were much refreshed by it.

On the morning of the 3rd, they thought they heard the report of two guns
in the SE which they answered; but they were not returned. They were now
in that part of the country which Wilson was acquainted with; but it was
an unfruitful spot, and badly calculated for travellers in their
situation, producing nothing but a few roots and grub worms. They must
even here have perished, had it not been for the great exertions made by
Wilson, who kept up their spirits by assurances of being near Prospect
Hill; which place, after much toil and difficulty, they at length
reached, when despairing of living to see it.

This is the sum of the information given by these people. With respect to
the direction in which they travelled, that might not be very correct,
nor can much reliance be placed on their judgment of the distances which
they went in each day. Of the face of the country their account may be
more just. Of its inability to support the traveller, their appearance
was a most convincing argument: and this narrative of their journey has
been detailed so much at length, not only because these people had
penetrated farther than any European had ever been before; but to show
the labour, danger, and difficulties, which attended the exploring the
interior of this extensive country.

On arranging their courses and distances on paper, they appeared to have
travelled in a direction SW three-fourths W about 140 miles from
Parramatta. They brought in with them one of the birds which they had
named pheasants, but which on examination appeared to be a variety of the
Bird of Paradise.

The size of this curious and handsome bird was that of a common hen; the
colour a reddish black, the bill long, the legs black and very strong.
The tail, about two feet in length, was formed of several feathers, two
of which were the principal, having the interior sides scalloped
alternately of a deeper or lighter reddish brown inclining to orange,
shading gently into a white or silver colour next the stem, crossing each
other, and at the very extremity terminating in a broad black round
finishing. The difference of colour in the scallops did not proceed from
any precise change in the colour itself, but from the texture of the
feather, which was alternately thicker and thinner. The fibres of the
outer side of the stem were narrow and of a lead colour. Two other
feathers of equal length, and of a blueish or lead colour, lay wit