et of water, narrower, but longer, as well as we could judge,
than the first, we stopped to dine at it; and, while the men were resting
themselves, Mr. Hume rode with me in a westerly direction, to ascertain
what obstacles we still had to contend with. Forcing our way through
bodies of reeds, we at length got on a plain, stretching from S.E. to
N.W., bounded on the right by a wood of blue-gum, under which the reeds
still extended, and on the left by a wood in which they did not appear to
exist. Certain that there was no serious obstacle in our way, we returned
to the men; and as soon as they had finished their meal, led them over the
plain in a N.W. by W. direction. It was covered with shells, and was full
of holes from the effects of flood.

CONCLUSIONS IN REGARD TO THE MACQUARIE.

As we were journeying over it, I requested Mr. Hume to ride into the wood
upon our left, to ascertain if it concealed any channel. On his return he
informed me that he descended from the plain into a hollow, the bottom of
which was covered with small shells and bulrushes. He observed a new
species of eucalypti, on the trunks of which the water-mark was three feet
high. After crossing this hollow, which was about a quarter of a mile in
breadth, he gained an open forest of box, having good grass under it; and,
judging from the appearance of the country that no other channel could
exist beyond him, and that he had ascertained sufficient for the object I
had in view, he turned back to the plain. We stopped for the night under a
wood of box, where the grass, which had been burnt down, was then
springing up most beautifully green, and was relished exceedingly by the
animals.

It was in consequence of our not having crossed any channel, while
penetrating through the reeds, that could by any possible exaggeration
have been laid down as the bed of the river, that I detached Mr. Hume; and
the account he brought me at once confirmed my opinion in regard to the
Macquarie, and I thenceforth gave up every hope of ever seeing it in its
characteristic shape again.

Independently however of all circumstantial evidence, it was clear that
the river had not re-formed at a distance of twenty-five miles to the
north of us, since Mr. Hume had gone to the westward of that point, at
about the same distance on his late journey, without having observed the
least appearance of reeds or of a river. He had, indeed, noticed a hollow,
which occasionally contained water,