194 
Captain Sturt’s Expedition into the 
shown us—for the convenience of the cattle, and followed myself, 
with the party, at 8 a.m., having detached Mr. Poole to the hills 
he had already visited, to verify his bearings. I halted during 
the heat of the day, and reached the little sandhill near the creek 
at midnight, where 1 found that the horse team had knocked up. 
On the following morning, I pushed on with Mr. Browne, to su¬ 
perintend the digging of a large tank there, but the animals had 
great difficulty in getting to it. We pushed on, however, after 
breakfast, and reached the pond at which I intended to establish 
the camp at 6 p.m., and there pitched our tents. The 29lh was 
a day of intolerable heat, although the thermometer stood only 
at 81°, and the barometer at 28° 1‘ 10*. On the 30th I sent Mr. 
Poole with Mr. Stuart, to take back-bearings, and went myself 
to examine the plain and creek beyond the Pass, and it was then 
that I discovered Topar’s further treachery, for I entered on a 
nice clear pond of water, to which I immediately moved the party 
preparatory to my again leaving it. We were there surrounded 
on every side by hills, and our tents were pitched under some 
beautiful acacia trees. We were now also fairly left to our own 
resources. We had left all living streams behind us ; and in the 
exercise of judgment and caution, had to trust to an all-wise 
Providence. We had many anxious considerations, seeing that 
our path was so soon beset with difficulties. With a view to 
increasing our means in the event of our being unable to find 
water, I had had the bacon emptied out of one of the tin boxes 
in which it had been packed, and had converted it into a tank, 
capable of holding a tolerable supply of water. On the 5th of 
November, 1 sent Flood with Lewis and Sullivan, with this tank 
full of water and nine breakers, to pursue a course of 140“ to 
the W. of S., until I should overtake him. My intention was to 
have deposited this tank at 30 or 40 miles, and to have sent the 
cart back for a fresh supply of water against our return ; but, 
unfortunately, the ground was very rocky, and the jolting of the 
cart burst the tank just as Mr. Browne and I came up, and all 
we could do was to give the horses a good drink. The soil of 
the plain, from the camp, was red sand and clay, covered with 
salsolae and grass, in widely-distributed tufts. We had intended 
