CHAPTER II. 
REFLECTIONS UPON SITUATION — WATCH FOR THE ARRIVAL 
OF THE NATIVE BOYS— THEIR PROBABLE FATE— PROCEED 
ON THE JOURNEY — FACILITY OF OBTAINING WATER — KILL 
A HORSE FOR FOOD — SILVER-BARK TEA-TREE INTENSE 
COLD — FIRST HILLS SEEN GOOD GRASS — APPETITE OF A 
NATIVE — INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF UNWHOLESOME DIET — 
CHANGE IN THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY — GRANITE 
FORMS THE LOW WATER LEVEL — TREE WASHED ON SHORE 
— INDISPOSITION. 
Having at last got fairly beyond all the cliffs 
bounding the Great Bight, I fully trusted that we had 
now overcome the greatest difficulties of the under- 
taking, and confidently hoped that there would be no 
more of those fearful long journeys through the desert 
without water, but that the character of the country 
would be changed, and so far improved as to enable 
us to procure it, once at least every thirty or forty 
miles, if not more frequently. 
Relieved from the pressure of immediate toil, and 
from the anxiety and suspense I had been in on the 
subject of water, my mind wandered to the gap 
created in my little party since we had last been at 
water ; more than ever, almost, did I feel the loss of 
my overseer, now that the last and most difficult of our 
forced marches had been successfully accomplished, 
