ap hills about
thirty miles to the north-north-east; also some smaller trap ranges to
the north-west, from ten to thirty miles distant. At noon steered 302
degrees towards the nearest of these ranges, traversing a level plain
with brushwood and grass; at 4.45 crossed a small dry watercourse
trending west, and at 5.5 bivouacked on a granite hill, with some grass
and a fine pool of rainwater in a hollow of the rock.

Latitude 29 degrees 3 minutes 14 seconds; longitude 117 degrees 31
minutes.

1st September.

Resumed our route at 7.45 a.m.; at 8.45 reached the hills we had been
steering for; from the summit there was an extensive view: to the north
and west were many trap hills and several dry salt lakes; to the north
the country was level for several miles, and then rose into a low range
of granite hills, covered with brushwood and grass; at 9.20 steered 230
degrees over level country with dense thickets of acacia; at noon the
country became more open; at 1.0 passed some small dry salt lagoons, the
country more open and with some grass, and at 3.0 camped at the foot of a
granite hill, with good grass and some water oozing out of a cleft in the
rock.

Latitude 28 degrees 50 minutes 44 seconds; longitude 117 degrees 20
minutes.

2nd September.

Leaving the bivouac at 7.40 a.m., steered 330 degrees over a succession
of grassy granite hills, with small watercourse trending to the west; at
12.40 p.m. came on a party of four aboriginals, who hastily decamped,
leaving their spears and shields behind in the hurry of retreat; they
appeared to be of rather small stature, and somewhat darker in colour
than the blacks near the Swan River. Observing a remarkable hill bearing
312 degrees about twenty miles distant, steered for it; the country
became more level, with grass and brushwood; at 3.5 turned north to a
steep granite hill, crossing a dry watercourse thirty yards wide and
sixteen feet deep trending north-west; at 4.40 halted in a gully in the
granite range, and obtained water by digging among the rocks.

Latitude 28 degrees 34 minutes 9 seconds; longitude 117 degrees 2
minutes.

3rd September.

Started at 8.0 a.m., steering towards the hill seen yesterday, and which
now bore 307 degrees. The country was nearly a dead level, with a few
small dry watercourses trending south-west; the soil a red loam,
producing some grass and small acacias; at 10.50 came on an extensive
flat covered with salicornia, which extended to t