our arrangements were made, and every thing rejected that we
could do without, I found that the loads of the horses were reduced in
the aggregate about two hundred pounds; but this being divided among ten,
relieved each only a little. Myself, the overseer, and the King George's
Sound native invariably walked the whole way, but the two younger natives
were still permitted to ride alternately upon one of the strongest
horses. As our allowance of flour was very small, and the fatigue and
exertion we were all obliged to undergo very great, I ordered a sheep to
be killed before we moved on again. We had been upon short allowance for
some time, and were getting weak and hardly able to go through the toils
that devolved upon us. Now, I knew that our safety depended upon that of
our horses, and that their lives again were contingent upon the amount of
fatigue we were ourselves able to endure, and the degree of exertion we
were capable of making to relieve them in extremity. I did not therefore
hesitate to make use of one of our three remaining sheep to strengthen us
for coming trials, instead of retaining them until perhaps they might be
of little use to us. The whole party had a hearty meal, and then,
watching the horses until midnight, we moved on when the moon rose.

During the morning we had passed along an extensive dried-up salt swamp
behind the coast ridge, which was soft for the horses in some places, but
free from that high brush which fatigued them so much, and which now
appeared to come close in to the sea, forming upon the high sandy ridges
a dense scrub. The level bank of the higher ground, or continuation of
the cliffs of the Bight, which had heretofore been distinctly visible at
a distance of ten or twelve miles inland, could no longer be seen: it had
either merged in the scrubby and sandy elevations around us, or was hid
by them from our view.

March 27.--During the night we travelled slowly over densely scrubby and
sandy ridges, occasionally crossing large sheets of oolitic limestone, in
which were deep holes that would most likely retain water after rains,
but which were now quite dry. As the daylight dawned the dreadful nature
of the scrub drove us to the sea beach; fortunately it was low water, and
we obtained a firm hard sand to travel over, though occasionally
obstructed by enormous masses of sea-weed, thrown into heaps of very many
feet in thickness and several hundreds of yards in length, looking
exactl