our present depot, it was not visible to the north of west, and I should
not have felt myself justified in going away to the eastward, without
positively ascertaining its connection with the basin I was at to the
north-west; accordingly, as soon as the overseer returned I got ready for
another harassing and uninteresting journey to the westward.

August 22.--Setting off early this morning, accompanied by a native boy,
I steered W.N.W. For the first four miles, I took my overseer along with
me, to shew him the direction I intended to take, so that if I did not
return in two days, he might send a pack-horse with water to meet me
along the tracks.

After he had left I pushed steadily on for thirty-five miles, principally
over heavy sandy ridges, which were very fatiguing to the horses, and at
dark reached the outer dunes of the lake, where I was obliged to tie the
horses up to some small bushes, as there was neither water nor grass for
them. The bed of the lake where I struck it, seemed dry for some distance
from the shore, but towards the middle there appeared to be a large body
of water. From our camp Mount Deception bore E. 26 degrees S. and
Termination Hill, E. 35 degrees N.

August 23.--Starting early, I traced the course of the lake
north-westerly for ten miles, and was then able to satisfy myself that it
was a part of the same vast basin I had seen so much further to the
north, it inclined here considerably to the westward, and this
circumstance added to the high sandy ridges intervening between it and
Flinders range fully explained the cause of our not having observed its
course to the north of west from the hills near our depot. Crossing the
sandy ridge bounding the basin of the lake, I was surprised to see its
bed apparently much contracted, and the opposite shore distinctly