Now that he, the lunatic, was free to go where he liked, nothing would induce him to leave us—­he would start to go, and after a few paces return and take up a crouching position close to the mouth of the well where we were working, and as each bucketful of mud or moist sand was hauled to the surface he eagerly watched it being emptied, and then proceeded to cover himself with its contents, until at last he was hardly distinguishable from a pyramid of mud—­and a stranger object I never saw!  Towards dusk he slunk off and sat on a rock below the cliffs, where he ate the food we had given him; and for all I know he may be there yet.

Work was carried on all night, which was divided as usual into shifts, and this I have no doubt saved us from attack.  Before sunset we had seen several bucks sneaking about the rocks, and during the night they came round us and held a whispered conversation with their fellow in our camp.  Between them a sort of telegraphy seemed to be going on by tapping stones on the rocks.  They may have been merely showing their position in the darkness, or it is possible that they have a “Morse code” of their own.  I was on shift when they came, and as the well wanted baling only every twenty minutes, I was lying awake and watching the whole performance, and could now and then see a shadowy figure in the darkness.  As soon as I rose to work, our buck lay down and snored heavily, and his friends of course were silent.  I awoke Breaden on my way, as it would have been far too much in their favour should the blacks have attacked us and found me down the well and the rest of the party asleep.  They were quite right in wishing to rescue their friend, since they could not tell what his fate was to be, but we could not risk a wounded companion or possibly worse, and lay watching for the remainder of the night.  Evidently they were inclined to take no risks either, for they left us in peace.

The wells, situated as they are in the bed of a rocky gully, would after rain hold plenty of water, though we extracted no more than thirty-five gallons.  Their position is lat. 20 degrees 46 minutes, long. 126 degrees 23 minutes.

From the rocks above the wells the tablelands to the East have quite a grand appearance, running in a curve with an abrupt cliff on the Western side, and many conical and peaked hills rising from their summit.  These tablelands, which in a broken line were seen by us to extend Northwards for over forty miles, and certainly extend Eastwards for twenty miles and possibly a great deal further, are of sandstone.  Looking Westwards, a few detached blocks may be seen, but we seemed to have struck the Western limit of these hills.  I have named them the Southesk Tablelands, after my father.  Between the curved line of cliffs and the wells are several isolated blocks.  Seven and a half miles to the Westward a remarkable headland (Point Massie) can be seen at the Northern end of a detached tableland.  Again to the West, one mile,