FUTURE PLANS. 
257 
direction. I had already lost three horses in an 
attempt to get round the head of the Bight, and I 
had also found that my three best horses now re- 
maining, when strong and fresh after a long period 
of rest at the depot, had with difficulty been able to 
move along with an empty dray in the heavy sandy 
country to the north-west ; how could 1 expect, then, 
to take drays when loaded with provisions and other 
stores? Hitherto we had enjoyed the assistance of 
the cutter in passing up the coast— -by putting all 
our heavy baggage on board of her, the drays were 
comparatively empty, and we had got on tolerably 
well. We could no longer, however, avail ourselves 
of this valuable aid, for we were now past all har- 
bours. Fowler’s Bay being the last place of refuge 
where a vessel could take shelter for many hundred 
miles, whilst the fearful nature of the coast and the 
strong current setting into the Bight, made it very 
dangerous for a vessel to approach the land at all. 
Upon leaving Fowler’s Bay, therefore, it was 
evident that we must be dependent entirely upon 
our own resources ; and it became necessary for 
me to weigh well and maturely how I might best 
arrange my plans so as to meet the necessity of the 
case. It appeared to me that if I sent two of my 
men back to Adelaide in the Waterwitch, a single 
dray would carry every necessary for the reduced 
party remaining, and that by obtaining a supply of 
oats and bran for the horses, and giving them a long 
rest, they might so far recover strength and spirits 
s 
VOL. 1. 
