em;
but, unfortunately, they turned up the wrong arm, and, after rowing many
miles, were forced to turn back, the water all the way being salt and
unfit for drinking. For this reason they called this stream the
Saltwater; but next morning they started again and tried the other
branch. After pulling for about an hour and a half they reached a basin
in the river whose beauty filled them with exultation and delight. A
rocky ledge over which the river flowed kept the water above it fresh;
the soil was rich, and covered with splendid grass, and they instantly
came to the conclusion to settle in this favoured spot. Next day they
towed the vessel up, and landed where the Custom House now is. At night
they slept beside the falls, where the air was fragrant with the sweet
scent of the wattle trees just bursting into bloom.

They had not been on the river many days before Mr. Wedge--one of
Batman's party--in crossing the country from Indented Head to the Yarra,
was astonished to see the masts of a vessel rising amid the gum trees.
On reaching the river bank, what was his surprise to find, in that
lonely spot, a vessel almost embedded in the woods, and the rocks and
glades echoing to the sound of hammer and saw and the encouraging shouts
of the ploughmen! Wedge informed Fawkner's party that they were
trespassers on land belonging to John Batman and Company. Captain
Lancey, having heard the story of the purchase, declared that such a
transaction could have no value. When Wedge was gone, the settlers laid
their axes to the roots of the trees, and began to clear the land for
extensive cultivation. A fortnight later Wedge brought round all his
party from Indented Head in order to occupy what Batman had marked as
the site for a village, and the two rival parties were encamped side by
side where the western part of Collins Street now stands. A little later
Fawkner arrived with further settlers and with a wooden house, which he
soon erected by the banks of the Yarra, the first regularly built house
of Melbourne. He placed it by the side of the densely wooded stream,
which was afterwards turned into Elizabeth Street. Great crowds of black
and white cockatoos raised their incessant clamour at the first strokes
of the axe; but soon the hillside was clear, and man had taken permanent
possession of the spot.

#8. William Buckley.#--Meanwhile a circumstance had happened which
favoured Batman's party in no small degree. The men left at Inden