nconsiderable elevation, which the party crossed at
the S.W. extremity. I ascended it at the opposite end, but although the
view was extensive, I could not make out the little hill of granite
from which I had taken my former bearings, and the only elevation I
could recognise as connected with them, was one about ten miles
distant, bearing S. 168 W. I could observe very distant ranges to the
E.N.E. and immediately below me in that direction, there was a large
clear plain, skirted by acacia pendula, stretching from S.S.E. to
N.N.W. The crown and ridges of the hill on which I stood, were barren,
stony, and covered with beef-wood, the rock-formation being a coarse
granite. The drays had got so far ahead of me that I did not overtake
them before they had halted on the river at a distance of ten miles.

INFORMATION FROM A NATIVE.

The Morumbidgee appeared, on examination, to have increased in breadth,
and continued to rise gradually. It is certainly a noble stream, very
different from those I had already traced to their termination. The old
black informed me that there was another large river flowing to the
southward of west, to which the Morumbidgee was as a creek, and that we
could gain it in four days. He stated that its waters were good, but
that its banks were not peopled. That such a feature existed where he
laid it down, I thought extremely probable, because it was only natural
to expect that other streams descended from the mountains in the S.E.
of the island, as well as that on which we were travelling. The
question was, whether either of them held on an uninterrupted course to
some reservoir, or whether they fell short of the coast and exhausted
themselves in marshes. Considering the concave direction of the
mountains to the S.E., I even at this time hoped that the rivers
falling into the interior would unite sooner or later, and contribute
to the formation of an important and navigable stream. Of the fate of
the Morumbidgee, the old black could give no account. It seemed
probable, therefore, that we were far from its termination.

I had hitherto been rather severe upon the animals, for although our
journey had not exceeded from twelve to fifteen miles a day, it had
been without intermission. I determined, therefore, to give both men
and animals a day of rest, as soon as I should find a convenient place.
We started on the 11th with this intention, but we managed to creep
over eight or ten miles of ground before we