It
was about fifty yards broad, had low muddy banks, and was decidedly the
poorest spot we had seen of the kind. This, Nadbuck informed me, was the
Williorara or Laidley's Ponds, a piece of intelligence at which I was
utterly confounded. I could not but reproach both him and Toonda for
having so deceived me; but the latter said he had been away a long time
and that there was plenty of grass when he left. Nadbuck, on the other
hand, said he derived his information from others, and only told me what
they told him. Be that as it may, it was impossible for me to remain in
such a place, and I therefore turned back towards the Darling, and
pitched my tents at its junction with the Williorara.
For three or four days prior to our arrival at Laidley's Ponds, the
upward course of the river had been somewhat to the west of north. The
course of Laidley's Ponds was exceedingly tortuous, but almost due west.
The natives explained to us that it served as a channel of communication
between two lakes that were on either side of it, called Minandichi and
Cawndilla. They stated that the former extended between the Darling and
the ranges, but that Cawndilla was to the westward at the termination of
Laidley's Ponds, by means of which it is filled with water every time the
Darling rose; but they assured me that the waters had not yet reached the
lake. It was nevertheless evident that we were in an angle, and our
position was anything but a favourable one.
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