110 
REACH LAKE TORRENS. 
five miles, principally over heavy sandy ridges, 
which were very fatiguing to the horses, and at dark 
reached the outer dunes of the lake, where I was 
obliged to tie the horses up to some small bushes, 
as there was neither water nor grass for them. The 
bed of the lake where I struck it, seemed dry for 
some distance from the shore, but towards the mid- 
dle there appeared to be a large body of water. 
From our camp Mount Deception bore E. 26° S. 
and Termination Hill, E. 35° N. 
August 23. — Starting early, I traced the course of 
the lake north-westerly for ten miles, and was then 
able to satisfy myself that it was a part of the same 
vast basin I had seen so much further to the north, 
it inclined here considerably to the westward, and 
this circumstance added to the high sandy ridges 
intervening between it and Flinders range fully 
explained the cause of our not having observed its 
course to the north of west from the hills near our 
depot. Crossing the sandy ridge bounding the basin 
of the lake, I was surprised to see its bed apparently 
much contracted, and the opposite shore distinctly 
visible, high, rocky and bluff to the edge of the 
water, seemingly only seven or eight miles distant, 
and with several small islands or rocks scattered 
over its surface. This was however only deceptive, 
and caused by the very refractive state of the 
atmosphere at the time, for upon dismounting and 
leading the horses into the bed of the lake, the 
opposite shore appeared to recede, and the rocks 
