340 
MOVE ON THE PARTY. 
I was strengthened, by observing that all the native 
tracks we had met with apparently took this direc- 
tion. Under this impression I determined to move 
slowly along the coast until we came to it, and in 
order that our horses might carry no unnecessary 
loads, to take but a few quarts of water in our kegs. 
On the 18th we moved on, making a short stage 
of fourteen miles, through a heavy, sandy, and 
scrubby country. At first I tried the beach, but 
finding the sand very loose and unsuitable for tra- 
velling, I was again compelled to enter the scrub 
behind the sea-shore ridge, travelling through a 
succession of low scrubby undulations, with here and 
there the beds of dried up lakes The traces of 
natives were now more recent and numerous, but 
found principally near the bushes bearing the red 
berries, and which grew behind the front ridge of the 
coast in the greatest abundance. From this circum- 
stance, and from our having now travelled a consi- 
derable distance beyond the first water, I began to 
fear that the second which had been spoken of by 
the natives must, if it existed at all, be behind us 
instead of in advance, and that in reality the fruit 
we saw, and not water, was the object for which the 
natives, whose tracks were around us, were travel- 
ling to the westward. The day was cloudy, and 
likely for rain, but after a few drops had fallen, the 
clouds passed away. In the afternoon the overseer 
dug behind the sand-ridge, and at six feet came to 
water, but perfectly salt. 
