Oxley’s table land. 
76 
have alarmed some natives, as there was a fresh made fire 
close to it. Our journey had been unusually long, and the 
cattle had felt the heat so much, that the moment they saw 
water they rushed into it ; and, as this created some confu- 
sion. I thought it best to stop where we were for the night. 
In the morning, Mr. Hume walked with me to the hill, 
a distance of about a mile. It is not high enough to de- 
serve the name of a mountain, although a beautiful feature 
in the country, and showing well from any point of view. 
We ascended it with an anxiety that may well be imagined, 
but were wholly disappointed in our most sanguine expec- 
tations. Our chief object, in this second visit to Oxley’s 
Table Land, had been to examine, more at leisure, the face 
of the country around it, and to discover, if possible, some 
fixed point on which to move. 
If the rivers of the interior had already exhausted them- 
selves, what had we to expect from a creek whose dimi- 
nished appearance where we left it made us apprehend its 
speedy termination, and whose banks we traversed under 
constant apprehension ? In any other country I should 
have followed such a water course, in hopes of its ulti- 
mately leading to some reservoir ; but here I could encou- 
rage no sucli favourable anticipation- 
The only new object that struck our sight was a remark- 
able and distant hill of conical shape, bearing by compass 
S 10 E. To the southward and westward, in the direction 
of D’Urban’s Group, a dense and apparently low brush 
extended ; but to the N. and N.W., there was a regular 
