We had forgotten to drive our bullocks to the water, which they had passed not five yards off, and in sight of which they had been unloaded; the poor brutes, however, had not the instinct to find it, and they strayed back. Charley started after them the same night, and went at once to our old camp, supposing that the bullocks had taken that direction; but they had not done so; they had wandered about seven miles from the camp, without having found water. August 16.--We travelled about twelve miles west-north-west, first over plains, but afterwards, and for the greater part of the stage, over openly timbered well-grassed box-flats, which seemed to bound the plains to the southward; they were drained by no watercourse, but contained many melon-holes. I changed my westerly course a little more to the northward, and again crossed a succession of plains, separated by hollows. These hollows were covered with thickets of small trees, principally raspberry-jam trees; and contained many dry water-holes, either in regular chains or scattered. They, no doubt, formed the heads of creeks; as we invariably came on decided watercourses whenever we followed hollows of this character down to the northward. After sunset, we came to a dry creek, and were compelled to encamp without water. We took care, however, to watch our bullocks, and hobble and tether our horses, which enabled us to start early in the morning of the 17th, when we followed the creek about seven miles north-east, and there found some very fine water-holes within its bed, in latitude 17 degrees 51 minutes, at which we encamped, to allow our cattle to recover; for they had had very little water during the two last days. Smoke was seen to the north-west, north, and north-east. Charley shot two more emus, and I felt the loss of our bullock very much, as it became difficult to carry the additional meat, which, however, was too valuable to be wasted or thrown away. Although we had followed the creek for seven miles, we did not find it joined by any of those hollows we had crossed the day before; and it would appear that the intervening plains extended far to the north-ward, and that the hollows and creeks converged only very gradually towards each other. August 18.--Last night we were busily employed in cutting up and drying our two emus, in which operation we were favoured by a slight breeze from the south-east. As we had no fat nor emu oil to fry the meat with, I allowed a sufficient quantity of meat to be left on the bones, which made it worth while to grill them; and we enjoyed a most beautiful moonlight night over a well grilled emu bone with so much satisfaction, that a frequenter of the Restaurants of the Palais Royal would have been doubtful whether to pity or envy us.