SURROUNDED BY NATIVES. 
243 
hold water : a few drops, however, only fell, and 
the storm passed away, leaving us as much under a 
feeling of disappointment, as we had been previously 
of hope : one little shower would have relieved us at 
once from all our difficulties. 
December 5. - Upon getting up early, I thought 
the horses looked so much refreshed, that we might 
attempt to take back the dray, and had some of the 
strongest of them yoked up. We proceeded well for 
two miles and a half to our encampment of the 30th 
November; and as there was then a well defined 
track, I left the man to proceed alone, whilst I myself 
went once more to the coast to make a last effort to 
procure water among some of the sand-drifts. In 
this I was unsuccessful. There were not the 
slightest indications of water existing any where. 
In returning to rejoin the dray, 1 struck into our 
outward track, about three miles below, where I had 
left it, and was surprised to find that the dray had 
not yet passed, though I had been three hours 
absent. Hastily riding up the track, I found the 
man not half a mile from where I had left him, and 
surrounded by natives. They had come up shortly 
after my departure ; and the man, getting alarmed, 
was not able to manage his team properly, but by 
harassing them had quite knocked up all the horses ; 
the sun was getting hot, and I saw at once it would 
be useless to try and take the dray any further. 
Having turned out the horses to rest a little, I 
went to the natives to try to find out, if possible, 
r 2 
