46 
THE SOLITARY POOL. 
Spring,” I halted the party for the night and found 
that the horses were a good deal fatigued. Fortu- 
nately there was excellent food for them, and plenty 
of water. The place at which we encamped was upon 
one of the numerous watercourses, proceeding from 
the gorges of Flinders range. It had a wide gravelly 
bed, divided into two or three separate channels, but 
without a drop of water below the base of the hills, 
excepting where we bivouacked, at this point, there 
was a considerable extent of rich black alluvial soil, 
and in the midst of it a mound of jet black earth, 
surrounded by a few reeds. In the centre of the 
mound was a circular deep hole containing water, 
and apparently a spring : the last time I was here, in 
1839 it was full to overflowing, but now, though in 
the depth of winter, I was surprised and chagrined 
to see the water so much lower than I had 
known it before. It was covered up too so carefully 
with bushes and boughs, that it was evident the 
natives sometimes contemplated its being quite 
dried up,* and had taken this means as the best 
they could adopt for shading and protecting the 
water. On the other hand the numerous well 
beaten tracks leading to this solitary pool appeared 
to indicate that there was no other water in the 
neighbourhood. We saw kangaroos, pigeons and 
birds of various descriptions, going to it in con- 
* In October 1842, I again passed this way, in command 
of a party of Police sent overland to Port Lincoln, to search for 
Mr. C. C. Dutton : the spring was then dried up completely. 
