The natives approached our camp, but retired without any communication.
I had not found any westerly waters on my ride of the 13th, but had seen a range to the north-west, and that was the goal of a new exploration.

As we had been fortunate enough to find water at the contact of the primitive and basaltic formation, I wished to follow the same line of contact as long as it would not carry us much out of our course.

We crossed, in a northerly direction, several granitic ranges which ran out into the table land, and were separated from each other by very large swamps, at the time mostly dry, and covered with a short withered swamp grass, but bearing the marks of frequent inundations.

The bed of these swamps was perfectly level, and formed by an uninterrupted sheet of basalt.

Chains of water-holes between the ranges, which I hoped would lead me to creeks, were lost in the level of these swamps; indeed, these granitic ranges were remarkably destitute of watercourses.