The whole scene was so clear to me from my lofty position that its laughable side could not help striking me, but this did not prevent my forestalling the blacks’ murderous designs by a shot from my rifle, which was sufficiently well aimed to scare the bucks and attract Godfrey’s attention.  As soon as possible I joined him and explained my seemingly strange action.  We tracked up the natives, and found they had been following a regular pad, which before long led us to a fine big rock-hole in the bed of a deep and rocky gully.  A great flight of crows circling about a little distance off, made us sure that another pool existed; following down the first gully and turning to the left up another, deeper and broader, we found our surmise had been correct.  Before us, at the foot of an overhanging rock, was a beautiful clear pool.  What a glorious sight!  We wasted no time in admiring it from a distance, and each in turn plunged into the cool water, whilst the other kept watch on the rocks above.  Sheltered as it was from the sun, except for a short time during the day, this pool was as ice compared to the blazing, broiling heat overhead, and was indeed a luxury.  By the side of the pool, under the overhanging rock, some natives had been camped, probably our friends the warriors; the ashes were still hot, and scattered about were the remains of a meal, feathers and bones of hawks and crows.  Above the overhanging rock, in the middle of the gully, is a small rock-hole with most perfectly smooth sides, so situated that rain water running down the gully would first fill the rock-hole, and, overflowing, would fall some twenty feet into the pool below.  The rock is of soft, yellowish-white sandstone.  Close to the water edge I carved C96 and Godfrey scratched the initials of all of us.  The pool, which when full would hold some forty thousand gallons, I named “Godfrey’s Tank,” as he was the first white man to set eyes upon it.

Having finished our bathe, we set about looking for a path by which to bring the camels for a drink; the gorge was too rocky and full of huge boulders to make its passage practicable, and it seemed as if we should have to make a detour of a good many miles before reaching the water.  Fortunately this was unnecessary, for on meeting Breaden he told us he had found a small pool at the head of the first valley which was easy of access.  This was good news, so we returned to camp, and, as it was now dark, did not move that night.  And what a night it was!—­so hot and oppressive that sleep was impossible.  It was unpleasant enough to be roasted by day, but to be afterwards baked by night was still more so!  A fierce fire, round which perhaps the warriors were dancing, lit up the rocks away beyond the headlands, the glow showing all the more brilliantly from the blackness of the sky.

The next morning we packed up and moved camp to the pool, passing up the first valley—­Breaden Valley—­with the first promontory on our left.  At the mouth of the valley, on the south side, are three very noticeable points, the centre one being conical with a chimney-like block on one side, and flanking it on either hand table-topped hills.