the day.

Sunday, 6th January, 1861.--Started at twenty minutes to six
o'clock, intending to make an easy day's stage along the creek. As
we proceeded up in a northerly direction, we found the waterhole to
diminish in size very much, and at about two and a half miles the
creek ran out in a lot of small watercourses. At the upper end of
the creek we found in its bed what appeared to be an arrangement
for catching fish: it consisted of a small oval mud paddock about
twelve feet by eight feet, the sides of which were about nine
inches above the bottom of the hole, and the top of the fence
covered with long grass, so arranged that the ends of the blades
overhung scantily by several inches the sides of the hole. As there
was no sign of timber to the north, we struck off to north-west by
north for a fine line that came up from south-west, and seemed to
run parallel with the creek we were about to leave. At a distance
of about three miles, we reached the bank of a fine creek
containing a sheet of water two chains broad, and at least fifteen
feet deep in the middle. The banks are shelving, sandy, and lightly
clothed with box trees and various shrubs. On starting to cross the
plains towards this creek we were surprised at the bright green
appearance of strips of land, which look in the distance like
swamps. On approaching some of them, we found that there had been a
considerable fall of rain in some places, which had raised a fine
crop of grass and portulac [Footnote: Portulaca oleracea. L.]
wherever the soil was of a sandy and light nature; but the amount
of moisture had been insufficient to affect the hard clayey ground
which constitutes the main portion of the plain. The sight of two
native companions feeding here, added greatly to the encouraging
prospects; they are the only specimens of that bird that I remember
to have seen on that side of the Darling.

7th January, 1861.--We started at half-past four A.M. without
water, thinking that we might safely rely on this creek for one
day's journey. We, however, found the line of timber soon began to
look small; at three miles the channel contained only a few pools
of surface water. We continued across the plains on a due north
course, frequently crossing small watercourses, which had been
filled by the rain, but were fast drying up. Here and there, as we
proceeded, dense lines of timber on our right showed that the creek
came from the east of north; at a distance of thirteen m