ass that grew sparingly on some of them,
nothing but rhagodia and atriplex flourished.

I had tried the temperature of boiling water at the spot where we stopped
in the Rocky Glen, and found it to be 211 degrees and a small fraction;
and as we descended a little after leaving the creek, we could not have
been much above the sea level at one period of the day, although now more
than 450 miles from the coast. Our ascent to the top of the little range
was very gradual; its sides destitute alike of trees and vegetation,
being profusely covered with fragments of indurated quartz, thinly coated
with oxide of iron: when on the summit we could not have risen more than
120 feet. It extended for some miles to the N.E., apparently parallel to
the ranges from which we had come, whose higher points were visible from
it, but to the north and west the horizon was as level as that of the
ocean. A dark gloomy sea of scrub without a break in its monotonous
surface met our gaze, nor was there a new object of any kind to be seen
indicative of a probable change of country. Had other hills appeared to
the north I should have made for them, but to have descended into such a
district as that below me, seemed to be too hazardous an experiment at
this stage of our journey. I determined therefore to return to the main
range, and examine it to the north-east. I could not but think, however,
from the appearance of the country as far as we had gone, that we could
not be very far from the outskirts of an inland sea, it so precisely
resembled a low and barren sea coast. This idea I may say haunted me, and
was the cause of my making a second journey to the same locality; but on
the present occasion, as the sun had set, I retraced my steps to a small
flat where we had noticed a little grass, and tethering our horses out
laid down to rest.

The desert ridden through the day before, seemed doubly desolate as we
returned. The heat was intolerable, in consequence of a hot wind that
blew upon us like a sirocco from the N.W., and the air so rarified that
we could hardly breathe, and were greatly distressed. To our infinite
relief we got back to the creek at half-past two, after a ride of about
37 miles.

The first thing we did on arriving, was to visit the hut of the natives
to see if they had been there during our absence, but as my knife still
dangled on the spear, we were led to conclude they had not. On examining
the edifice, however, we missed several