23RD FEBRUARY.--The drays did not come up, nor was any intelligence of
them received at our camp until late in the afternoon, when a man I had
sent back in the morning to tell the drivers to halt in good time to send
forward the cattle by daylight along my track to the water, brought me
word that he left them on the way ten miles off about eleven in the
morning. This man (Smith) also brought forward the sheep with him. They
had not drank for two nights, and ran skipping and baaing to the water,
as soon as they saw it. The heat of this day and yesterday was excessive,
a hot wind blowing hard all the time. Among the scrub on the banks of the
Macquarie, a salt plant belonging to the genus SCLEROLOENA was remarked;
it was perhaps not distinct from S. UNIFLORA. The GOODENIA GENICULATA
overran the ground, with its strawberry-like runners, and yellow flowers.
Latitude, 30° 12' 56" S. Thermometer at sunrise, 75°; at noon, 105°; at 4
P.M., 94°; at 9, 73°;--with wet bulb, 62°.

24TH FEBRUARY.--Some of the teams came up, having been out all night. The
drivers brought me word that they had been detached at twilight to come
six miles; the night was very dark; of course they could not see my
track, and as a matter equally of course, the spare bullocks had strayed
from them. Such were the almost daily recurring causes of delay by the
bullock drivers on this journey. Here, within a day's journey (thirteen
miles) of the Bàrwan, I was compelled to halt thus several days, and
really the prospect of performing so long a journey with such drivers
seemed almost hopeless. Thermometer at sunrise, 59°; at noon, 80°; at 4
P.M., 85°; at 9, 64°;--with wet bulb, 59°.

25TH FEBRUARY.--In the evening, the carpenter brought in ten of the stray
bullocks; four were still wanting, and I dispatched Mortimer, a bullock
driver, and the carpenter to show him where he had last left the track of