miles, and it tended not a little to cheer us and confirm all previous
impressions relative to the change and improvement in the character of
the country. Our horses were dreadfully fatigued and moved along with
difficulty, and it was as much as we could do to reach the sand-hills we
had seen, though only seven miles away. In our approach to them we passed
through a fine plain full of grass, and of a much better description than
we had met with since leaving Fowler's Bay. Not only was it long and in
the greatest abundance, but there were also mixed with the old grass many
stalks of new and green, the whole forming a rich and luxurious feast for
our horses, such as they had not enjoyed for many a long day. Nearer to
the sand-hills we obtained excellent water by digging, at a depth of five
feet, and only half a mile away from the grass. This place was too
favourable not to be made the most of, and I determined to halt for a day
or two to give our horses the benefit of it, and to enable us to diminish
the weight of meat they had to carry. Whilst here I gave Wylie free
permission to eat as much as he could,--a privilege which he was not long
in turning to account. Between last night's supper and this morning's
breakfast he had got through six-and-a-half pounds of solid cooked flesh,
weighed out and free from bone, and he then complained, that as he had so
little water (the well had fallen in and he did not like the trouble of
cleaning it out again), he could hardly eat at all. On an average he
would consume nine pounds of meat per day. I used myself from two to
three when undergoing very great exertions. After dinner I ascended one
of the sand-hills, and set the hill I had seen in the morning at W. 17
degrees S.

May 12.--I intended this morning to have walked down to the beach, but
was suddenly taken ill with similar symptoms to those I had experienced
on the 19th, and 21st of April; and, as formerly, I attributed the
illness entirely to the unwholesome nature of the meat diet. Wylie was