discovery we could not hope to keep our position. No doubt
the current we had observed on first reaching the river was caused by
springs that had either escaped our notice, or were under water. Here
was at length a local cause for its saltness that destroyed at once the
anticipation and hope of our being near its termination, and,
consequently, the ardour with which we should have pressed on to decide
so interesting a point.

We calculated that we were forty miles from the camp, in a S.W.
direction, a fearful distance under our circumstances, since we could
not hope to obtain relief for two days. Independently, however, of the
state of the animals, our spirits were damped by the nature of the
country, and the change which had taken place in the soil, upon which it
was impossible that water could rest; while the general appearance of
the interior showed how much it suffered from drought. On the other
hand, although the waters of the river had become worse to the taste,
the river itself had increased in size and stretched away to the
westward, with all the uniformity of a magnificent canal, and gave every
promise of increasing importance; while the pelicans were in such
numbers upon it as to be quite dazzling to the eye. Considering,
however, that perseverance would only involve us in extricable
difficulties, and that it would also be useless to risk the horses,
since we had gained a distance to which the bullocks could not have been
brought I intimated my intention of giving up the further pursuit of the
river, though it was with extreme reluctance that I did so.

As soon as we had bathed and finished our scanty meal, I took the
bearings of D'Urban's Group, and found them to be S.58 E. about
thirty-three miles distant; and as we mounted our horses, I named the
river the "Darling," as a lasting memorial of the respect I bear the
Governor.

I should be doing injustice to Mr. Hume and my men if I did not express
my conviction that they were extremely unwilling to yield to
circumstances, and that, had I determined on continuing the journey,
they would have followed me with cheerfulness, whatever the consequences
might have been.

EXPLORATION OF THE EASTERN RIVER SYSTEM

+Source.+--Expeditions in Australia (Sturt, 1833), Vol. II, pp. 6, 8-69,
85-86, 111, 151-187, 204-217, 219.

On his first expedition Sturt had proved that the interior was dry.
He then attempted to find the destination of the Morumbidg