Page:Journals of Several Expeditions Made in Western Australia.djvu/88

 ment, which we found had not been visited by the natives during our absence.

August12th.—Mr. Brockman and myself proceeded at an early hour again to explore the Dyott hills, while the men were employed in conveying the horses and baggage three miles lower down the river, to the spot at which we discovered it. After walking about seven miles, we arrived at the northern side of the range, but were much disappointed in not being able to obtain a view of the plain, as, directly we reached the summit, it was obscured completely by the dense state of the atmosphere, and by the heavy rains which then set in. Having collected a few specimens of rocks, and taken a few bearings of the country around us, we returned to our bivouac. On rejoining our men, we found they had encountered so much difficulty in urging on the horses whilst loaded, owing to the excessive wetness of the ground, that they had been obliged to unload them, and carry the baggage themselves.

August 13th.—Thermometer at sun-rise 39°, at eight o'clock a.m. Commenced our route homeward over the same country we had passed over a few days previously, but with far greater celerity; as we accomplished to-day nearly the same distance that it then took us four days to perform, owing to our better knowledge of the country, and its being more passable to the hcrses, which had now only a light load to carry. After proceeding ten miles from the river, we had an interview with three natives on the banks of a stream which we had passed on the 5th instant, and to which we descended for three-quarters of a mile down a grassy hill, when we saw numerous traces of emus, which I think they had been just hunting. We found