November 7.

- Breakfasted before daylight, and moved on with the earliest dawn to encounter a scrub which I knew to be of heavier timber, and growing more closely together than any we had yet attempted.

It consisted of Eucalyptus dumosa and the salt-water tea-tree, (the latter of a very large growth and very dense,) in a heavy sandy soil.

By keeping the axes constantly at work in advance of the drays, we succeeded in slowly forcing a passage through this dreadful country, emerging in about seventeen miles at an open plain behind Point Brown, and in the midst of which was a well of water. The entrance to this well was by a circular opening, through a solid sheet of limestone, about fifteen inches in diameter, but enlarging a little about a foot below the surface. The water was at a depth of ten feet, and so choked up with sand and dirt that we were obliged to clear the hole out effectually before we could get any for the horses. This was both a difficult and an unpleasant occupation, as the man engaged in it had to lower himself through the very narrow aperture at the top and work in a very cramped position amongst the dirt and wet below, with the mud dripping upon him; it was drawn up in a bag, for a bucket could not be used in so contracted a space. As a spade could not be employed a large shell left by the natives was used for scooping up the dirt, which made the operation both slow and tiresome. Our horses were dreadfully fagged and very thirsty after the severe toil they had endured in dragging the drays through so heavy a scrub, but with all our exertions we could only obtain from the spring about two buckets of water apiece for them. As this was not nearly enough to satisfy them, I was obliged to have them watched for the night to prevent their straying. The men had been kept incessantly at work from five in the morning until nearly ten at night, and the additional duty of watching the horses bore very hard upon them; but they knew it to be necessary, and did it cheerfully.

We had passed during our route through one or two of the small grassy openings so constantly met with even in the densest scrubs, and, as usual, I noticed upon these plains the remains of former scrub, where the trees were apparently of a larger growth than those now existing around. The soil too, from a loose sand, had become firmer and more united, and wherever the scrub had disappeared its place had been supplied by grass. This strongly confirmed my opinion, long ago formed, that those vast level wastes in Australia, now covered with low scrub, (and formerly, I imagine, the bed of the ocean,) are gradually undergoing a process of amelioration which may one day fit them for the purposes of pasture or agriculture. The smoke of many native fires was seen during the day behind and around us, but we did not fall in with any of the natives.

November 8. - Having given each of the horses a bucket of water from the well, we moved on again through the same dense scrub we had encountered yesterday, but, if possible, more harassing, from the increased steepness of the sandy ridges and the quantity of dead timber lying on the surface, and causing a great impediment to our progress. We forced our way through this worse than desert region, for about fourteen miles, and arrived early in the afternoon, with our horses quite exhausted, upon the shores of Smoky Bay, at a point where the natives had dug a hole in the sand hills near the beach to procure water, and from which the south end of the island of St. Peter bore W. 15 degrees S.

The WATERWITCH was already here, and supplied us with a cask of water, until the men had dined and rested a little, before entering upon the task of digging for water, which proved to be a most arduous undertaking, and occupied us all the afternoon. We had to sink through a loose sand for fifteen feet, which from its nature, added to the effect of a strong wind that was blowing at the time, drifted in almost as fast as it was thrown out. We were consequently obliged to make a very large opening before we could get at the water at all; it was then very abundant, but dreadfully salt, being little better than the sea water itself; the horses and sheep however drank it greedily, as we had been able to give them but little of that received from the vessel.

November 9. - Upon mustering the horses this morning I found they were looking so exhausted and jaded after the hard toil they had gone through in the last three days, that I could not venture to put them to work again to-day. I was consequently obliged to remain in camp, to rest both them and the men, all of whom were much fatigued. The well in the sand was even salter to-day than we had found it yesterday, and was quite unserviceable; the men had sunk the hole rather too deep, that they might get the water in greater abundance; but when the tide rose it flowed in under the sand and spoiled the whole. As the water, even at the best, had been so salt that we could not use it ourselves, and as it was far from being wholesome for the horses, I did not think it worth while to give the men the fatigue of digging another hole. I therefore put both horses and men upon a limited allowance, and got a cask containing sixty gallons from the cutter for our day's supply. I also took the opportunity of again lightening our loads by sending on board some more of the baggage and the light cart.

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