evening before; but pursuing a
westerly course we passed it, and struck deep into the reeds. At
mid-day we were hemmed in by them on every side, and had crossed over
numerous channels, by means of which the waters of the marshes are
equally and generally distributed over the space subject to their
influence. Coming to a second sheet of water, narrower, but longer, as
well as we could judge, than the first, we stopped to dine at it; and,
while the men were resting themselves, Mr. Hume rode with me in a
westerly direction, to ascertain what obstacles we still had to contend
with. Forcing our way through bodies of reeds, we at length got on a
plain, stretching from S.E. to N.W., bounded on the right by a wood of
blue-gum, under which the reeds still extended, and on the left by a
wood in which they did not appear to exist. Certain that there was no
serious obstacle in our way, we returned to the men; and as soon as
they had finished their meal, led them over the plain in a N.W. by W.
direction. It was covered with shells, and was full of holes from the
effects of flood.

CONCLUSIONS IN REGARD TO THE MACQUARIE.

As we were journeying over it, I requested Mr. Hume to ride into the
wood upon our left, to ascertain if it concealed any channel. On his
return he informed me that he descended from the plain into a hollow,
the bottom of which was covered with small shells and bulrushes. He
observed a new species of eucalypti, on the trunks of which the
water-mark was three feet high. After crossing this hollow, which was
about a quarter of a mile in breadth, he gained an open forest of box,
having good grass under it; and, judging from the appearance of the
country that no other channel could exist beyond him, and that he had
ascertained sufficient for the object I had in view, he turned back to
the plain. We stopped for the night under a wood of box, where the
grass, which had been burnt down, was then springing up most
beautifully green, and was relished exceedingly by the animals.

It was in consequence of our not having crossed any channel, while
penetrating through the reeds, that could by any possible exaggeration
have been laid down as the bed of the river, that I detached Mr. Hume;
and the account he brought me at once confirmed my opinion in regard to
the Macquarie, and I thenceforth gave up every hope of ever seeing it
in its characteristic shape again.

Independently however of all circumstantial evidence, it was cl