They say that beyond the hills it is all sand and rocks; that there is neither grass or water, or wood; and that it is awfully hot.

This last feature appears to terrify them.

They say that they are obliged to take wood to the hills for fire, and that they clamber up the rocks on the hills; that when there is water there, it is in deep holes from which they are obliged to sponge it up and squeeze it out to drink.

I do not in truth think that any of the natives have been beyond the hills, and that the country is perfectly impracticable.
"We are now not more than two hundred and fifteen feet above the sea, with a declining country to the north-west, and the general dip of the continent to the south-west.

What is the natural inference where there is not a single river emptying itself upon the coast, but that there is an internal basin?
Such a country can only be penetrated by cool calculation and determined perseverance.