On the following day we still remained in camp, hoping for rain; — a single heavy shower would so completely have freed us from the danger of attempting to force a passage through the great extent of arid country before us, that I was unwilling to move on until the very last moment. Our rations were however rapidly disappearing whilst we were idling in camp, the horse-flesh was all consumed, and to-day we had commenced upon the mutton, so that soon we should be compelled to go, whether it rained or not. Month after month however had passed away without any fall of rain, and the season had now arrived when, under ordinary circumstances, much wet might be expected; and though each day, as it passed without gratifying our hopes, but added to our disappointment, yet did every hour we lingered give us a better chance of being relieved by showers in our route round the last cliffs of the Bight. The evening set in mild but close, with the wind at north-east, and I had great hopes that showers would fall.
Aimed at the casuall reader or the serious student or historian, Australian Explorers presents the journals of several great explorers of the Australian continent.
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