BALD ISLAND. 
103 
could find no water, and I therefore pushed on by 
moonlight, making Wylie lead one of the horses 
whilst I drove the rest after him. At nine o’clock, 
we came to a deep valley with plenty of water and 
grass in it, and here we halted for the night, after a 
stage of full thirty miles. The early part of the 
morning had been very wet, and it continued to rain 
partially for the greatest part of the day, rendering 
us very cold and uncomfortable. At night it was a 
severe frost. 
July 4. — Our horses having been a good deal fagged 
yesterday, I did not disturb them early, and it was 
nearly noon when we moved away from our encamp- 
ment, crossing the main watercourse, of which the 
ponds we were upon last night were only a branch. 
In the larger channel, there were many fine pools of 
water, connected by a strongly running stream in a 
deep narrow bed, and which wound at a course of 
E. 25° S. through a valley of soft, spongy, peaty 
formation, and over which we had much trouble in 
getting our horses, one having sunk very deep, and 
being with difficulty extricated. After travelling 
two miles and a half, we obtained a view of Bald 
Island, bearing S. 15° W. ; and in two miles and a 
half more, we crossed a fine chain of ponds, taking 
its course through narrow valleys between hills of 
granite ; these valleys and the slopes of the hills were 
heavily timbered ; the soil was very rich, either a 
reddish loam, or a light black mixed with sand, and 
the grass interspersed among the trees was abundant 
