e any sheet of water, and the course
of the Macquarie was lost in the woodlands below.

Mr. Hume ascended the hill at sun-rise, and thought he could see
mountains to the north east, but at such a distance as to make it quite
a matter of uncertainty. Agreeing, however, in the prudence of an
immediate descent, we left our encampment on the morning of the 23rd,
under Mount Foster, to which we had removed from Mount Harris, and
pursued a north-north-west course to the spot on which we rest at
present. We passed some fine meadow land near the river, and were
obliged to keep wide of it in consequence of fissures in the ground.
Traversing a large and blasted plain, on which the sun's rays fell with
intense heat, and on which there was but little vegetation, we skirted
the first great morass, and made the river immediately beyond it. It is
of very considerable extent, the channel of the river passing through
it. We are encompassed on every side by high reeds, which exist in the
woods as well as in the plains. Mr. Hume and myself rode forward
yesterday through the second morass, and made the river on slightly
elevated ground, at a distance of about five miles; the country beyond
appeared to favour our object, and we, to-morrow, proceed with the
party to the north-west. The river seems to bend to the north-east; but
in this level country it is impossible to speak with certainty, or to
give any decided opinion of the nature of it, beyond the flats on which
we are travelling. The reeds to the north-east and northward extend
over a circumference of fifty miles; but if Mr. Hume really saw
mountains or rising ground in the former point, the apparent course of
the Macquarie is at once accounted for. The country, however, seems to
dip to the north, though generally speaking it is level, and I am
inclined to think that the state of the atmosphere caused a deception
in this appearance.

I regret to add, that the effects of the sun on the plain over which we
passed on the 23rd produced a return of inflammation in the eyes of the
men, I have named in my journals, and caused the same in the eyes of
several others of my party. I halted, therefore, to expedite their
recovery. They are doing well now, and we can proceed in the cool of
the morning without any fear of their receiving injury by it. One of
the men, who were to return to Wellington Valley, was attacked slightly
with dysentery, but the medicines I gave him carried it off in the
cou