Here they came to this resolution, that they should send two men a considerable way up the hill again, to take the strictest observation they could of the plain with the largest glasses they had, and to mark which way the nearest river or water was to be seen; and they should direct their course first to the water, and that, if the course of it lay south, or any way to the east of the south, they would follow on the bank of it, and, as soon as it was large enough to carry them, they would make them some canoes or shallops, or what they could do with the most ease, to carry them on by water; also, they directed them to observe if they could see any cattle feeding at a distance, or the like. The messengers returned, and brought word that all the way to the east, and so on to south-east, they could discover nothing of water, but that they had seen a great lake, or lough of water, at a great distance, which looked like a sea, and lay from them to the northward of the east, about two points; adding, that they did not know but it might afterwards empty itself to the eastward, and it was their opinion to make the best of their way thither. Accordingly, the next morning, the whole body decamped, and marched east-north-east, very cheerfully, but found the way much longer than they expected; for though from the mountains the country seemed to lie flat and plain, yet, when they came to measure it by their feet, they found a great many little hills; little, I say, compared to the great mountains, but great to them who were to travel over them in the heat, and with but very indifferent support as to provisions; so that, in a word, the captain very prudently ordered that they should travel only three hours in the morning and three in the evening, and encamp in the heat of the day, to refresh themselves as well as they could. The best thing they met with in that part of the country was, that they had plenty of water, for though they were not yet come to any large, considerable river, yet every low piece of ground had a small rill of water in it; and the springs coming out from the rising grounds on the sides of the mountains being innumerable, made many such small brooks. It cost them six days' travel, with two days' resting between, to advance to that river of water, which, from the height of the mountains, seemed to be but a little way off. They could not march, by their computation, above ten or twelve miles a day, and rest every third day too, for their luggage was heavy, and their mules but few; also some of their mules became tired and jaded by their long march, or fell lame, and were good for nothing. Besides all this, the days which I call days of rest were really not so to them, for those intervals were employed to range about and hunt for food; and it was for want of that, more than for want of rest, that they halted every third day.