HALT FOR THE NIGHT. 
399 
rocky, of an oolitic limestone, anrl having many 
hollows on its surface. Although we had only tra- 
velled eighteen miles during the day, the overseer 
requested I would stop here, as he said he thought 
the clouds would again gather, and that rain might 
fall to-night ; that here we had large sheets of rock, 
and many hollows in which the rain-water could be 
collected ; but that if we proceeded onwards we 
might again advance into a sandy country, and be 
unable to derive any advantage from the rain, even 
should it fall. I intended to have travelled 
nearly the whole of this night to make up for the 
time we had lost in the heat of the day, and I was 
the more inclined to do this, now that the violence 
of the storm had in some measure abated, and the 
appearance of rain had almost disappeared. The 
overseer was so earnest, however, and so anxious 
for me to stop for the night, that greatly against my 
own wishes, and in opposition to my better judg- 
ment, I gave way to him and yielded. The native 
boys too had made the same request, seconding the 
overseer’s application, and stating, that the violence 
of the wind made it difficult for them to walk 
against it. 
The horses having been all hobbled and turned 
out to feed, the whole party proceeded to make 
break-winds of boughs to form a shelter from the 
wind, preparatory to laying down for the night. 
We had taken a meal in the middle of the day, 
