32 HALT ON THE LIGHT. 
We had with us 13 horses and 40 sheep, and our 
other stores were calculated for about three months ; 
in addition to which we were to have a further 
supply forwarded to the head of Spencer’s Gulf by 
sea, in the Waterwitch, to await our arrival in 
that neighbourhood. This would give us the means 
of remaining out nearly six months, if we found the 
country practicable, and in that time we might, if no 
obstacles intervened, easily reach the centre of the 
Continent and return, or if practicable, cross to Port 
Essington on the N. W. coast. 
About eleven I moved on the party up the Light 
for 8 miles, and then halted after an easy stage. 
As the horses were fresh and the men were not yet 
accustomed to driving them, I was anxious to move 
quietly on at first, that nothing might be done in a 
hurry, and every one might gradually settle down 
to what he had to perform, and that thus by a little 
care and moderation at first, those evils, which my 
former travelling had taught me were frequently the 
result of haste or inexperience, might be avoided. 
Nothing is more common than to get the withers of 
horses wrung, or their shoulders and backs galled at 
the commencement of a journey, and nothing more 
difficult than to effect a cure of this mischief whilst 
the animals are in use. By the precaution which I 
adopted, I succeeded in preventing this, for the 
present. 
As we passed up the valley of the^ Light, we had 
some rich and picturesque scenery around us — the 
