ance to the north-west,
the object of all my dreams of discovery for years. No white man had
before seen these. There we might hope to find the DIVISA AQUARUM, still
undiscovered; the pass to Carpentaria, still unexplored: I called this
hill Mount First View, and descended, delighted with what I had seen from
its rocky crest. The sides were covered with Malga scrub. The rock was
felspathic, apparently allied to those already seen in the Balonne. Lat.
27 deg. 2' 57" S. Thermometer, at sunrise, 45 deg.; at 4 P. M., 68 deg.; at 9 P. M.,
45 deg.;--with wet bulb, 43 deg..

4TH MAY.--An Australian morning is always charming,--amid these scenes of
primaeval nature it seemed exquisitely so. The BARITA? or GYMNORHINA, the
organ-magpie, was here represented by a much smaller bird, whose notes,
resembling the softest breathings of a flute, were the only sounds that
met the ear. What the stillness of even adds to such sounds in other
climes, is felt more intensely in the stillness of morning in this. "The
rapture of repose that's there" gratifies every sense; the perfume of the
shrubs, of those even that have recently been burnt, and the tints and
tones of the landscape, accord with the soft sounds. The light red tints
of the ANTHISTIRIA, the brilliant green of the MIMOSA, the white stems of
the EUCALYPTUS, and the deep grey shadows of early morning, still
slumbering about the woods, are blended and contrasted in the most
pleasing harmony. The forms in the soft landscape are equally fine, from
the wild fantastic tufting of the Eucalyptus, and its delicate willow-
like ever-drooping leaf, to the prostrate trunks of ancient trees, the
mighty ruins of the vegetable world. Instead of autumnal tints, there is
a perpetual blending of the richest hues of autumn with the most
brilliant verdure of spring; while the sun's welcome rays in a winter
morning, and the cool breath of the woods in a summer morning, are
equally grateful concomitants of such scenes. These attach even the
savage to his woods, and might well reclaim the man of crime from
thoughts likely to disturb the harmony of human existence.

Following up the little river with more confidence now, since I had seen
whence it came, I proceeded more directly north-west. Thus I found myself
on a small creek, or chain of ponds, from the west and southwest, so that
I crossed it and made for some open ground, between ridges clothed with
dense Malga scrub. We thus crossed a low ridge, and