ance of the drays, we
succeeded in slowly forcing a passage through this dreadful country,
emerging in about seventeen miles at an open plain behind Point Brown,
and in the midst of which was a well of water. The entrance to this well
was by a circular opening, through a solid sheet of limestone, about
fifteen inches in diameter, but enlarging a little about a foot below the
surface. The water was at a depth of ten feet, and so choked up with sand
and dirt that we were obliged to clear the hole out effectually before we
could get any for the horses. This was both a difficult and an unpleasant
occupation, as the man engaged in it had to lower himself through the
very narrow aperture at the top and work in a very cramped position
amongst the dirt and wet below, with the mud dripping upon him; it was
drawn up in a bag, for a bucket could not be used in so contracted a
space. As a spade could not be employed a large shell left by the natives
was used for scooping up the dirt, which made the operation both slow and
tiresome. Our horses were dreadfully fagged and very thirsty after the
severe toil they had endured in dragging the drays through so heavy a
scrub, but with all our exertions we could only obtain from the spring
about two buckets of water apiece for them. As this was not nearly enough
to satisfy them, I was obliged to have them watched for the night to
prevent their straying. The men had been kept incessantly at work from
five in the morning until nearly ten at night, and the additional duty of
watching the horses bore very hard upon them; but they knew it to be
necessary, and did it cheerfully.

We had passed during our route through one or two of the small grassy
openings so constantly met with even in the densest scrubs, and, as
usual, I noticed upon these plains the remains of former scrub, where the
trees were apparently of a larger growth than those now existing around.
The soil too, from a loose sand, had become firmer and more united, and
wherever the scrub had disappeared its place had been supplied by grass.
This strongly confirmed my opinion, long ago formed, that those vast
level wastes in Australia, now covered with low scrub, (and formerly, I
imagine, the bed of the ocean,) are gradually undergoing a process of
amelioration which may one day fit them for the purposes of pasture or
agriculture. The smoke of many native fires was seen during the day
behind and around us, but we did not fall in with any