--To Camp 5.
From Camp 5.
Sunday, 28th April, 1861.--Morning fine and calm, but rather
chilly. Started at 4.45 A.M., following down the bed of a creek in
a westerly direction by moonlight. Our stage was, however, very
short for about a mile--one of the camels (Landa) got bogged by the
side of a waterhole, and although we tried every means in our
power, we found it impossible to get him out. All the ground
beneath the surface was a bottomless quicksand, through which the
beast sank too rapidly for us to get bushes of timber fairly
beneath him; and being of a very sluggish stupid nature he could
never be got to make sufficiently strenuous efforts towards
extricating himself. In the evening, as a last chance, we let the
water in from the creek, so as to buoy him up and at the same time
soften the ground about his legs; but it was of no avail. The brute
lay quietly in it, as if he quite enjoyed his position.--To Camp 6.
Camp 6.
Monday, 29th April, 1861.--Finding Landa still in the hole, we made
a few attempts at extricating him, and then shot him, and after
breakfast commenced cutting off what flesh we could get at for
jerking.
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