EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 49 



turned N. 53° E. and camped close to edge of what I think must 

 be Lake Amadeus. Bar. 28-675in , ther. 61° at 5 p.m. 



Monday, June 24th.— Camp No. 54. Bar. 28'680in., ther. 24°. 

 — Upon rising this morning soon after dawn everything was white 

 with frost, blankets hard and stiff, and a considerable thickness of 

 ice in a tin dish that had been left out with some water in it; 

 fortunately there was abundance of firewood, so we did not feel the 

 cold so much as we should otherwise have done. Started away at 

 8 - 50 upon a bearing of N. 52° E. towards some bare looking rocks 

 and a gap in the range that runs east and west, and whose western 

 end may. be said to mark the western extremity of Lake Amadeus, 

 I have called it Long's Range, after my brother-in-law, Mr. John 

 Long, of Richmond, New South Wales. In a direct line, this gap 

 was about five miles from our last camp, but meeting with an arm 

 of the lake that made me turn a little westerly, we did not reach 

 the gap until I had travelled considerably more than that distance. 

 A small water channel runs from the western end of the range 

 into a long salt arm that extends to within a mile of the hills, and 

 at the head of this arm, and upon each side of the creek, there is a 

 nice piece of country well grassed with saltbush and cotton bush, 

 and several clay pans, which were full of water. I find the range 

 to be the same formation as the the little rocks at Camp 48, their 

 bare reddish appearance being caused partly through having been 

 recently burnt by the blacks and partly from large masses of bare 

 sandstone. No water was found, though I judge there must be a 

 native watering place at the western end ; but it was not our 

 good fortune to find it, Ascending the highest point available, 

 I was surprised to get no view of the lake. To the southward 

 it appeared at two or three points, but only as a very narrow 

 channel; to the north-east a group of low hills was observed, 

 being not more than five miles distant; all the country in that 

 direction seems to have been recently burnt. Mount Olga was dis- 

 tinctly visible, bearing S. 23° E., and Mount Harris S. 67° W. ; a 

 low, flat-topped hill bore S. 82° E., distant about twenty-five 

 miles. Descending from the hill (which was of no great height), 

 I continued along the foot of the range for three miles upon a 

 bearing of N. 86° E., and then turned east for three miles. I was 

 now anxious to meet with the lake, for near its shore was my only 

 chance of obtaining food for the camels. Turned upon a bearing 

 of S. 50° E. Travelled on spinifex and oak sandhills for five 

 miles, and then turned south. In one mile I came upon a beauti- 

 ful salt and cotton bush flat, and a little further on found some 

 large deep claypans full of water. This was an opportunity not 

 to be missed, and though it was still early in the afternoon (4* 15) 

 I had the animals unpacked, and they were soon hoppled out upon 

 the first pasture they have had upon this journey. They were 

 all ready for water, and drank greedily. Bar. 28'680in., ther. 56° 

 at 5 p.m. 



