19th February.
Commenced our day's journey at 6.0 a.m., followed the bank of the creek
till 8.15, thence south-south-west till noon, when the course was altered
to south-south-east to close in with the creek, but found that the
channel was completely lost on the level grassy plain, and at 1.40 p.m.
encamped at a small puddle of muddy water as thick as cream. Before the
creek was lost in the level plain it spread into some large, though
shallow pools, which swarmed with ducks of several species, but
principally the whistling duck. The grassy plain gradually extended to a
greater breadth, and the back country was so nearly level that it
scarcely rose above the grassy horizon, while to the south the country
was so level that the clumps of bushes appeared like islands, and the
grassy plain extended to the horizon. Near one of the waterholes in the
creek we surprised a native, who was sitting at his fire with a couple of
women, who decamped with all possible despatch. Several smokes have been
observed to the south and south-west, which shows that water must exist
in that direction, though it may not be in sufficient quantity to supply
our horses. The morning was cloudy, and at midnight there was a heavy
shower of rain. Judging from the general appearance of the country, the
waters of the creek, after spreading over the plain, must escape to the
westward, as the grass has been bent in that direction by the current
last year, but there has been so little rain this season that the channel
of the creek has not been filled.
20th February.
As it appeared that the waters of the creek trended to the west in the
wet season, at 6.5 a.m. we steered north 250 degrees east, through a
level forest of box-trees, with abundance of good grass; the soil brown
loam with fragments of limestone; the shower last night had left many
shallow pools of water on the surface. At 8.40 a.m. passed a small swampy
salt flat covered with salicornia; at 9.10 came on the grassy plain which
we skirted on a west course, but as it turned to the north-west, again
changed the course to 320 degrees; the plain was now reduced to about a
mile in width, and we therefore crossed it in search of a definite
channel, but without success, though there were some slight indications
that during inundation the water flowed to the north-west. At 11.50 we
camped at a shallow puddle of rainwater, on the north side of the plain.
From the camp, till 8.0 a.m., the grass, though very backward, showed
that there had been sufficient rain to cause it to spring; but as we
proceeded it was perfectly dry and parched up, as at the end of the dry
season, showing that little or no rain had fallen for many months in this
part of the country. The day was cloudy, with thunder, and was followed
by a heavy shower at night, which prevented my ascertaining the latitude
by observation.