There Were Several Of These Holes Still Open, And The Traces Of Many Others In Every Direction Around, Which Had

Either fallen in or been filled up by the drifting of the sand. These singular wells, although sunk through a

Loose sand to a depth of fourteen or fifteen feet, were only about two feet in diameter at the bore, quite circular, carried straight down, and the work beautifully executed. To get at the water, the natives placed a long pole against one side of the well, ascending and descending by it to avoid friction against the sides, which would have inevitably sent the sand tumbling in upon them. We, however, who were so much clumsier in all our movements, could not make use of the same expedient, nor indeed, would the size of the wells, made by the natives, have enabled us even with their assistance, to get out a moderate supply for the horses. It became necessary, therefore, to open a new well, of much larger dimensions, a task of no easy kind in so loose a sand.

Having put the overseer and men to their arduous employment, I ascended the highest of the sand hills, and took a set of angles, among which Point Fowler bore W. 16 degrees S. and Point Bell, E. 40 degrees S.

A small lake was visible at W. 40 degrees N. The country still looked very cheerless in every direction, and no signs of improvement appeared to relieve the dreary scene around, or to lead me to hope for better country beyond.

Upon rejoining the well diggers, I found after great exertions they had thrown out an immense quantity of sand, and made a large and commodious well, and were just going to commence watering the horses; at this juncture and before a single bucket of water could be taken out, the sand slipped, and the sides of the well tumbled in, nearly burving alive the man who was at the bottom. The labour of two hours was lost, and tired as they were, the men had to begin their work afresh. It was eight at night before the well was cleared out again sufficiently to enable us to water the horses, for almost as fast as the sand was thrown out other sand fell in; by nine the whole of them had received two buckets of water each, when the sides of the well again shot in, and we were obliged to give up our digging operations altogether, as the men were completely exhausted; to relieve them Mr. Scott and I watched the horses during the night.

November 16. - Intending to remain in camp to-day, I set the men to clear out the well once more. It was a tedious and laborious task, in consequence of the banks of sand falling in so repeatedly, and frustrating all their efforts, but at last by sinking a large cask bored full of auger holes we contrived about one o'clock, to get all the horses and sheep watered; in the evening, however, the whole again fell in, and we gave up, in despair, the hopeless attempt to procure any further supply of water, under such discouraging circumstances.

For some days past, we had been travelling through a country in which the Mesembryanthemum grows in the greatest abundance, it was in full fruit, and constituted a favourite and important article of food among the native population; all our party partook of it freely, and found it both a wholesome and an agreeable addition to their fare; when ripe, the fruit is rich, juicy, and sweet, of about the size of a gooseberry. In hot weather it is most grateful and refreshing. I had often tasted this fruit before, but never until now liked it; in fact, I never in any other part of Australia, saw it growing in such abundance, or in so great perfection, as along the western coast. During our stay in camp a native had been sent out to call some of the other natives, and towards evening a good many came up, and were all regularly introduced to us by 'Wilguldy' and the others, who had been with us so long; I gave them a feast of rice which they appeared to enjoy greatly. Our more immediate friends and guides had learnt to drink tea, and eat meat and damper, with which we supplied them liberally, in return for the valuable services they rendered us.

November 17. - Moving on early, we were guided by the natives for about twelve miles, round the head of Fowler's Bay, crossing through a very sandy, scrubby, and hilly country, and encamping at a water hole, dug between the sandy ridges, about two o'clock in the day. I had ridden a little in advance of the party, and arriving at the water first, surprised some women and children encamped there, and very busily engaged in roasting snakes and lizards over a fire. They were much afraid and ran away on seeing me, leaving their food upon the embers, this our friendly guides unceremoniously seized upon and devoured, as soon as they came up with the drays. These few women were the first we had seen for some time, as the men appeared to keep them studiously out of our way, and it struck me that this might be in consequence of the conduct of the whalers or sealers with whom they might have come in contact on the coast. Old Wilguldy, however, appeared to be less scrupulous on this point, and frequently made very significant offers on the subject.

Soon after we had encamped several natives came up and joined those with us. They were exceedingly polite and orderly - indeed the best conducted, most obliging natives I ever met with - never troubling or importuning for any thing, and not crowding around in that unmannerly disagreeable manner, which savages frequently adopt - nor did I ever find any of them guilty of theft; on the contrary, several times when we had left some article behind, they called to us, and pointed it out.

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