From a sandhill near our camp numerous hills could be seen, the more prominent of which I named.  To the West-North-West a table-top hill (Mount Courtenay, after my brother-in-law) standing in front of a prominent tableland; to the northward Mount Lancelot; to the East-South-East a line of cliffs standing above stony rises, at the southern end a bluff point (Point Katharine, after my sister); and eight miles to the South-South-West, two flat-topped hills, close together—­these I named Mount Dora and Mount Elisabeth after two of my sisters.  Little did I think that I was never to see again the dear face of one of them!  As a last hope, I and Breaden went across the lake to these hills to look for a break in the swamps.  From Mount Elisabeth an extensive view can be obtained, but no signs of the lake coming to an end.  From Mount Elisabeth, which, by the way, is of quartzite, I took the following bearings:  Mount Courtenay 331 degrees, Mount Lancelot 23 degrees, Point Katharine, 78 degrees.  To the West numerous broken tablelands can be seen, and the same to the South.  Clearly there was no chance of crossing this lake or rounding it on the North, for the white streak of salt could be seen for miles and miles in that direction.  There was nothing to be done but to skirt the edge of the lake, and if connected with Lake Wells to skirt that too, until a crossing could be found.  So we loaded up and steered East and then South-East to round the swamps.  Due West of Point Katharine, four miles distant, we found a large freshwater lagoon surrounded by stony banks and ridges.  It contained only a few inches of water, but is capable of holding it to a depth of six feet.  Beyond it is a stony cotton-bush flat, and on it numerous white clay-holes of water, almost hidden by the herbage.

Water-hens were so numerous that we could not pass by so good an opportunity, and camped early in consequence, spending the rest of the day in shooting these birds.  The rest was a good thing for Breaden, too, who had been hurt by Kruger as he struggled in the salt-bog.  The next morning we struck South, and by night found the lake again in our way.  From a high bank of rocks and stones we could see the arm that had first blocked us, running round the foot of the hills and joining a larger lake which spread before us to the South.  Across it some high, broken tablelands could be seen.  There was no doubt from our position that this was Lake Wells, but I had expected to find a tableland (the Van Treuer of Wells) fringing the Northern shore.  However, the Van Treuer does not run nearly so far East as Wells supposed when he sighted it from the South.  No crossing could be effected yet, so the next day we continued along the margin of the lake, along a narrow strip of salt-bush country hemmed in between the lake and sandhills.  On July 2nd we found the narrow place where Wells had crossed in 1892; the tracks of his camels were still visible in the soft ground.  The crossing being narrow, and the bog shallow—­no more than a few inches above a hard bed of rock—­we had no trouble whatever.