Interior of New Holland. 
197 
with the carts—the horses having had a severe day—but directed 
Mr. Browne, with Flood, to ride on until dark in a direction a 
little to the west of that on which we had been riding, in the 
hope that they might see some change. At sunset 1 turned back, 
and leaving a quart of water for Mr. Browne, at the place at 
which we parted, regained the spot at which we slept at mid¬ 
night ; and as the horses were beginning to suffer from the great 
heat that prevailed, I continued my retreat in the morning 
towards the creek, in the bed of which we had found water. 
The day had been fervently warm, with a violent hot wind from 
the north-west, which came in gusts. Clouds began to collect, 
and distant thunder was heard, but no rain fell. Mr. Browne 
came up in the evening, having seen no change in the country. 
As far as he went the sand ridges extended ; the only difference 
he observed was that the pine trees grew more thickly upon 
them. Thus it appeared that this remarkable feature of the 
interior commenced so low down as lat. 30° 40 f 8" S., although 
at that point it had not the formidable aspect it bore still deeper 
in the desert. It was evident, however, from our failure in this 
attempt to penetrate to the N.W., that it would be necessary to 
keep nearer the hills, where the chance of finding water would 
be greater, and I therefore determined on returning to the camp, 
and sending Mr. Poole, with fresh horses, along their base, in 
the hope that he would find some larger supply of water than it 
had been my fortune to discover. As the night had been, so the 
morning was, most tempestuous, and the heat intense, in con¬ 
sequence of which we remained stationary ; it was evident, how¬ 
ever, from the aspect of the sky, that some change of weather 
might be expected, and in the evening we had a few drops of 
rain; it was not, however, until the day we returned to the 
Rocky Gully that rain regularly set in. It was on the 16th of 
November, 1844, that the sky darkened over us, and the flood¬ 
gates of heaven were opened upon us. Every summit of the 
range was shrouded in a misty mantle, and the thunder rolled 
along the vallies with the sharp crack of near artillery. The dry 
and arid desert, from which we were 'retiring, sparkled in the 
light of waters, and the appearance of the interior was changed. 
vol. in. NO. III. 
o 
