254 
Captain Sturt's Expedition into the 
width, and Flood, who had been some miles down it, assured me 
it was well deserving further examination. The direction in 
which it seemed to lead was also favourable to my views of 
examining the interior to the N. W., and I therefore at once 
resolved on a journey down it, leaving Joseph with the jaded 
horse I had had in the desert, to recruit themselves. I started 
with Mr. Stuart and Flood on the 17th. The creek led us 
contrary to my expectation, rather to the south of west; but at 
28 miles we came to two fine water-holes, which some natives had 
only just quitted. Sandy ridges occasionally abutted on the creek, 
but so far it was generally bounded by plains similar iu soil and 
productions to those of the Darling. About a quarter of a mile 
below these ponds, the creek spread over a large and grassy plain, 
surrounded on all sides by sand hills, and to the westward by 
scrub. The channel of the creek was entirely lost on the plain., 
but we recovered it in the N.W. angle, and followed it through a 
narrow, well-wooded valley, for eight miles, when we were brought 
up by a bank of white clay, over which it is evident the super¬ 
fluous waters fell into and inundated a beautiful and grassy plain 
on the other side of it; but nowhere could we find water after we 
left the ponds at which we had slept. It was to no purpose that 
we tried the country round. There was not a channel of any 
kind beyond the Grassy plain to form a creek, and the surface 
water had long before been dissipated, and deep holes in the 
creeks had dried up, and were now hard and cracked. The heat 
at this time was terrific. We could not keep our feet in our 
stirrups, nor, at noon, was it possible to move. The wind invari¬ 
ably blew from E.S.E., with a deep purple haze to the west, and 
going round with the sun, blew hard at 12, but moderated at 
sunset. The gusts of heated air that we sometimes felt were 
enough to wither every thing; and indeed the vegetation and 
trees sufficiently attested the heat of the surface soil, since all 
were denuded of leaves near the ground, and had tops like 
umbrellas. In turning back I felt assured that there was no 
water at an attainable distance to the N. W. from where I was— 
lat. 29° 6', long. 141° 5' 15"—the position of the Grassy Plain. 
We had therefore, during our search for water, passed into the 
