On the 17th started at quarter-past six for the eastward, with as much water as we could carry in the cart, as from the accounts of the natives we scarcely hoped to find any.

For the first five miles we kept a course rather to the north of east, nearly E.N.E.

indeed, to round some sand-hills we should otherwise have been obliged to cross.
There were very extensive plains to our left, on which water must lie during winter; but their soil was not good, or the vegetation thick upon them.

We could just see the points of the northern flat-topped ranges beyond them.

At five miles we turned due east, and crossed several small plains, separated by sandy undulations, not high enough to be termed ridges; the country, both to the south and east, appearing to be extremely low.