have been undecided; but the circumstance of our having
crossed Mr. Hume's, which, from its direction, could not be mistaken,
convinced me of the fate of the Macquarie, and I felt assured that,
whatever channels it might have for the distribution of its waters, to
the north of our line of route, the equality of surface of the interior
would never permit it again to form a river; and that it only required
an examination of the lower parts of the marshes to confirm the theory
of the ultimate evaporation and absorption of its waters, instead of
their contributing to the permanence of an inland sea, as Mr. Oxley had
supposed.

NEW YEAR'S RANGE.

On the 17th of January we encamped under New Year's Range, which is the
first elevation in the interior of Eastern Australia to the westward of
Mount Harris. Yet when at its base, I do not think that we had ascended
above forty feet higher than the plains in the neighbourhood of that
last mentioned eminence. There certainly is a partial rise of country,
where the change of soil takes place from the alluvial deposits of the
marshes, to the sandy loam so prevalent on the plains we had lately
traversed; but I had to regret that I was unable to decide so
interesting a question by other than bare conjecture.

Notwithstanding that Mr. Hume had already been on them, I encouraged
hopes that a second survey of the country from the highest point of New
Year's Range would enable us to form some opinion of it, by which to
direct our future movements; but I was disappointed.

The two wooded hills I had seen from Oxley's Table Land were visible
from the range, bearing south; and other eminences bore by compass S.W.
and W. by S.; but in every other direction the horizon was unbroken. To
the westward, there appeared to be a valley of considerable extent,
stretching N. and S., in which latter direction there was a long strip
of cleared ground, that looked very like the sandy bed of a broad and
rapid river. The bare possibility of the reality determined me to
ascertain by inspection, whether my conjecture was right, and Mr. Hume
accompanied me on this excursion. After we left the camp we crossed a
part of the range, and travelled for some time through open forest land
that would afford excellent grazing in most seasons. We passed some
hollows, and noticed many huts that had been occupied near them; but
the hollows were now quite dry, and the huts had been long deserted.
After about ten miles' ri