From the point where we
first came down upon it, we traversed a flat beach covered with a short
coarse rush, having the high red sand hill, of which I have spoken, to
our left; before us a vast extent of low white sand, and to the eastward
an extremely dark and depressed country. I was really afraid of entering
on the scorching sands in our front, for we were now full 90 miles from
the creek, and it was absolutely necessary, before I should exceed that
distance, to find a more permanent supply of water than the wells we had
dug on our way out. In order to ascertain the nature of the country more
satisfactorily, however, I ascended the rugged termination of the sandy
ridge, close to which we had been riding, and was induced, from what I
then saw, to determine on a course somewhat to the west of north, since a
due north course was evidently closed upon me; for I now saw that the
country in that direction was hopeless, as well as in an easterly
direction; but although I stood full 80 feet above the lake, I could not
distinguish any thing like a hill on the distant horizon. To the
westward, as a medium point, there were a succession of sandy ridges,
similar to that on which I stood; but to the S.W. there seemed to be an
interval of plain. As the thunder storm had reached as far as the place
where we last slept, I did not doubt but that it had also reached the
lake, and on consideration determined to keep as northerly a course as
circumstances would permit, in pushing into a country in which I was
meeting new difficulties every hour.
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