90 
SEARCH FOR WATER. 
had scraped a hole among the ashes in which both 
were lying. They were alarmed when they saw me, 
and would take nothing I offered them. The child 
around whom I had tied the handkerchief, had 
managed to get it off and throw it to one side. I now 
scarcely knew what to do, as I was fearful if I left 
them there, and the parents did not return, the poor 
little children might perish, and yet I was so far away 
from my own party, and in such difficult circum- 
stances, that I knew not how I could take them with 
me. Upon due reflection, and considering that I had 
not seen a single male native, it struck me that the 
women might have gone for the men and would 
probably return by the evening to see where their 
little ones were. 
Under this impression, I put the handkerchief 
again round the eldest child, and tying it firmly, I 
left them ; I had hopes too, that some of the natives 
were watching our movements from the hills, and 
in this case they would at once return, when they 
saw us fairly depart from the neighbourhood. 
Keeping a little to the south of west, I still found 
the country very much broken into hollows, with 
high steep banks bounding them, this singular 
formation being apparently the result of the violent 
action of water ; but how long ago and under what 
circumstances I had no means of judging. Having 
found a puddle of water in the plains, I halted for 
the night, our stage having been about twenty miles. 
August 6. — We again passed many of those singu- 
