At the tenth mile we providentially found a small muddy hole of
water which, bad as it was, refreshed
Both men and horses extremely;
fearing, from the appearance of the country, that we should not find any
water farther on, we filled our small keg, containing nearly three
gallons, which would at all events free us from absolute want. We went
four miles farther through the same desert country, when evening drawing
on, and the small trees and shrubs becoming thicker, we thought it best
to stop before we again encountered an eucalyptus brush; which not
affording the smallest fodder for the horses, would, added to the want
of water, render them in all probability unable to take either us or
themselves out of the desert in which we were.
The spot we halted on afforded some dry tea-grass and a few syngeneceous
shrubs; and praying for a heavy dew to moisten them, we hoped the
animals would not on the whole fare much worse than ourselves.
The rain which had fallen while we were on the river was not perceptible
here; indeed I think sufficient to deluge any other country must fall,
before it is seen on the surface of such a soil as prevails in this part
of New South Wales. A little rain renders it however so soft and slimy
as to make it difficult to travel over; and I should conjecture, from
the milky whiteness of the water in the holes we have seen, that it
rests on a substratum of white clay three or four feet below the
surface; the water holes at least had that bottom, although their
margins were of the red, sandy loam before mentioned.
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