our only fare, if I except an occasional wild duck; but
these birds were extremely difficult to kill, and it cost us so much
time, that we seldom endeavoured to procure any. Our dogs had been of
no great use, and were now too weak to have run after anything if they
had seen either kangaroos or emus; and for the fish, the men loathed
them, and were either too indifferent or too much fatigued to set the
night-lines. Shoals frequently impeded us as we proceeded up the river,
and we passed some rapids that called for our whole strength to stem. A
light wind assisted us on two or three of these occasions, and I never
failed hoisting the sail at every fitting opportunity. In some parts
the river was extremely shallow, and the sand-banks of amazing size;
and the annoyance of dragging the boat over these occasional bars, was
very great. We passed several tribes of blacks on the 19th and 20th;
but did not stop to communicate with them.

I believe I have already mentioned that shortly after we first entered
the Murray, flocks of a new paroquet passed over our heads, apparently
emigrating to the N.W. They always kept too high to be fired at, but on
our return, hereabouts, we succeeded in killing one. It made a good
addition to our scanty stock of subjects of natural history. It is
impossible to conceive how few of the feathered tribe frequent these
distant and lonely regions. The common white cockatoo is the most
numerous, and there are also a few pigeons; but other birds descend
only for water, and are soon again upon the wing. Our botanical
specimens were as scanty as our zoological, indeed the expedition may,
as regards these two particulars, almost be said to have been
unproductive.

COMPILATION OF THE CHART.

When we came down the river, I thought it advisable to lay its course
down as precisely as circumstances would permit: for for this purpose I
had a large compass always before me, and a sheet of foolscap paper. As
soon as we passed an angle of the river, I took the bearings of the
reach before us, and as we proceeded down it, marked off the
description of country, and any remarkable feature. The consequence
was, that I laid down every bend of the Murray River, from the
Morumbidgee downwards. Its creeks, its tributaries, its flats, its
valleys, and its cliffs, and, as far as I possibly could do, the nature
of the distant interior. This chart was, of course, erroneous in many
particulars, since I had to judge the length