d as the river had made a
bend to the N.N.W., I doubted not that they were upon its banks. From
this hill, which was of compact granite, we struck away to the W.N.W.,
and shortly afterwards crossed some remarkable sand-hills. Figuratively
speaking, they appeared like islands amidst the alluvial deposits, and
were as pure in their composition as the sand on the sea-shore. They
were generally covered with forest grass, in tufts, and a coarse kind
of rushes, under banksias and cypresses. We found a small fire on the
banks of the river, and close to it the couch and hut of a solitary
native, who had probably seen us approach, and had fled. There cannot
be many inhabitants hereabouts, since there are no paths to indicate
that they frequent this part of the Morumbidgee more at one season than
another.

On the 9th, the river fell off again to the westward, and we lost a
good deal of the northing we had made the day before. We journeyed
pretty nearly equidistant from the stream, and kept altogether on the
alluvial flats. As we were wandering along the banks of the river, a
black started up before us, and swam across to the opposite side, where
he immediately hid himself. We could by no means induce him to show
himself; he was probably the lonely being whom we had scared away from
the fire the day before. In the afternoon, however we surprised a
family of six natives, and persuaded them to follow us to our halting
place. My boy understood them well; but the young savage had the
cunning to hide the information they gave him, or, for aught I know, to
ask questions that best suited his own purposes, and therefore we
gained little intelligence from them.

Every day now produced some change in the face of the country, by which
it became more and more assimilated to that I had traversed during the
first expedition. Acacia pendula now made its appearance on several
plains beyond the river deposits, as well as that salsolaceous class of
plants, among which the schlerolina and rhagodia are so remarkable. The
natives left us at sunset, but returned early in the morning with an
extremely facetious and good-humoured old man, who volunteered to act
as our guide without the least hesitation. There was a cheerfulness in
his manner, that gained our confidence at once, and rendered him a
general favourite. He went in front with the dogs, and led us a little
away from the river to kill kangaroos, as he said. At about two miles
we struck on an i