sheep; the
shepherd told me they there find a salt plant, which keeps them in
excellent condition and heart for feeding. The scarcity of water at some
seasons occasions a conversion here of cattle runs into sheep runs, and
VICE VERSA, a contingency which seems to render these lands of Hervey's
range of temporary and uncertain value.

22D DECEMBER.--Guided by Bultje we continued to follow down the little
chain of ponds which, as he said, led to the Bogan. The road was good--
the Currandong ponds running in a general direction about N. N. W. It was
the first of the sources of the Bogan we had reached. Crossing at length
to its left bank, near an old lambing station of Dr. Ramsay's, we further
on came to a large plain with the Yarra trees of the Bogan upon its
western skirts. Some large lagoons on the eastern side of the plains had
been filled by the late rains, and cattle lay beside them. We at length
arrived in sight of a cattle station of Mr. Templar's, called Gananaguy,
and encamped on the margin of a plain opposite to it. The cattle here
looked very fat, and although the herd comprised about 2000 head, there
was abundance of grass. The Bogan thus first appeared on our left hand,
and must have its sources in the comparatively low hills, about the
country crossed by my former line of route, rather than in Hervey's or
Croker's ranges, as formerly supposed. The water in the ponds of the
Bogan seemed low.

This fine grazing country had been abandoned more than once from the
failure of the water, and yet these ponds seemed capable of holding an
almost inexhaustible supply. A single dam would have retained the water
for miles, the Bogan always flowing through clay in a bed of uniform
width and depth like a canal. No doubt a little art and labour would be
sufficient to render the land permanently habitable: but on an uncertain
tenure this remedy was not likely to be applied, and therefore the
sovereignty of art's dominion remained unasserted there. The incursions
of the savage, who is learning to "bide his time" on the Darling, are
greatly encouraged by the hardships of the colonists when water is
scarce; and I was shown where no less than 800 head of fat bullocks had
been run together by them when water was too abundant. Then horses cannot
travel, and cattle stick fast in the soft earth and are thus at the mercy
of the natives. The stone ovens, such as they prepare for cooking
kangaroos, had been used for the consumption o