208 
DENSE SCRUB. 
eighteen miles. Our vicinity to the sea enabled Mr. 
Scott, myself, and the native boys to enjoy a swim> 
a luxury highly appreciated by a traveller after a 
day’s hard work, amidst heat and dust, and one 
which I anticipated we should frequently obtain in 
our course to the westward. 
November 7. — Breakfasted before daylight, and 
moved on with the earliest dawn to encounter a scrub 
which I knew to be of heavier timber, and growing 
more closely together than any we had yet at- 
tempted. It consisted of Eucalyptus dumosa and the 
salt-water tea-tree, (the latter of a very large growth 
and very dense,) in a heavy sandy soil. 
By keeping the axes constantly at work in ad- 
vance of the drays, we succeeded in slowly forcing a 
passage through this dreadful country, emerging in 
about seventeen miles at an open plain behind Point 
Brown, and in the midst of which was a well of 
water. The entrance to this well was by a cir- 
cular opening, through a solid sheet of limestone, 
about fifteen inches in diameter, but enlarging a 
little about a foot below the surface. The water 
was at a depth of ten feet, and so choked up with 
sand and dirt that we were obliged to clear the hole 
out effectually before we could get any for the horses. 
This was both a difficult and an unpleasant occupa- 
tion, as the man engaged in it had to lower himself 
through the very narrow aperture at the top and 
work in a very cramped position amongst the dirt 
and wet below, with the mud dripping upon him ; 
