276 SEND BACK PACK-HORSE. 
January 7. —-Having concealed some water, pro- 
visions, and the pack-saddle at the camp, I sent the 
man back with the pack-horse to encamp at the 
undulating plains, where nine gallons of water had 
been left for him and his horse, and the following 
day he was to rejoin the overseer at the sand hills. 
To the latter I sent a note, requesting him to send 
two fresh horses to meet me at the plains on the 
15th of Januaiy, for, from the weak condition of the 
animals we had with us, and from the almost total 
absence of grass for them, I could not but dread 
lest we might be obliged to abandon them too, and 
in this case, if we did not succeed in finding water, 
# we should perhaps have great difficulty in return- 
ing ourselves. 
As soon as the man was gone, we once more 
moved on to the north-west, through the same 
barren region of heavy sandy ridges, entirely desti- 
tute of grass or timber. After travelling through 
this for ten miles, we came upon a native pathway, 
and following it under the hummocks of the coast 
for eight miles, lost it at some bare sand- drifts, close 
to the head of the Great Bight, where we had at 
last arrived, after our many former ineffectual 
attempts. 
Following the general direction the native path- 
way had taken, we ascended the sand-drifts, and 
finding the recent tracks of natives, we followed 
them from one sand-hill to another, until we sud- 
denly came upon four persons encamped by a hole 
