The morning of the 20th was bitterly cold, with the wind at S.S.E., and I
cannot help thinking that there are extensive waters in some parts of the
in terior, over which it came: the thermometer stood at 42 degrees. We
started on a course of 335 degrees for a distant sandy peak rising above
the general line of the horizon. At a mile, one of the horses fortunately
got bogged in a little narrow channel just like that in the grassy plain;
I say fortunately, for we might otherwise have passed the water it
contained without knowing it, so completely was it shaded. In looking
along the channel more closely, we discovered a little pool about three
yards long and one broad, but deep. At this we breakfasted and watered
the horses, and then pushed on. The lodgment of this water had been
caused by local drainage, and was evident from the green feed round
about. Here again it appeared we had occasion to be thankful, for on this
supply I hoped we might safely calculate for a week at least, so that we
still held on our course with more confidence, keeping at the base of the
ridge, and passing an extent of five miles through an open box-tree
forest, every tree of which was dead. The whole scene being one of the
most profound silence and marked desolation, for here no living thing was
to be seen.
At nine miles we ascended the ridge, and from it the Desert appeared to
be interminable from N.
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