At about three miles, we came upon the fresh traces of some natives, which led us to the channel again, from which we had wandered unintentionally.

In it we found there had been water very lately, and it appeared that the natives had dug holes at the bottom to insure a longer supply.

These were now exhausted, but still retained the appearance of moisture.

At a mile and a half beyond these, we were led to some similar holes, by observing a number of birds flying about them.
The water was too muddy for us to drink, but the horses emptied them successively.

We now kept sufficiently near the channel to insure our seeing any pool that might still remain in it, but rode for about seven miles before we again saw water, and even here, although it was a spring, we were obliged to dig holes, and await their filling, before we could get sufficient for our use.