e without having seen either the Lachlan or the
Murrumbidgee in the course he had taken, and as the general bearings and
directions I had given him did not admit of his deviating too far from
the route of the carts he had been obliged to return unsuccessful. After
so long a day's journey the cattle were doomed to pass another night
yoked up, although surrounded by luxuriant pasture, for thus only could
we prevent them from straying in search of water. The rain however
moistened the grass on this as on three former occasions when we had
suffered the same privation; and the cattle were ordered to be loosened
to feed at the earliest dawn.

May 12.

It had rained heavily during the night so that water was no longer
scarce. The canoe brought from Waljeers had been placed to receive the
rain and conduct it into a cask which was thus filled.

TWO MEN MISSING.

On getting up I learnt that two men had set off in quest of water and had
been absent all night. That they should have taken this step without
first asking permission was wrong, but that nobody had mentioned the
circumstance to me till then was still more vexatious as, by firing shots
and throwing up rockets, these men might have found their way back in the
dark. I was very glad however to hear them at length answer our shots,
and not at all sorry to see them come in thoroughly drenched with the
empty kettles on their shoulders. After this I learnt, when we were about
to start, that six of the bullocks had got away; Piper however managed to
trace and bring them back. The weather then cleared up and we proceeded,
in a south-west direction as nearly as patches of scrub permitted, in
search of the Murrumbidgee; for I was then convinced, from the different
appearance of the country, that we had got beyond the junction of the
Lachlan. On passing the scrubs we crossed a plain of the same kind which
we had so often met. It sloped towards a belt of large trees in a flat,
where we also saw reeds, the ground there being very soft and heavy for
the draught animals. Passing this flat we again reached firm ground with
stately yarra trees; and charming vistas through miles of open forest
scenery had indeed nearly drawn me away from the bearing which was
otherwise most likely to hit the river.

REACH THE MURRUMBIDGEE.

I however continued to follow it and, in the midst of such scenery
without being at all aware that I was approaching a river, I suddenly saw
the water before me a