e rain had fallen on the 6th and 7th of the month, or it is
more than probable the expedient to which he resorted would have failed of
success. Mr. Hume, I was sorry to observe, looked very unwell; but nothing
could prevent him from further endeavours to extricate the party from its
present embarrassment.

JOURNEY CONTINUED.

As soon as I had taken a little refreshment, therefore, I mounted a fresh
horse; and he accompanied me across a small plain, immediately in front of
the camp, which was subject to overflow and covered with polygonum, having
a considerable extent of reeds to its right.

From the plain we entered a wood of blue-gum, in which reeds, grass, and
brush formed a thick coppice. We at length passed into an open space,
surrounded on every side by weeds in dense bodies. The great marsh bore
south of us, and was clear and open, but behind us the blue-gum trees
formed a thick wood above the weeds.

About two hundred yards from the outskirts of the marsh there was a line
of saplings that had perished, and round about them a number of the tern
tribe (sea swallow) were flying, one of which Mr. Hume had followed a
considerable way into the reeds the evening before, in the hope that it
would have led him to water. The circumstance of their being in such
numbers led us to penetrate towards them, when we found a serpentine sheet
of water of some length, over which they were playing. We had scarcely
time to examine it before night closed in upon us, and it was after nine
when we returned to the tents.

From the general appearance of the country to the northward, and from the
circumstance of our having got to the bottom of the great marsh, which but
a few days before had threatened to be so formidable, I thought it
probable that the reeds would not again prove so extensive as they had
been, and I determined, if I could do so, to push through them in a
westerly direction from our position.

SECOND GREAT MARSH.

The pits yielded us so abundant a supply during the night, that in the
morning we found it unnecessary to take the animals to water at the
channel we had succeeded in finding the evening before; but pursuing a
westerly course we passed it, and struck deep into the reeds. At mid-day
we were hemmed in by them on every side, and had crossed over numerous
channels, by means of which the waters of the marshes are equally and
generally distributed over the space subject to their influence. Coming to
a second she