There are no watercourses, and no timber; all is barren rocky and naked in the extreme.

The waters that collected after rains, lodged in the basins of small lakes; but such was the nature of the soil that these were invariably salt.
It was through this dreary region I had left my overseer to take his division of the party when we separated at Baxter's range; but I confided the task to him with confidence.

Rain had at that time fallen very abundantly; he had already been over the road with me before, and knew all the places where water or grass was likely to be found; and our former dray tracks of 1839, which were still distinctly visible, would be a sufficient guide to prevent his getting off the line of route.

The skill, judgment, and success with which the overseer conducted the task assigned to him, fully justified the confidence I reposed in him; and upon my rejoining the party at Streaky Bay, after an absence of seven weeks, I was much gratified to find that neither the men, animals, or equipment, were in the least degree the worse for their passage through the desert..