f large ducks arose from it, and larger
water-fowl shrieked over our heads. A deep receding opening appeared to
the northeast, as if our river had been either breaking off in that
direction, or met with some important tributary from that side. I
continued to travel northwest, passing through some fine open forests.
The character of the country seemed changed. The grass was of a different
kind, and a refreshing breeze from the north-east seemed to "smell of
water," as Yuranigh expressed it. The dense line of Yarra trees appeared
still to be continuous on the right, and the more I travelled westward,
the more I was convinced that we still had the river at hand. We did at
length approach its banks after a journey of ten miles, when we found
this was a river FROM the west appearing fully as deep and important as
the one we had been following, and containing ponds of water. This new
tributary from the west, left no room to hope that the channel we had
been pursuing would turn westward--on the contrary, it became but too
probable that below the junction of this river, the channel would turn
towards the N. E. It could not well be doubted that this went to the
eastern coast; but, to remove all doubt, as Yuranigh was of a different
opinion, I sent Corporal Graham with him up the newly-found river, to
ascertain whether it did not come from the north-west, in which case we
could not expect that the other it joined would go in that direction.
Their report on returning, only rendered it necessary that I should take
a ride forward next morning. They said this river came from the S. W.,
and at two miles higher, had a very narrow channel. Lower down, it was
found to join the main channel, which, below the junction, still
continued northward. There, we found a beautiful new Grevillea.[*] The
STENOCHILUS PUBIFLORUS formed a willow-leaved shrub about twelve feet
high, and in the sandy bed of the river was an EUPHORBIA very near E.
HYPERICIFOLIA, but with narrower leaves, and the ovary pubescent not
glabrous. The DODONOEA VESTITA, with its hairy foliage and large shaggy
fruits, clothed the sandstone surface back from the river.[**] Latitude,
22 deg. 2' 15" S. Thermometer, at sunrise, 30 deg.; at noon, 78 deg.; at 4 P.M., 77 deg.;
at 9, 55 deg.;--with wet bulb 49 deg.. (LXVIII).

[* G. MITCHELLI (Hook. MSS.); appresso-subsericesa, foliis pinnatifidis
bipinnatifidisque, laciniis angustissime linearibus elongatis marginibus
arcte reflexis subt