Interior of New Holland. 
255 
province of South Australia, and cut its eastern boundary about 
lat. 29° 3' 30*. The day we regained the pond at which I had left 
Joseph, Flood was obliged to ask me to pull up and allow him to 
take shelter from the intense heat of the sun; and I accordingly 
did so, although truly there was no shade, for he might as well 
have stood under a sieve as under one of the hakeas, the only 
bush to be seen. The horses also suffered greatly, and were so 
drowsy and weak that they could hardly hold up their heads, but 
slept whilst we halted. We reached our journey’s end about 
5 p.m., when the thermometer, under the shade of a large tree, 
at six feet from the ground, stood at 133° and in the sun at 157° 
On a former occasion it had risen, when Mr. Browne and I were 
to the north, to 131“ in the shade, and 152° in the sun ; yet we 
did not feel this tremendous heat so much as might have been 
expected. We had now had three months of dry weather, nor 
did there appear to be any prospect of rain; still, we had other 
points to try before I could persuade myself that we were to con¬ 
sider ourselves as prisoners at the depbt until it should please God 
to release us from that solitary dungeon. Giving myself two or 
three day’s rest after my return to the dep6t, I again left it, with 
Mr. Browne, to try the country to the E. and N. E. of me; but 
after a journey of more than 100 miles to the east, we were forced 
back in consequence of the total absence of water, from as mise¬ 
rable a country as man ever traversed. It was one vast plain 
after we had passed the lower water in the creek. Large bare 
shallow basins, and the dry beds of salt lagoons, with numerous 
salsolaceous productions, and no grass, were the predominant 
features of the sterile region then between us and the Darling. 
The sandy ridges even were preferable to it. 
On our return to the camp, we found Mr. Poole very unwell. 
He had indeed been getting worse and worse every day. Mr. 
Browne, however, did not complain, and for myself the only re¬ 
mains of scurvy in me now appeared to be occasional headaches 
and swelled gums. But Mr. Poole was obliged to use a stick, 
and suffered great pain in his limbs. 1 had taken the horses out 
so much that I was now obliged to give them the rest my impa¬ 
tience grudged them; but it was clear they would not endure 
