es of soldiers.

He brought up a nest of small paroquets of the most beautiful plumage,
as a present to Mr. Maxwell, and affirmed that they were common about
his part of the river. The peculiarity of the seasons had also brought
a parrot into the valley which had never before visited it. This
delicate bird was noticed by Captain Cook upon the coast, and is called
PSITTACUS NOVAE HOLLANDIAE, or New Holland Parrot, by Mr. Brown. It had
not, however, been subsequently seen until the summer of 1828, when it
made its appearance at Wellington Valley in considerable numbers,
together with a species of merops or mountain bee-eater.

DEPARTURE FOR THE INTERIOR.

On the 5th, our preparations being wholly completed, and the loads
arranged, the party was mustered, and was found to consist of myself
and Mr. Hume, two soldiers and eight prisoners of the crown, two of
whom were to return with dispatches. Our animals numbered two riding,
and seven pack, horses, two draft, and eight pack, bullocks, exclusive
of two horses of my own, and two for the men to be sent back.

BANKS OF THE MACQUARIE.

The morning of the 7th December, the day upon which we were to leave
the valley, was ushered in by a cloudless sky, and that heated
appearance in the atmosphere which foretells an oppressively sultry
day. I therefore put off the moment of our departure to the evening,
and determined to proceed no further than Gobawlin. I was the more
readily induced to order this short journey because the animals had not
been practised to their full loads, and I thought they might have given
some trouble at starting with an unusual weight. They moved off however
very quietly, and as if they had been accustomed to their work by a
long course of training. We took our departure from the settlement at 3
p.m. and, crossing to the right bank of the Macquarie, a little above
its junction with the Bell, reached Mr Wylde's station about half-past
five. Thus we commenced our journey under circumstances as favorable as
could have been wished. In disengaging ourselves on the following day
from the hills by which Wellington Valley is encompassed on the
westward, with a view to approach Mr. Palmer's first station, we kept
rather wide of the river, and only occasionally touched on its more
projecting angles. The soil at a distance from the stream was by no
means so good as that in its immediate vicinity, nor was the timber of
the same description. On the rich and picturesq