our journey down the principal channel. The ground exhibited
an abundance of pasture in its immediate neighbourhood, but the distant
country was miserably poor and bare. At about three miles, we came upon
the fresh traces of some natives, which led us to the channel again,
from which we had wandered unintentionally. In it we found there had
been water very lately, and it appeared that the natives had dug holes
at the bottom to insure a longer supply. These were now exhausted, but
still retained the appearance of moisture. At a mile and a half beyond
these, we were led to some similar holes, by observing a number of
birds flying about them. The water was too muddy for us to drink, but
the horses emptied them successively. We now kept sufficiently near the
channel to insure our seeing any pool that might still remain in it,
but rode for about seven miles before we again saw water, and even
here, although it was a spring, we were obliged to dig holes, and await
their filling, before we could get sufficient for our use. Having
dined, we again pursued our journey, and almost immediately came upon a
long narrow ditch, full of water, and lined by bulrushes. The creek or
river had for some time kept the centre of a deep alluvial valley, in
which there was plenty of food for the cattle, and which, at this
place, was apparently broader than anywhere else. The situation being
favourable, we returned to the camp, and reached it late.

DEPRESSION OF THE MEN.

I do not know whether I was wrong in my conjecture, but I fancied,
about this time, that the men generally were desponding. Whether it was
that the constant fatigue entailed on myself and Mr. Hume, and that our
constant absence, or the consequent exhaustion it produced, had any
effect on their minds, or that they feared the result of our
perseverance, is difficult to say; but certainly, they all had a
depression of spirits, and looked, I thought, altered in appearance;
nor did they evince any satisfaction at our success--at least, not the
satisfaction they would have shown at an earlier period of our journey.

Before moving forward, it remained for us to ascertain if the channel
from the junction was the Castlereagh, or only a creek. The
intersection of so many channels in this neighbourhood, most of them so
much alike, made it essentially necessary that we should satisfy
ourselves on this point. Mr. Hume, therefore, accompanied me, as had at
first been intended the morning o