GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. 
83 
of so much consequence as it would have been under 
other circumstances. At times I was quite incapable 
of any exertion, and could not attend to any thing, 
being hardly able to sit upon my horse for half an 
hour together. From the 25th to the evening of 
the 30th, we were engaged in travelling from Mount 
Arden to Depot Pool, by the same line of route 
by which myself and the native boy had returned 
from our exploration. In our progress we noticed 
many traces of natives around us, and saw many 
native fires among the hills ; the people themselves 
did not, however, appear. 
By a little trouble in examining the watercourses 
before encamping, we were generally able to procure 
water for our horses, at some distance among the 
hills ; and we were usually fortunate enough to 
obtain tolerable food for them also. The grass, it is 
true, was generally scanty, or dry ; but we found a 
succulent plant of the geranium tribe, bearing a small 
blue flower, and growing where the channels of the 
watercourses spread out in the plains, in the greatest 
abundance, and in the wildest luxuriance ; of this 
the horses were extremely fond, and it appeared to 
keep them in good condition and spirits. 
July 30. — The geological formation of the 
country we had passed through, consisted in the 
higher ranges of an argillaceous rock, of quartz, or of 
ironstone. Upon some of the hills the small loose 
stones had a vitrified appearance — in others they 
looked like the scoria of a furnace, and appeared to 
g 2 
