had the prospect of a comfortable breakfast in the morning.

On the 6th February we journeyed again through a barren scrub, although
on firmer ground, and passed numerous groups of huts. At about eight
miles from our last encampment, we came upon the river where its banks
were of considerable height. In riding along them Mr. Hume thought he
observed a current running, and he called to inform me of the
circumstance. On a closer examination we discovered some springs in the
very bed of the river, from which a considerable stream was gushing, and
from the incrustation around them, we had no difficulty in guessing at
their nature; in fact, they were brine springs, and I collected a
quantity of salt from the brink of them.

After such a discovery we could not hope to keep our position. No doubt
the current we had observed on first reaching the river was caused by
springs that had either escaped our notice, or were under water. Here
was at length a local cause for its saltness that destroyed at once the
anticipation and hope of our being near its termination, and,
consequently, the ardour with which we should have pressed on to decide
so interesting a point.

We calculated that we were forty miles from the camp, in a S.W.
direction, a fearful distance under our circumstances, since we could
not hope to obtain relief for two days. Independently, however, of the
state of the animals, our spirits were damped by the nature of the
country, and the change which had taken place in the soil, upon which it
was impossible that water could rest; while the general appearance of
the interior showed how much it suffered from drought. On the other
hand, although the waters of the river had become worse to the taste,
the river itself had increased in size and stretched away to the