Interior of New Holland. 
207 
were the last dregs remaining after the recent rains. The one 
was putrid and unfit for use, but the other was still good. From 
this place we must have scared away a native and his family, 
since we found a newly-erected hut on the eastern side of the 
creek, from which they could only just have fled, since the prints 
of men’s and children’s feet were quite fresh upon the ground. I 
now determined on making for the low hills we had seen bound¬ 
ing the N.W. horizon, in the hope that even so slight an elevation 
might disclose some change of country to us; but, as from the 
appearance of the creek I had no hope of finding water in it 
lower down, or in the dense brush between us and the hills, I 
thought it prudent to give the horses rest for the remainder of 
the day, and to start for the hill, now distant 35 miles, early on 
the following morning. This we accordingly did, and to our 
surprise, at six miles, came upon a little sheet of water, both 
more durable and better than that which we had left. From this 
we again drove the poor native and his family. He had hardly 
finished his hut, and decamped in such a hurry that he left every¬ 
thing behind him. Anxious to communicate with him, and 
regretting the circumstances of his escape, I fastened my own 
knife with a large glittering blade to the top ofhis spear, and 
stuck it into the ground close to the hut, in hopes that, seeing 
we intended him no harm, he would not fly from us on our 
return; but we found that he had been during our absence for 
his things, a part of which he removed ; but the knife appears 
to have alarmed him still more, as it was evident that the moment 
he saw the knife he ran away without taking anything else. We 
passed his hut, however, and after penetrating through some low 
brush, crossed a small plain, and shortly entered a sandy scrub. 
This continued for about two miles, when the country became, like 
that we had traversed to the north-west on first crossing the 
barren range, high sandy ridges, or dftnes, alternating with long 
narrow flats, only with this difference, that the pines seemed to 
have ceased, and to have been replaced by a red banksia. It 
was not until after the sun had set, that we reached the hills. On 
approaching them we found the country more open, and the fall 
apparently to the eastward; but nothing could exceed the heat 
