he ocean, it takes, as
far as I could see, a due southerly course; so that we may travel along
its banks, and be sure not only of water, but of plenty of birds, which
are certain to frequent the locality during the morning and evening."

This was good news; and the ample supply of meat we enjoyed restored our
strength and raised our spirits. We washed it down with I don't know
how many cups of tea; which, though we had no milk, was not the less
enjoyable. To prevent any dingos from unpleasantly smelling at us
during the night, we fixed a number of sticks into the ground around our
sleeping-place, and before turning in made up as large a fire as we
could find fuel for. Its warmth, at that altitude, was pleasant, if not
absolutely necessary.

We had a capital breakfast the next morning off some more of the rock
kangaroo, and then packed up the more delicate portions to carry with
us. "Forward!" cried Mudge; and setting our faces down the valley, we
continued our course. We had still some hundred feet to descend, and
even then we were not on a level plain, as, when looking from the
mountain, we had supposed the country below us to be. The river on our
left went rushing and foaming onwards, showing that the descent it was
about to make was still considerable.

We were not disappointed in our expectations of finding abundance of
game as we travelled on by the side of the river, for three days or
more; after which it turned towards the eastward on its course to the
ocean.

After this we proceeded southward, crossing several rivers and numerous
streams. Most of the latter were fordable. We passed over the rivers
in canoes, such as I have before described. For a considerable distance
we had a lofty range of mountains on our right; and we had to make our
way over some of the smaller ranges, but with much less difficulty than
over the first we had crossed.

Perseveringly we trudged onwards, over table-lands and wide-extending
plains and across valleys. All these rivers, streams, mountains, hills,
plains, table-lands, and valleys have long since been named and
thoroughly explored; while towns and villages have sprung up on the
banks of the rivers, numerous flocks and herds are pastured on the
plains and downs, and thousands of industrious settlers people the
country. But in those days the black man, the kangaroo, the emu, and
the dingo ranged in unrestrained freedom over the land. If names there
were, they were s