Now we had reached a point
where at last a different view was presented to us, and I believed a
change of country was at hand, for the whole western, down to the
south-western, horizon was broken by lines of ranges, being most
elevated at the south-western end. They were all notched and
irregular, and I believed formed the eastern extreme of a more
elevated and probably mountainous region to the west. The ground we
now stood upon, and for a mile or two past, was almost a stony hill
itself, and for the first time in all the distance we had come, we had
reached a spot where water might run during rain, though we had not
seen any place where it could lodge. Between us and the hilly horizon
to the west the country seemed to fall into a kind of long valley, and
it looked dark, and seemed to have timber in it, and here also the
natives had formerly burnt the spinifex, but not recently. The hills
to the west were twenty-five to thirty miles away, and it was with
extreme regret I was compelled to relinquish a farther attempt to
reach them. Oh, how ardently I longed for a camel! how ardently I
gazed upon this scene! At this moment I would even my jewel eternal,
have sold for power to span the gulf that lay between! But it could
not be, situated as I was; compelled to retreat--of course with the
intention of coming again with a larger supply of water--now the
sooner I retreated the better.
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