(eucalyptus) growing amid long grass and reeds, encouraged
our hopes that we had at length found the big river. A narrow tract of
rich soil covered with long grass and seared with deep furrows
intervened. I galloped over this, and beheld a broad silvery expanse,
shaded by steep banks and lofty trees. In this water no current was
perceptible, but the breadth and depth of channel far exceeded that of
the Namoi. Nevertheless this was not the Kindur as described by The
Barber, but evidently the Gwydir of Cunningham, as seen by him at a
higher part of its course. We were exactly in the latitude of the Gwydir,
the course of which was also westward. It was however a very new feature
of the country to us, and after so much privation, heat and exposure the
living stream and umbrageous foliage gave us a grateful sense of
abundance, coolness, and shade. Trees of great magnitude give a grandness
of character to any landscape, but especially to river scenery. The blue
gum (eucalyptus) luxuriates on the margin of rivers, and grows in such
situations to an enormous size. Such trees overhung the water of the
Gwydir, forming dense masses of shade, in which white cockatoos
(Plyctolophus galeritus) sported like spirits of light.

CROSS IT WITH ONE MAN.

As soon as I had fixed on the camp I forded the river, accompanied by
Woods carrying my rifle. The water where I crossed did not reach above
the ankle, but the steepness of the banks on each side was a great
obstacle to the passage of my horse. I proceeded due north, in search of
rising ground, but the whole country seemed quite level. After crossing
an open plain of about two miles in length, I entered a brush of Acacia
pendula, and soon after I arrived at an old channel or hollow scooped out
by floods.

PREVENTED BY A NATIVE WITH SPEARS FROM SHOOTING A KANGAROO.

As I approached a line of bushes I saw a kangaroo which sat looking at my
horse until we were very near it, and I was asking Woods whether he
thought we could manage to carry it back if I shot it; when my horse,
suddenly pricking his ears, drew my attention to a native, apparently
also intent on the kangaroo, and having two spears on his shoulder. On
perceiving me he stood and stared for a moment, then taking one step
back, and swinging his right arm in the air, he poised one of his spears,
and stood stretched out in an attitude to throw. He was a tall man,
covered with pipe-clay, and his position of defiance then, as he coul