August 18.—This morning I sent off the overseer and a native boy to the eastward, to look for water in the watercourses I had been at on the 5th of August, the Scott not having then been discovered; they would now be thirty–six miles nearer water than any I was acquainted with at that time, and would consequently be less hurried and embarrassed in their movements than I was. By giving them a pack–horse to carry ten gallons of water, I hoped they would be able to examine all the watercourses so effectually as to secure the object of their search, for I felt satisfied that water was to be found somewhere among the high ranges we had seen in the direction they were going; I also directed the overseer to visit the camp where the two native children had been left, and to see what had been their fate.
During the day I employed myself in writing; the weather was excessively close and oppressive, with heavy clouds coming up from the S. W. against the wind at N. E. At night it blew almost a hurricane, accompanied by a few drops of rain, after which, the wind then veered round to the north.
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