t might have shown very differently, though no doubt we
passed over much of both good and bad land; our animals on the whole,
have thrived on the food they have had, which would argue favourably
for the herbage. Generally speaking, I fear the timber is bad--the
rough-gum may be used for knees, and such purposes, and we may have
seen wood for the wheelwright and cabinet-maker, specimens of which I
have procured, but none for general or household purposes.

The creeks we have traced are different in character from those in the
settled districts, inasmuch as that, like the river, they have a belt
of barren land near then and but little grass--they have all of them
been numerously frequented by the natives, as appeared from the number
of muscle-shells on their banks, but now having scarcely any water in
them, the fish having either been taken, or are dead, and the tribes
gone elsewhere for food, while the badness of the river water has
introduced a cutaneous disease among the natives of that district,
which is fast carrying them off. Our intercourse with these people was
incessant from the time we first met them, and on all occasions they
behaved remarkably well, nor could we have seen less than than two
hundred and fifty of them.

Our return is to be attributable to the want of water alone, and it is
impossible for me to describe the effects of the drought on animal as
well as vegetable nature. The natives are wandering in the desert, and
it is melancholy to reflect on the necessity which obliges them to
drink the stinking and loathsome water they do--birds sit gasping in
the trees and are quite thin--the wild dog prowls about in the day-time
unable to avoid us, and is as lean as he can be in a living state,
while minor vegetation is dead, and the very trees are drooping. I have
noticed all these things in my Journal I shall have the honour of
submitting through you, for the Governor's perusal and information, on
my return. Finally, I fear our expedition will not pave the way to any
ultimate benefit; although it has been the means by which two very
doubtful questions,--the course of the Macquarie, and the nature of the
interior, have been solved; for it is beyond doubt, that the interior
for 250 miles beyond its former known limits to the W.N.W., so far from
being a shoal sea, has been ascertained not only to have considerable
elevations upon it, but is in itself a table land to all intents and
purposes, and has scarcely