nd kangaroo as we seldom saw either. We however surprised two
natives cutting away at an opossum's hole in a tree at some distance to
our left; and on seeing us they made off with great speed towards the
northern bend of the river and our former route.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PLAINS OF THE DARLING AND BOGAN.

On reaching our old encampment we discovered new beauty in the plains on
the Bogan when compared with those on the banks of the Darling. There we
dreaded plains, the surface being soft and uneven. Here on the contrary
they delighted the eye with their great levelness, while the firmer
surface was no less agreeable to the foot. The grass also had been so
cleanly burnt off that the surface resembled a floor, and although such a
piece of perfect level country, extending for miles, was by no means a
common feature, it was perhaps more striking to us, on coming from the
soft plains, on account of its firmness, neither hoofs nor wheels leaving
any impression upon it. The two men came in with the stray bullock soon
after the tents were pitched, and thus our party was again in a state to
move forward.

EXTREME ILLNESS OF ONE OF THE PARTY.

One of the men, Robert Whiting, who had been long afflicted with the
black scurvy, continued to get weaker daily; and it seemed very doubtful
whether his life could be preserved until we should reach a station where
vegetables might be procured. In other respects he was as well off as if
in a hospital; the proper medicines were given to him, he was kept warm
in a tent, and on the journey he was conveyed in a covered van. He was
however sinking daily, all his teeth were dropping out, and yet, poor
fellow, he had been, when in health, one of the most indefatigable of the
party, and had been also with me on my journey to the northward. He did
not look the same man on this occasion from the first setting out; and it
was evident that he had brought the disease from an ironed gang where it
had been prevalent some time before.

NEW YEAR'S RANGE.

August 20.

Following our old route we crossed the extremities of New Year's range,
and at the rocky point where it was first seen by us I obtained bearings
on it, and several other heights to the westward which I had seen also
from that range. The sky was obscured this morning by a kind of smoky
haze which brought with it a smell of burning grass. It was evident that
either the Macquarie marshes or some other extensive tract to the
eastward wa