HALT ON THE SEA SHORE. 
349 
during the heat of the day, though without grass, 
save the coarse wir}^ vegetation that binds the loose 
sands together, and without even bushes to afford them 
shade from the heat, for had we gone into the scrub 
for shelter we should have lost even the wretched 
kind of grass we had. 
At half past two we again moved onwards, keep- 
ing along the beach, but frequently forced by the 
masses of sea-weed to travel above high water mark 
in the heavy loose sand. After advancing ten miles 
the tide became too high for us to continue on the 
shore, and the scrub prevented our travelling to the 
back, we were compelled therefore to halt for the 
night with hardly a blade of grass for our horses. I 
considered we were now one hundred and two miles 
from the last water, and expected we had about fifty 
more to go to the next; the poor animals were almost 
exhausted, but as the dew was heavy they were dis- 
posed to eat had there been grass of any kind for 
them. The overseer and I as usual watched them 
alternately, each taking the duty for four hours and 
sleeping the other four; to me this was the first 
sleep I had had for the last three nights. 
Whilst in camp, during the heat of the day, the 
native boys shewed me the way in which natives pro- 
cure water for themselves, when wandering among 
the scrubs, and by means of which they are enabled 
to remain out almost any length of time, in a 
country quite destitute of surface water. I had often 
heard of the natives procuring water from the roots 
