s junction with the river, at which it fortunately
happened to be dry. We had, however, to cut roads down both its banks
before we could cross it; and, consequently, made but a short day's
journey. The soil passed over was inferior to the generality of soil
near the river, but we encamped on a tongue of land on which both the
flooded-gum and the grass were of luxuriant height. We found a quantity
of a substance like pipe-clay in the bed of the river, similar to that
mentioned by Mr. Oxley.

GREAT HEAT.

The heat, which had been excessive at Wellington Valley, increased upon
us as we advanced into the interior. The thermometer was seldom under
114 degrees at noon, and rose still higher at 2 p.m. We had no dews at
night, and consequently the range of the instrument was trifling in the
twenty-four hours. The country looked bare and scorched, and the plains
over which we journeyed had large fissures traversing them, so that the
earth may literally be said to have gasped for moisture. The country,
which above the cataract had borne the character of open forest,
excepting on the immediate banks of the river, where its undulations
and openness gave it a park-like appearance, or where the barren stony
ridges prevailed below that point, generally exhibited alternately
plain and brush, the soil on both of which was good. On the former,
crested pigeons were numerous, several of which were shot. We had
likewise procured some of the rose-coloured and grey parrots, mentioned
by Mr. Oxley, and a small paroquet of beautiful plumage; but there was
less of variety in the feathered race than I expected to find, and most
of the other birds we had seen were recognised by me as similar to
specimens I had procured from Melville Island, and were, therefore,
most probably birds of passage.

ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY, AND THE RIVER.

As we neared Mount Harris, the Macquarie became more sluggish in its
flow, and fell off so much as scarcely to deserve the name of a river.
In breadth, it averaged from thirty-five to forty-five yards, and in
the height of its banks, from fifteen to eighteen. Mr. Hume had
succeeded in taking some fish at one of the stock stations; but if I
except those speared by the natives, we had since been altogether
unsuccessful with the hook, a circumstance which I attribute to the
lowness of the river itself.

About thirty miles from the cataract the country declines to the north
as a medium point, and again changes somewha