drink of water, or a
mouthful of bread. We had now demonstrated the practicability of
collecting water from the dew. I had often heard from the natives that
they were in the habit of practising this plan, but had never before
actually witnessed its adoption. It was, however, very cold work, and
completely wet me through from head to foot, a greater quantity of water
by far having been shaken over me, from the bushes, than I was able to
collect with my sponge. The natives make use of a large oblong vessel of
bark, which they hold under the branches, whilst they brush them with a
little grass, as I did with the sponge; the water thus falls into the
trough held for it, and which, in consequence of the surface being so
much larger than the orifice of a quart pot, is proportionably sooner
filled. After the sun once rises, the spangles fall from the boughs, and
no more water can be collected; it is therefore necessary to be at work
very early, if success is an object of importance.

The morning was very hazy, and at first nothing could be seen of the
country before us; but as the mist gradually cleared away a long point
was seen to the south-west, but so very distant that I felt certain our
horses never would get there if it lay between us and the water. To our
astonishment they kept moving steadily along the beach, which was
tolerably firm near the sea, in which were many reefs and shelves of
rocks, covered with muscles below low water mark. As we progressed, it
was evident that the country was undergoing a considerable change; the
sea shore dunes and the ridges immediately behind them were now of a pure
white sand, and steep, whilst those further back were very high and
covered with low bushes. Upon ascending one of the latter I had a good
view around, and to my inexpressible pleasure and relief saw the high
drifts of sand we were looking for so anxiously, in the corner between us
and the more distant point of land first seen. The height of the
intervening ridges and the sand-drifts being in the angle prevented us
from noticing them sooner.

We had now travelled ten miles, and the sand-hills were about five miles
further. The horses were, however, becoming exhausted, and the day was so
hot that I was compelled to halt, and even now, in sight of our
long-expected goal, I feared we might be too late to save them. Leaving
the boys to attend to the animals, I took the overseer up one of the
ridges to reconnoitre the country f