May 22.--The nights cold and frosty, the days warm and clear: I think it
is very evident that the altitude of the country declines in a
remarkable manner to the north-west; from the south-east to the
south-west it appears nearly of the same elevation; and in travelling we
appear to be going along an inclined plane, the lowest edges being from
west to north. I went about five miles to the north-west to the place
whence the water was procured; the country poor, and as barren as can
well be imagined; the soil a light red sand, acacia scrubs, small
box-trees, and a few miserable cypresses.

May 23.--Our route lay through a country equally bad, if not worse, than
any which we had passed the preceding days: in some places it was
difficult for the horses to force a passage through the brush;
occasionally low stony ridges intervened, which, when viewed from higher
eminences, were not to be detected from the plain out of which they
rose. The soil was alternately a sterile sand and a hardened clay,
without grass of any description: the country appeared to form the
bottom of a dry morass, and I am convinced if the weather had not been
dry for a considerable time, travelling would have been impossible.
After proceeding ten miles we were obliged to stop, the horses being
unable to go further. We had seen no signs of water during our route,
but stopping at a stony water-course we were in hopes of finding a
sufficiency to supply our wants, and on a hill at the end of it, about a
quarter of a mile to the westward, water was found.

May 24.--A day of rest and preparation. The country seems to rise
hereabouts and to be more broken, the ridges stony: the dwarf timber and
brush very thick. In searching for the horses this morning several
kangaroos and emus were seen, also the huts of a tribe of natives