irritation of the eyes, and of
great weakness of sight. Attributing their continued indisposition in
some measure to our situation, I was anxious to have moved from it; but
as Mr. Hume was still absent, I could not decide upon the measure. He
made his appearance, however, on the 6th, having ridden the greater
part of the day through rain, which commenced to fall in the morning.
Soon after his arrival, Dawber, my overseer of animals, who had
accompanied him, was taken suddenly ill. During the night he became
much worse, with shivering and spasms, and on the following morning he
was extremely weak and feverish. To add to my anxiety, Mr. Hume also
complained of indisposition. His state of health made me the more
anxious to quit a position which I fancied unwholesome, and in which,
if there was no apparent, there was certainly some secret, exciting
cause; and as Mr. Hume reported having crossed a chain of ponds about
four miles to the eastward, and out of the immediate precincts of the
marshes, I ordered the tents to be struck, and placing Dawber on my
horse, we all moved quietly over to them.

MR. HUME'S EXCURSION.

The result of Mr. Hume's journey perplexed me exceedingly. He stated,
that on setting out from the Macquarie his intention was to have
proceeded to the N.E., to ascertain how far the reeds existed in that
direction, and, if at all practicable, to reach the Castlereagh; but in
case of failure, to regain the Macquarie by a westerly course. At first
he travelled nearly four miles east, to clear the marshes, when he came
on the chain of ponds to which we had removed.

He travelled over good soil for two miles after crossing this chain of
ponds, but afterwards got on a red sandy loam, and found it difficult
to proceed, by reason of the thickness of the brush, and the swampy
state of the ground in consequence of the late rain.

The timber in the brushes was of various kinds, and he saw numerous
kangaroos and emus. On issuing from this brush, he crossed a creek,
leading northerly, the banks of which were from ten to twelve feet
high. Whatever the body of water usually in it is, it now only afforded
a few shallow puddles. Mr. Hume travelled through brushes until he came
upon a third creek, similar to the one he had left behind him, at which
he halted for the night. The water in it was bad, and the feed for the
animals extremely poor. The brush lined the creek thickly, and
consisted chiefly of acacia pendula and bo