vourable than we were now
in, was so strong that I never for a moment entertained the idea myself.
I knew the many and frightful pushes without water we should have to make
in any such attempt, and though the country before us was unknown, it
could not well be worse than that we had passed through, whilst the
probability was, that after the first long stage was accomplished, and
which would take us beyond the western boundary of the Great Bight, we
should experience a change in the character of the country, and be able
to advance with comparative ease and facility. Unhappily my overseer
differed from me in opinion upon this point.

The last desperate march we had made, had produced so strong an
impression upon his mind, that he could not divest himself of the idea
that the further we went to the westward the more arid the country would
be found, and that eventually we should all perish from want of water; on
the other hand, the very reduced allowance of food we were compelled to
limit ourselves to, made his thoughts always turn to the depot at
Fowler's Bay, where we had buried a large supply of provisions of all
kinds. In vain I pointed out to him the certain difficulties we must
encounter in any attempt to return, the little probability there was of a
single horse surviving even the first of those dreadful stages we should
have to make, and the utter impossibility of our getting successfully
through without the horses; and, on the other hand, the very cheering
prospect there was of all our most serious difficulties being terminated
as soon as we had turned the western extremity of the Bight (to
accomplish which, would not occupy more than six or seven days at the
furthest when we moved on,) and the strong hopes that we might then
reasonably entertain of falling in with some vessel, sealing or whaling
upon the coast, and from which we might obtain a fresh supply of
provisions. All my arguments were fruitless. With the characteristic
obedience and fidelity with which he had ever served me, he readily
acquiesced in any plan I might decide upon adopting; but I perceived,
with pain, that I could not convince him that the view I took was the
proper one, and that the plan I intended to follow was the only one which
held out to us even the remotest hopes of eventual safety and success.

Finding that I made little progress in removing his doubts on the
question of our advance, I resolved to pursue the subject no further,
until