Their Point Of Discharge Is Uniformly
North-Westerly.
The union of many of these minor drains forms
occasionally a large one, and the points of the hills which meet upon
them afford the only means of crossing them.
It was evident that the
early part of the winter had been very wet., and the late rains had
probably been the cause of these morasses, which still continued to
drain themselves off in running water. This region must at all times be
impassable from opposite causes: in wet seasons it is a bog; in dry
ones, there is no water. Finding, as above remarked, that northerly and
north-east the country declined as it were to nothing, it was resolved
to pursue a more easterly course than that hitherto followed; and
instead of attempting to go round the morasses which we might meet with
to the north, to follow them southerly, a course which in time must
certainly take us to a more elevated country. Such a road is rendered
now absolutely necessary by the condition of the horses. Our dogs, which
had so long contributed to our support, had been for the last four days
dependant upon us for theirs, and we were too much indebted to their
exertions not to share our meals with them with cheerfulness. These
woods abound with kangaroo rats, and it is singular that, pinched as the
dogs were, they would not touch them even when cooked.
August 20. - This day after travelling upwards of nine miles, and having
pushed the horses at the risk of their lives through two minor branches
of the bog, what was our mortification to find, that we were within a
few hundred yards of the spot we set out from!
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