As The Sun Was
Setting, I Resolved Upon Encamping In An Open Plain, Although Without
Water, Except What We Carried In Our Large Stew-Pot.
Charley, who had
been sent forward, had not yet joined us; I, therefore, ordered two guns
to be fired, to let him know where we were; he immediately answered us
from a short distance, where he lighted up a cheerful fire.
After some
time, during which misfortune and carelessness had played us the trick of
upsetting our waterpot, Charley arrived with the welcome news that he had
found some water-holes in a small creek; we therefore, at moonrise, again
saddled our tired animals, and repaired thither.
The day had been exceedingly hot; but the passing shadows of cumuli which
formed in the afternoon, occasionally afforded us a delightful relief.
The sea breeze was strong, particularly towards evening; but the dense
scrub and forest kept it from us during the day.
Oct. 18. - I stopped at the water-holes, to allow our cattle to recover.
It was a lovely place. The country around us was very open, and agreeably
diversified by small clusters of the raspberry-jam tree. Salicornia and
Binoe's Trichinium indicated the neighbourhood of salt water; but the
grass was good and mostly young. The creek was shaded by drooping
tea-trees and the broad-leaved Terminalia, which also grew scattered over
the flats. The water-hole on which we were encamped was about four feet
deep, and contained a great number of guard-fish, which, in the morning,
kept incessantly springing from the water.
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