It will readily be seen, after perusing this journal, that it was a necessity, and that we could not get further north.

It is a marvel to me that we got through at all; the season was an exceptionally dry one--in fact, a drought--our horses were of a very ordinary kind, and the country most wretched.
When it is remembered that a horse in poor condition and in warm weather cannot go much over a day without water, and when the sterility of the country is considered, it will be readily seen what a disadvantage one labours under without camels, which can go ten days without water.

Well can I sympathize with Mr.Giles when he states in his journal: "All I coveted from my brother explorers was their camels, for what is a horse in such a region as this?
He is not physically capable of enduring the terrors of this country." And so it is; horses are the noblest and most useful animals in the world, but they must have food and water regularly.
The camel, on the other hand, is physically formed to travel over these desolate regions, and in Australia has been known to go twelve and fourteen days without water, carrying 300 pounds, and sometimes 400 pounds weight.
From these few remarks it will be seen what a great disadvantage Mr.
Giles and myself laboured under compared with Major Warburton and Mr.
Gosse; and what in similar circumstances might have been easily performed by them was quite impossible in our circumstances.
In reading this journal, it may be wondered why we followed so much along Mr.Gosse's track, when a new route for ourselves might have been chosen more to the south.

The reason is, I had intended, as soon as I reached the 129th meridian (the boundary of our colony), to make a long trip to the south, near to Eucla, and thus map that important locality; but on reaching there I was prevented by the following causes: The weather was excessively warm; the country to the south seemed most uninviting -- sand-hills as far as could be seen, covered with spinifex; our horses were very poor; our rations were running short, the meat and tea and sugar being nearly gone; water was very scarce, and I could clearly see that, although Mr.Gosse had travelled the route last year, it did not follow that we should be able to do it easily this, as all the water thus far where he had camped was gone.

I felt we were altogether on our own resources for water, and I concluded to push on towards the telegraph line as quickly as possible.