he
smokes that were ascending, and some of which were very near us. Judging
from these facts, the natives appeared to be numerous in this part of the
country, and it would be necessary to be very cautious and vigilant after
the instance I had recently met with of their cunning and daring.

September 24.--I still kept my party in camp to refresh the horses, and
occupied myself during the morning in preparing a sketch of my route to
the north, to send to the Governor from Port Lincoln. In the afternoon, I
searched for a line of road for our drays to pass, on the following day,
through the scrubby and sandy country, which still appeared to continue
in every direction.

September 25.--Leaving Refuge Rocks, at a course of S. 37 degrees W., we
passed over a wretched country, consisting principally of heavy sandy
ridges, very densely covered with scrub, and giving our horses a severe
and fagging day's work to get the dray along for only twelve miles. I
then halted, as we were fortunate enough to find an opening in the scrub,
with good grass. Searching about our encampment, I found in a small
valley at one end of the little plain, a round hole, dug by the natives,
to catch the drainage from the slope above it. There were two or three
quarts of water in this hole when we discovered it; but by enlarging it,
we managed to fill a bucket once every hour from the water which drained
into it. This enabled us to save, to some extent, the water we had in our
casks, at the same time that all the horses had as much as they could
drink. I took angles from the camp to all the hills in sight, and at
night made the latitude of the tent 33 degrees 18 minutes 34 seconds S.
by an altitude of a Cygnus.

September 26.--After travelling for thirteen miles at S. 40 degrees W., I
took a set of angles from a low scrubby hill, being the last opportunity
I should have of setting many of the heights, of which I had obtained
bearings from former camps. I then changed our course to S. 27 degrees W.
for five miles, and halted for the night where there was good grass. We
could find no water during the day; I had, consequently, to give the
horses some out of the casks. The country we traversed had altered
greatly in character, and though still heavy and sandy, it was a white
coarse gritty sand, instead of a fine red; and instead of the dense
cucalyptus scrub, we had now low heathy shrubs which did not present much
impediment to the progress of the dray, and