grass, of a redbrown, contrasted
most harmoniously with the light green bushes, grey driftwood, blue
water, and verdure by its margin; all these again--grass, verdure,
driftwood, and water--were so opposed to the dark hues of the Casuarinae,
Mimosae, and rifted rocks, that a Ruysdael, or a Gains-borough, might
there have found an inexhaustible stock of subjects for their pencil. It
was, indeed, one continuous Ruysdael.

"That artist lov'd the sternly savage air, And scarce a human image
plac'd he there."

May the object of our journey be successful, thought I then; and we may
also hope that these beauties of nature may no longer "waste their
sweetness in the desert air;" and that more of her graces may thus be
brought within the reach of art. Noble reaches next extended in fine
perspective before us; each for several miles, presenting open grassy
margins along which we could travel on firm ground unimpeded by scrub. At
length I perceived before me a junction of rivers, and could see along
each of them nearly a mile. I had no alternative but to follow up that
nearest to me, and found upon its bank many recent encampments of
natives; at one of which the fires were still burning. The country was
grassy, and so open, as almost to deserve the colonial name of "plain."
This channel took me a long way northward, and to the N. N. E.; but
finally turned west, and at last south. Its bed was full of sand; and at
length we found it quite dry, so that, when I would have encamped, I
could find no water. Yet it bore all the character of a large river;
marks of high floods, Mimosae, sand, and river driftwood, like the other.
It might, and probably did, finally come out of the main channel; but
this seemed too remote a contingency for our wants then, and I crossed
it, to look for the other. In riding eastward, I found a wide plain
bounded by trees that looked like those along the river. No time could be
spared for further reconnoissance: I took the party across, and made for
the nearest part. My course was first N. E., then East, finally South, in
following the various slopes; and it was only after travelling fifteen
miles beyond the point where I met with this river, that I reached the
bank of the other, at a spot distant only FOUR miles from where I had
quitted it. This was only accomplished at forty minutes after 4 P. M.,
when we had travelled twenty-six miles. As our circuitous route was
likely, if followed by Mr. Kennedy with the