at we had taken possession of his camp and water. He came
fearlessly down the hill, and by signs ordered us to depart, threatening
to go for his tribe to kill us all, but seeing that his anger only made
us smile, he sat down and sulked. I really respected the native's
bravery, and question much if I should have shewn equal spirit in a
similar situation. Mr. Browne's feelings I am sure corresponded with my
own, so we got up and left him, with an intention on my part to return
when I thought he had cooled down to make him some presents, but when we
did so he had departed with all his family, and returned not to the
neighbourhood again. We had preserved two or three of the fish, and in
the hope of making the women understand us better, produced them, on
which they eagerly tried to snatch them from us, but did not succeed.
They were evidently anxious to get them to eat, and I mention the fact,
though perhaps telling against my generosity on the occasion, to prove
how rare such a feast must be to them.

As I had foreseen, our horses finished all the water in the puddle during
the night, and we left at seven in the following morning, taking up our
usual N.N.W. course, from which, up to this point we had not deviated. We
passed for about eight miles through open box-tree forest, with a large
grassy flat, backed by sand hills to the right. The country indeed had an
appearance of improvement. There was grass under the trees, and the
scenery as we rode along was really cheerful. I began to hope we were
about to leave behind us the dreary region we had wandered over, and that
happier and brighter prospects would soon open out, to reward us for past
disappointment. Mr. Browne and I even ventured to express such
anticipations to each other as we journeyed onwards. At eight miles
however, all our hopes were annihilated. A wall of sand suddenly rose
before us, such as we had not before seen; lying as it did directly
across our course we had no choice but to ascend. For 20 miles we toiled
over as distressing a country as can be imagined, each succeeding sand
ridge assumed a steeper and more rugged character, and the horse with
difficulty pulled the cart along. At 13 miles we crossed a salt lagoon
similar to the one I have described to the S.E. of the plains on which we
had last seen the natives, but larger. Near it there was a temporary
cessation of the fearful country we had just passed, but it was only
temporary, the sand ridges again