them
exposed, and they had, in consequence, been destroyed by solar heat, and
were in a state of putrefaction. Our horses refused to drink, but it was
evident that some natives must have partaken of this sickening beverage
only a few hours before our arrival. Indeed, it was clear that a wandering
family must have slept near this spot, as we observed a fresh made gunneah
(or native hut), and their foot-prints were so fresh along the line we
were pursuing, that we momentarily expected to have overtaken them. It was
late in the evening when we got out of this brush into better and more
open ground, where, in ordinary seasons we should, no doubt, have found
abundance of water. But we now searched in vain for it, and were contented
to be enabled to give our wearied animals better food than they had tasted
for many days, the forest grass, though in tufts, being abundant.

We brought up for the night at the edge of a scrub, having travelled from
thirty-two to thirty-five miles, judging the distance from the mountains
still to be about twelve.

BEARINGS FROM OXLEY'S TABLE LAND.

In the morning we started at an early hour, and immediately entered the
brush, beneath which we had slept; pursuing a westerly course through it.
After a short ride, we found ourselves upon a plain, that was crowded with
flocks of cockatoos. Here we got a supply of water, such as it was--so
mixed with slime as to hang in strings between the fingers; and, after a
hasty breakfast, we proceeded on our journey, mostly through a barren
sandy scrub that was a perfect burrow from the number of wombats in it, to
within a mile of the hill group, where the country appeared like one
continuous meadow to the very base of them. I never saw anything like the
luxuriance of the grass on this tract of country, waving as it did higher
than our horses' middles as we rode through it. We ascended the S.W. face
of the mountain to an elevation of at least 800 feet above the level of
the plain, and had some difficulty in scaling the masses of rock that
opposed themselves to our progress. But on gaining the summit, we were
amply repaid for our trouble. The view extended far and wide, but we were
again disappointed in the main object that had induced us to undertake the
journey. I took the following bearings by compass. Oxley's Table Land bore
N. 40 E. distant forty-five miles; small and distant hill due E.; conical
peak seen from Oxley's Table Land S. 60 E., very distant; lon