2nd October.
Left our uncomfortable bivouac at 7.30 a.m.; steered south-east. Finding
the horses scarcely able to travel from want of water, I took the
strongest and rode over to the spot where we had obtained a little on the
30th September, to dig wells and have a supply ready, if it could be
obtained in sufficient quantity; at 11.0 arrived, and found the wells we
had dug nearly dry; by opening several trenches down to the rocks which
lay about one and a half feet below the surface, the water oozed in, and
when the party came up, at 12.0, there was about a gallon for each horse;
taking off the packs, we commenced watering: four horses had received
their small allowance, when it came to my horse Bob's turn; after
drinking his share he marched off at a smart pace, which somewhat
surprised us, as he started in the direction of what we had supposed to
be nothing but a tea-tree scrub; on following him, we found the horse
drinking at a small shallow pool of water in a hollow in the clay. This
was a very fortunate discovery, as the trenches filled with water so
slowly that a full supply could not have been obtained that night, and
the horses had been sixty-five hours without water.