270 NO WATER IN THE INTERIOR. 
deep hole that had been dug in one of the sandy 
flats ; but in which the water was now inaccessible, 
from the great quantity of sand that had drifted in 
and choked it up. By forcing a spear down to a con- 
siderable depth, the native brought it out moist, and 
shewed it me to prove that he had not been deceiving 
me. I now returned to the camp, more than ever 
disposed to credit what I had been told relative to 
the interior. I had never found the natives attempt 
to hide from us any waters that they knew of, on 
the contrary, they had always been eager and ready 
to point them out, frequently accompanying us for 
miles, through the heat and amongst scrub, to shew 
us where they were. I had, therefore, no reason to 
doubt the accuracy of their statements when they 
informed me that there was none inland ! Many 
different natives, and at considerable intervals of 
country apart, had all united in the same statement, 
and as far as I had yet been able to examine so arid 
a country personally, my own observations tended to 
confirm the truth of what they had told me. 
In the evening several of the natives went down 
with the men to water the horses, and when there 
drank a quantity of water that was absolutely in- 
credible, each man taking from three to four quarts, 
and this in addition to what they got at the camp 
during the earlier part of the day. Strange that a 
people who appear to do with so little water, when 
traversing the deserts, should use it in such excess 
when the opportunity of indulgence occurs to them, 
