ve on the party until after having
previously ascertained where they could be taken to with safety. Upon
examining the barometers to-day, I was much concerned to find that they
were both out of order and useless; the damp had softened the glue
fastening the bags of leather which hold the quicksilver, and the
leathers that were glued over the joints of the cisterns, and so much of
the mercury had escaped, before I was aware of it, that I found all the
previous observations valueless. I emptied the tubes and attempted to
refill them, but in so doing I unfortunately broke one of them, and the
other I could not get repaired in a satisfactory manner, not being able,
after all my efforts, to get rid of some small air bubbles that would
intrude, in spite of every care I could exercise.

August 2.--Leaving early, I took with me a native boy, and a man on
horseback, leading a pack-horse, to carry water, as I could not but be
apprehensive, lest we might find none in the country into which we were
advancing. In following down the Depot watercourse to the plains, we
found a fire where the natives had encamped the previous night. This
surprised us, because we were not aware that there were any so
immediately in our vicinity. It however shewed us the necessity of
vigilance and circumspection in our future movements.

Steering for the most western point of Mount Deception range, until we
opened one still more distant to the north-west, and which I named
Termination Hill, we kept pushing on through barren stony plains, without
grass or shrubs, and arrived late in the afternoon upon a large
watercourse with gum-trees, but could find no water in its bed. Near it,
however, in the plains, we were fortunate enough to discover a puddle of
rain water, and at once halted for the night, though the feed was
indifferent. We had travelled twenty-eight miles, and the pack-horse
carrying twelve gallons of water, was considerably fatigued. At the
puddle, two teal were seen, which indicated the existence of a larger
body of water somewhere in the neighbourhood, but our efforts to find it
were unsuccessful.

August 3.--Crossing very heavy sandy ridges, we passed at intervals one
or two dry watercourses, and the beds of some small dry lakes among the
sandy ridges, in one of which was a little rain water which appeared to
be rapidly drying up. Watering the horses we moved on for Termination
Hill, but the nature of the country had been so unfavourable,