l.

After digging out the sand and hauling it in buckets to the surface we
had a rock-hole nearly conical in shape, twenty-five feet deep, twenty
feet by fifteen at the mouth, narrowing in on all sides to three feet in
diameter at the bottom. The first day and night we laboured until we
literally could no longer move, from sheer exhaustion. Breaden was so
cramped and cold, from a long spell in the wet sand below, that we had to
haul him out, put him in his blankets, and pile them upon him, though the
night was warm. The result of all this toil--not quite ninety gallons of
far from pure water! What a country! one ceaseless battle for water,
which at whatever cost one is only too thankful to get! Of the ninety
gallons, sixty were distributed amongst the horses and camels, the
remainder we kept for our own use and that of the horses when we
continued our journey. Eight miles of sandhills on the 20th took us,
under the native's guidance, to another rock-hole--full to the brim--its
water protected from the sun by an overhanging ledge of rock.

Here we soon had the thirsty animals satisfied, and had time to consider
the rather comical aspect of affairs from the black-fellow's point of
view. How he must have laughed to himself as he watched us toiling away,
coaxing out water drop by drop the days before, when all the time a
plentiful supply was close at hand! Excellent grass surrounds the
rock-hole, enclosed by mulga thickets, so we rested here a day, shooting
a few pigeons and enjoying the first proper wash since April 25th, when
we last camped at a good water. Whilst travelling, of course no water for
washing could be afforded, as every pint was of some service to the
horses.

This rock-hole is in lat. 23 degrees 44 minutes, long. 128 degrees
52 minutes. On May 22nd we continued our journey, marching South over
irregular sandhills, forcing our way through scrubs, until, on the evening
of the 23rd, we were in the latitude of the centre of Lake Amadeus, as it
was formerly marked by Giles. I was anxious to see if Tietkens had perhaps
passed between two lakes, leaving an unnoticed lake on his left. We now
altered our course to the West, sighting a large bare hill some forty
miles distant, which I take to be Mount Skene (Giles). This hill is close
to the high ranges, the Petermann and others, and it would have
simplified our journey to have turned to them, where good waters are
known to exist, but I desired to see what secrets