31st May.
The running channel of the river being still to the west of our position,
we steered south-west, over barren clay plains, to some low ridges of
drift sand, beyond which we found the channel full of water, with a
slight current; but it terminated in a large reach of water which had not
yet filled, and the channel lower down was dry. Low ridges of red drift
sand were now frequent on the plain, and appeared to be the higher points
of the former sandy desert, the clay plains resulting from the deposition
of mud in the hollows between which had in course of time filled it to
one uniform level.
Latitude 26 degrees 2 minutes.
1st June.
The channels on the western side of the plain were very irregular,
sometimes completely lost on the level surface, and again collecting into
large hollows, with box-trees on the banks, in which fine sheets of water
still remained, some 100 yards wide and more than a mile in length. We
therefore did not experience so much inconvenience with regard to the
supply of this necessary element as from the absence of sufficient grass,
and the all but impracticable nature of the mud plains.
4th June.
In latitude 27 degrees, low sandstone tableland approached the west side
of the river, and we attempted to travel along the slope between it and
the mud plains, but found it so stony that the horses' hoofs were soon
worn to the quick, as we had been compelled to remove their shoes to
enable them to traverse the mud plains. Had it not been for green bushes
of salsolae, and some similar plants which had sprung up since the rain,
this tract of country exactly resembled the stony desert described by
Captain Sturt as existing 200 miles to the westward. These remarkable
features forming the declivities of the sandstone tableland through which
Cooper's Creek forces its way, and by confining the waters to a narrower
space during floods, causes the fine deep reaches of water which
characterize it.
8th June.
By following the western limits of the plains we reached latitude 27
degrees 30 minutes, when the sandstone tableland receded, and a boundless
expanse of mud plain was before us; the lines of box-trees which had
hitherto marked the channels nearly ceased, polygonum and atriplex
constituting the main feature of the vegetation.