the hills near
the camp, although there was some uncertainty in our recognition of them
at the distance of 40 miles. The Red Hill, however, close to the camp
bore south, and was full that distance from us. We could also see the
course of the creeks we had been tracing, ultimately breaking through the
range to the eastward and passing into the plains beyond. Behind us to
the north there were many projecting points appearing above the level of
the range. These seemed to be the northern termination of these hills,
and beyond them the country was very low. The outline of the projecting
points was hilly, and they were so exactly alike that it would have been
impossible to have recognised any to which we might have taken bearings;
but there were two little cones in a small range to the north upon which
I felt I could rely with greater certainty. They respectively bore 302
and 306 from me; and as they were the only advanced points on which I
could now keep up bearings, although in the midst of hills, I determined
as soon as I should have examined the neighbourhood a little more, to
proceed to them. From our first position we went to the next, a hill of
about 450 feet in height, perfectly flat-topped, and detached from the
main group.

In crossing over to this point the ground was stony, but there was a good
deal of grass growing in tufts upon it, and bare patches of blistered
earth on which flat stools of gypsum were apparently in process of
formation. Immediately to the left there were five remarkable conical
hills. These we successively passed, and then entered a narrow, short
valley, between the last of these cones and the hill we were about to
ascend. The ground was covered with fragments of indurated quartz (of
which the whole group was composed), in parallelograms of different
dimensions. The scene was like that of a city whose structures had been
shaken to pieces by an earthquake--one of ruin and desolation. The faces
of the hills, both here and in other parts of the group, were cracked by
solar heat, and thus the rock was scaling off. We were here obliged to
dismount and walk. The day being insufferably hot, it was no pleasant
task to climb under such exposure to an elevation of nearly 500 feet. We
had frequently to take breath during our ascent, and reached the summit
of the hill somewhat exhausted. The view was precisely similar to that we
had overlooked from the opposite point, which bore W. by N. from us.
Again th