We now began to feel the effects of disappointment, and watched the sky with extreme anxiety, inso-much that the least cloud raised all our hopes.

The men were employed in various ways to keep them in health.
We planted seeds in the bed of the creek, but the sun burnt them to cinders the moment they appeared above the ground.

On the evening of the 3rd there was distant thunder, and heavy clouds to the westward.

I thought it might have been that some shower had approached sufficiently near for me to benefit by the surface water it would have left to push towards Lake Torrens, and therefore mounted my horse and rode away to the westward on the 4th, but returned on the night of the 7th in disappointment.

Time rolled on fast, and still we were unable to stir.
Mr.Piesse, who took great delight in strolling out with my gun, occasionally shot a new bird.
On the 4th the wind blew strong from the south; but although the air was cooled, no rain fell, nor indeed was there any likelihood of rain with the wind in that quarter.