violence in the morning gradually abated, and a steady
breeze enabled us to pass our first encampment, by availing ourselves of
it as long as daylight continued.

_Feb. 18th._ The breezes that had so much assisted us from the lake
upwards, had now lost their influence, or failed to reach to the
distance we had gained. Calms succeeded them, and obliged us to labour
continually at the oars. We lost ground fast, and it was astonishing to
remark how soon the men's spirits drooped again under their first
efforts. They fancied the boat pulled heavily and that her bottom was
foul, but such was not the case. The current was not so strong as when
we passed down, since the river had evidently fallen more than a foot,
and was so shallow in several places that we were obliged to haul the
boat over them. On these occasions we were necessarily obliged to get
out of her into the water, and had afterwards to sit still and to allow
the sun to dry our clothes upon us. The unemployed consequently envied
those at the oars, as they sat shivering in their dripping clothes.

I have omitted to mention one remarkable trait of the good disposition
of all the men while on the coast. Our sugar had held out to that point;
but it appeared when we examined the stores that six pounds alone
remained in the cask. This the men positively refused to touch. They
said that, divided, it would benefit nobody; that they hoped M'Leay and
I would use it, that it would last us for some time, and that they were
better able to submit to privations than we were. The feeling did them
infinite credit, and the circumstance is not forgotten by me. The little
supply the kindness of our men left to us was, however, soon exhausted,
and poor M'Leay preferred pure water to the bitter draught that
remained. I have been sometimes unable to refrain from smiling as I
watched the distorted countenances of my humble companions while
drinking their tea and eating their damper.

_March 17th._ We had been drawing nearer the Morumbidgee every day; and
the following afternoon, to our great joy, we turned our boat into the
gloomy and narrow channel of the tributary. Our feelings were almost as
strong when we re-entered it as they had been when we were launched from
it into that river, on whose waters we had continued for upwards of
fifty-five days; during which period, including the sweeps and bends it
made, we could not have travelled less than 1,500 miles.

Our daily journeys were