ok of the general misery and
wretchedness of the place."

He directed his course to the most distant point of the Flinders Range,
but when he arrived there, he was obliged to christen it Mount Deception,
as his hope of finding water there was disappointed. Subsisting as well
as they could on rain puddles on the plains, Eyre and his boy searched
about for some time and at last found a permanent-looking hole in a small
creek. They then returned to the main party. Having concealed the
supplies landed from the cutter, Eyre sent the vessel back to Adelaide
with despatches, and moved the whole of the men out to the pool of water
that he had just found. From this vantage point he made various scouting
trips with the black boy, both to the eastward and westward of north. The
2nd of September found him on the summit of an elevation which he
appropriately named Mount Hopeless, gazing at the salt lake that he now
thought hemmed him in on three sides, even to the eastward. There was no
prospect visible of crossing the lake, which seemed persistently to defy
him, meeting him at every attempt with a barrier of stagnant mud. There
was nothing for it but to leave the interior unvisited by this route, and
to return to Mount Arden.

He divided his party, sending Baxter, the overseer, with most of the men
and stores straight across to Streaky Bay, where he had formerly made a
camp, while, with the remainder, he made his way to Port Lincoln. Having
abandoned his intention to penetrate to the interior on a northern
course, he now determined to push out westward, to King George's Sound,
finding, perhaps, on the way across, some inducement that would lead him
north.

At Port Lincoln he could not obtain the extra supplies he wanted without
sending to Adelaide; it was therefore the 24th of October when he finally
started for Streaky Bay. He found that Baxter had arrived there safely,
and was anxiously awaiting him.

He now camped for many weeks at Fowler's Bay, which was as far as the
cutter they now had, the Hero, could act as convoy, her charter not
extending beyond South Australian waters. The Waterwitch having sprung a
leak, the Hero had taken her place. During the time that they remained
there, Eyre made many journeys ahead to estimate his chances of getting
across the dry and barren country intervening between him and the Sound,
but the outlook was disheartening. He met some natives, who all assured
him that there was no water ahead;