South of us, and distant about a mile, there was
a large dry lagoon, white with salt, and another of a similar kind to the
west of it.
These changes in the character of the country convinced me that we should
soon arrive at some more important one. On the 4th we advanced as usual
on a bearing of 75 degrees to the west of south, having then chained 65
miles upon it. At about three miles we observed a sand hill in front of
us, beyond which no land was to be seen, as if the country dipped, and
there was a great hollow. On arriving at this sand hill our further
progress westward was checked by the intervention of an immense shallow
and sandy basin, upon which we looked down from the place where we stood.
The hills we had seen the day before were still visible through a good
telescope, but we could only distinguish their outlines; in addition to
them, however, there was a nearer flattopped range, more to the northward
and westward of the main range, which latter still bore S.S.W., and
appeared to belong to a high and broken chain of mountains. The sandy
basin was from ten to twelve miles broad, but destitute of water opposite
to us, although there were, both to the southward and northward, sheets
of water as blue as indigo and as salt as brine. These detached sheets
were fringed round with samphire bushes with which the basin was also
speckled over.
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