difficulty that I removed the taste from my mouth. At eight or nine
miles from where we crossed the creek we passed another large
lagoon, leaving it two miles on our left, and shortly afterwards we
saw one nearly as far on our right. This last we should have
availed ourselves of, but that we expected to find water in a creek
which we could see, by the timber lining its banks, flowed from the
lagoon on our left and crossed our course a few miles ahead. We
reached it at a distance of four or five miles farther, and found a
splendid waterhole at which we camped. The creek at the point flows
in a northerly direction through a large lightly timbered flat, on
which it partially runs out. The ground is, however, sound and well
clothed with grass and salsolaceous plants. Up to this point the
country through which we have passed has been of the finest
description for pastoral purposes. The grass and saltbush are
everywhere abundant, and water is plentiful with every appearance
of permanence. We met with porcupine grass, [Footnote: Triodia
pungens.--Br.] and only two sand ridges before reaching Camp 71.

FIELD BOOK 2.

CAMP 72 TO 78. LATITUDE 27 TO 25 1/2 DEGREES S.L.

Saturday, 22nd December.--At five minutes to five A.M. we left one
of the most delightful camps we have had in the journey, and
proceeded on the same course as before, north-west by north, across
some high ridges of loose sand, many of which were partially
clothed with porcupine grass. We found the ground much worse to
travel over than any we have yet met with, as the ridges were
exceedingly abrupt and steep on their eastern side, and although
sloping gradually towards the west, were so honeycombed in some