262 Captain Sturt’s Expedition into the 
second day we were toiling over sandy ridges, and found it 
impossible to advance more tliau ten miles a day. On the 28tli 
we had cleared sixty-one miles, and were higher up in point of 
latitude than Mount Hopeless. 1 therefore determined to alter 
my bearings, on which the measurement was carried on to 75° 
to the west of south ; and whilst 1 was engaged fixing the depot 
in its new position, Mr. Browne, who was ever ready to assist 
me, went with Mr. Stuart and the chainers. Having pitched the 
tents on a little sand-hill, on which there were several native 
huts, and directed a stockyard to be erected, and a garden to be 
prepared ; and having also given such instructions as I thought 
necessary, I left the camp on the morning of the 30th with Flood 
and overtook Mr. Browne on the evening of the 1st of August. 
We saw and communicated with several parties of natives 
availing themselves of the surface-water left by the recent rains 
the only occasions on which these lonely deserts can be traversed 
to capture the jerboa, which inhabit the sand ridges in thousands. 
One man had no less than eighty in his bag, of this beautiful 
little animal, all of which he and his companion devoured at a 
single meal. 
We travelled over high sandy ridges, separated as usual by 
long narrow flats running longitudinally N.N.E. and S.S.W., 
so that they were now running in a more northerly direction. 
On the 2nd we passed through a terrible country and over ridges 
of sand that in the distance looked like brick walls. No trees 
were to be seen, and but little vegetation of any kind. We 
halted at eleven and a half miles, and from a neighbouring hill 
sighted some very distant and lofty ranges to the S.S.W. The 
country had become barren beyond description, and resembled 
the most barren neighbourhood of the sea. On the 4th we 
crossed a salt-water creek, coming from the north, with deep 
holes of dark blue water, as strong as brine, and at a quarter of 
a mile from it a little creek of fresh water, the only one we did 
cross in chaining 131 ^ miles, the distance we had chained on the 
5 th, when we were suddenly stopped by the broad, shallow, dry 
and sandy bed of a great lake; for on gaining the summit of a 
bank, beyond which the country had appeared very depressed, 
