the horses nor the sheep would 



eat. 



Aug. 17th. — This morning' we commenced to 



prepare our breakfast of horse-flesh. I confess we 

 did not feel much appetite for the repast, and some 

 would not eat it at all ; but our scruples soon gave 

 way beneath the pangs of hunger, and at supper 

 every man of the party ate heartily of it, and 

 afterwards each one claimed his share of the mesa 

 with great avidity. The country to the north and 

 north-west — the course we intended to pursue — 

 looking very rugged and broken, we were discou- 

 raged from proceeding further this day^ as the weak 

 state of our horses prevented us from making almost 

 any progTess. We therefore camped by the side of 

 a small rocky creek, winding through the mountains 

 in all directions. 



Aug. ISth. — Shortly after starting this morning 

 we crossed a creek, running* south-west, with a few 

 arborescent Callistemons groAving out of the rocks 

 here and there. The horse which Mr. Wall had 

 been riding had grown so weak that it was unable 

 to travel, even with nothing* to carry but the saddle. 

 As we were passing along the side of a hill, he fell 

 and rolled down into a gully. Being quite a young 

 horse we thought he might regain strength, and did 

 not like to kill him, so we left him and proceeded to 

 find a good place for camping, which we did after 

 travelling about fom* miles in the north-west direc- 

 tion, hj the side of a fine river, ^\ith steep reedy 



