HARASSING STAGE. 
153 
now found, but had not discovered them, as the 
evening was closing in at the time, and I was in 
great haste to return to my party before dark. 
Leaving Mount Hill at the course of S. 27° W. we 
passed through a very dense scrub, the strongest, I 
think, we had yet experienced ; the drays were 
tearing down the brush with loud crashes, at every 
step which the horses took, and I could only com- 
pare their progress to the effect produced by the 
efforts of a clearing party, the brush rapidly disap- 
pearing before the wheels, and leaving almost as 
open a road as if it had been cut away by axes ; the 
unfortunate animals, however, had to bear the onus 
of all, and most severely were they harassed before our 
short stage was over. At twelve miles we came to 
a large rocky watercourse of brackish water, trend- 
ing to the east-north-east, through a narrow valley 
bounded by dense scrub. In this we found pools of 
fresh water, and as there was good grass, I called a 
halt about three in the afternoon. We were now 
able, for the first time for several hundred miles, to 
enjoy the luxury of a swim, which we all fully appre- 
ciated. In the afternoon Mr. Scott shot six ducks 
in the pools, which furnished us with a most wel- 
come addition to our very scanty fare. For two 
days previous to this, we had been subsisting solely 
upon a very limited allowance of dry bread, having 
only taken fourteen days provisions with us from 
Baxter’s range, which was nearly all expended, 
whilst we were yet at least two days journey from 
Port Lincoln. At night I observed the latitude of 
