'clock in the morning, having
failed in his errand, and made himself the butt of the whole party.

RETURN UP THE CREEK.

The day succeeding this adventure, we moved up the creek, which was,
for the most part, even with the plain. The country continued the same
as that we had passed over from the junction, being subject to flood,
and having patches of bulrushes and reeds upon it. No change took place
in the timber, but the line of acacia pendula, which forms the line of
inundation, approached neater to us; nor was the mark of flood so high
on the trunks of trees as below. We halted, with abominable water, but
excellent food for the animals in the plains behind us. In continuing
our journey, we found several changes take place in the appearance of
the creek and its neighbourhood. The former diminished in size, and at
length separated into two distinct channels, choked up, for the most
part, with dead bulrushes, but having a few green reeds in patches
along it. The flats on either side became slightly timbered, and blue
gum was the prevailing tree. Crossing one of the channels, we observed
every appearance of our near approach to the marshes, the flats being
intersected by many little water-runs, such as we had noticed at the
bottom of them. About noon we struck upon a body of reeds under the
wood of eucalypti, below the second great morass, and keeping a little
to our right to avoid them, fell shortly afterwards into our old track
on the plain, upon which we continued to move, making the best of our
way to the channel which had supplied our wants on our first return
from the Darling. It was now, however, quite dry, and we were obliged
to push on further, to shorten the journey of the morrow.

CONNECTION OF MACQUARIE AND DARLING.

The result of our journey up the creek was particularly satisfactory,
both to myself and Mr. Hume; since it cleared up every doubt that might
have existed regarding the actual termination of the Macquarie, and
enabled us to connect the flow of waters at so interesting and
particular a point. It will be seen by a reference to the chart, that
the waters of the marshes, after trickling through the reeds, form a
small creek, which carries off the superfluous part of them into
Morrisset's chain of ponds, which latter again falls into the
Castlereagh, at about eight miles to the W.N.W. and all three join the
Darling in a W. by N. direction, in lat. 30 degrees 52 minutes south
and E. lon. 147 degree