om the fact of these huts facing the north-west I conclude that their
more inclement weather is from the opposite point of the compass. It was
also evident from the circumstance of their being unoccupied at that time
(January), that they were winter habitations, at which season the
natives, no doubt, suffer greatly from cold and damp, the country being
there much under water, at least from appearances. I had remarked that as
we proceeded northwards the huts were more compactly built, and the
opening or entrance into them smaller, as if the inhabitants of the more
northern interior felt the winter's cold in proportion to the summer
heat.

Our position at this point was in latitude 29 degrees 43 minutes S., and
in longitude 141 degrees 14 minutes E., the variation being 5 degrees 21
minutes East. I had intended pushing on immediately to the ranges, and
examining the country to the north-east; but I thought it prudent ere I
did this to ascertain the farther course of this creek, as it appeared
from observations we had just made that the fall of waters was to the
eastward. We accordingly started at daylight on the 20th, but after
tracing it for a few miles, found that it turned sharp round to the
westward and spread over a flat, beyond which its channel was nowhere to
be found. I therefore turned towards the ranges, and arriving at the
upper water-hole at half-past two, determined to stop until the
temperature should cool down in the afternoon before I proceeded along
the line of hills to the N.E., for the day had been terrifically hot, and
both ourselves and our horses were overpowered with extreme lassitude. At
a quarter past 3, p.m. on the 21st of January, the thermometer had risen
to 131 degrees in the shade, and to 154 degrees in the direct rays of the
sun. In the evening however we pushed on for about ten miles, and halted
on a plain about a mile from the base of the hills, without water.

On the 22nd we continued our journey to the north-east, through a country
that was anything but promising. Although we were traversing plains, our
view was limited by acacias and other trees growing upon them.
Notwithstanding that we kept close in to the ranges, the water-courses we
crossed could hardly be recognised as such, as they scarcely reached to a
greater distance than a mile and a half on the plains, before they spread
out and terminated. As we advanced the brush became thicker, nor was
there anything to cheer us onwards. I