he actually stony ground that is bare, and many
a sheep run is in fact worse grazing ground than that. At fifteen
miles we crossed another sand ridge, for several miles round which
there is plenty of grass and fine salt bush. After crossing this
ridge we descended to an earthy plain, where the ground was rather
heavy, being in some places like pieces of slaked lime, and
intersected by small watercourses; flocks of pigeons rose from
amongst the salt bushes and polygonum; but all the creeks were dry,
although marked by lines of box timber. Several gunyahs of the
blacks were situated near a waterhole that had apparently contained
water very lately, and heaps of grass were lying about the plains,
from which they had beaten the seeds. We pushed on, hoping to find
the creeks assuming an improved appearance, but they did not, and
at one o'clock we halted, intending to travel through part of the
night. About sunset, three flocks of pigeons passed over us, all
going in the same direction, due north by compass, and passing over
a ridge of sand in that direction. Not to have taken notice of such
an occurrence would have been little short of a sin, so we
determined to go eight or ten miles in that direction. Starting at
seven o'clock P.M., we, at six miles, crossed the ridge over which
the birds had flown, and came on a flat, subject to inundation. The
ground was at first hard and even like the bottom of a claypan, but
at a mile or so, we came on cracked earthy ground, intersected by
numberless small channels running in all directions. At nine miles
we reached the bed of a creek running from east to west: it was
only bordered by polygonum bushes, but as there was no timber
visible on the plains, we thought it safer to halt until daylight,
for fear we should miss the water. At daylight, when we had
saddled, a small quantity of timber could be seen at the point of a
sand ridge about a mile and a half or two miles to the west of us,
and on going there we found a fine creek, with a splendid sheet of
water more than a mile long, and averaging nearly three chains
broad: it is, however, only two or three feet deep in most parts.

Monday, 24th December, 1860.--We took a day of rest on Gray's Creek
to celebrate Christmas. This was doubly pleasant, as we had never,
in our most sanguine moments, anticipated finding such a delightful
oasis in the desert. Our camp was really an agreeable place, for we
had all the advantages of food and water,