The view from the summit was as discouraging as ever.
To the west appeared densely scrubby rises, and to the south many salt
channels existed, while in every other direction scrubs and scrubby
rises bounded the view. This low range was about 300 feet high; the
ridges beyond continued on our course, a little north of west for two
or three miles, when we again entered the sandy scrubs, and camped,
after travelling twenty-eight miles. Our position here was in latitude
30 degrees 10' 5", and longitude 122 degrees 7' 6". The next day we
had scrubs undulating as usual, and made a day's stage of twenty-four
miles, sighting at twelve miles three low ranges, northerly,
north-easterly, and east-north-easterly, the most easterly appearing
to be the highest. They were from twenty to thirty miles away from our
line.
On the 9th and 10th October we had all scrubs; on the 11th, towards
evening, we had some scrubby ridges in front of us, and were again
hemmed in by salt lakes. To save several miles of roundabout
travelling, we attempted to cross one of these, which, though not very
broad, was exceedingly long to the north and south, and lay right
across our track. Unfortunately a number of the leading camels became
apparently hopelessly embedded in a fearful bog, and we had great
difficulty in getting them safely out.
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