Books for you

[A report of better country to the North induced Sturt to turn in that
direction.]
_Jan. 14._ Nothing could exceed in dreariness the appearance of the
tracks through which we journeyed on this and the two following days.
The creek on which we depended for a supply of water, gave such alarming
indications of a total failure that I at one time had serious thoughts
of abandoning my pursuit of it. We passed hollow after hollow that had
successively dried up, although originally of considerable depth; and,
when we at length found water, it was doubtful how far we could make use
of it. Sometimes in boiling, it left a sediment nearly equal to half its
body; at other times it was so bitter as to be quite unpalatable. That
on which we subsisted was scraped up from small puddles, heated by the
sun's rays; and so uncertain were we of finding water at the end of the
day's journey, that we were obliged to carry a supply on one of the
bullocks. There was scarcely a living creature, even of the feathered
race, to be seen to break the stillness of the forest.


Pages:
68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92