left was ascertained to be the only one in the little channel. I
sought a good position for a depot camp on the newly-discovered river,
and found one extremely favourable, on a curve concave to the N. W.,
overlooking, from a high bank, a dry ford, on a smooth rocky bed; and
having also access to a reach of water, where the bottom was hard and
firm. We approached this position with our carts, in the midst of smoke
and flame; the natives having availed themselves of a hot wind to burn as
much as they could of the old grass, and a prickly weed which, being
removed, would admit the growth of a green crop, on which the kangaroos
come to feed, and are then more easily got at. Latitude of this camp, 26 deg.
12' 47" S. Thermometer, at sunrise, 40 deg.; at 4 P. M., 78 deg.; at 9, 57 deg..

19TH MAY.--I could now venture to halt a day without any apprehensions
about leaving sufficient water for the party who were following us; and I
had recently obtained many angles I wished to put together, in order to
learn the character of the country, which required much study. That I
should have overlooked an extensive country, without perceiving any
indication of a large river flowing through it, almost at my feet, seemed
a singular circumstance, and I was still as little aware of its ultimate
course. I found on laying down my work on paper, that the chief
elevations ran, in a continuous line, nearly due north from Mount Red
Cap, Bindango, and Bindyego, to the high ranges nearer the coast. That
the nascent stream on the western side of Bindango (the Amby), and
flowing first N. W., turned towards the S. W. within a range of basaltic
rock, which was a branch from the main stem between Bindango and the
northern range. Thus, upon the whole, this seemed but one side, and that
the south-eastern, of the basin of the river we had discovered. Where was
the other? The marks of flood were not high. The waters were full of
fish, but they would not take the bait. Thermometer, at sunrise, 46 deg.; at
noon, 73 deg.; at 4 P. M., 76 deg.; at 9, 65 deg..

20TH MAY.--The sky was wholly overcast, and drizzling rain afforded us
some grounds for hoping that the great impediment to our exploration
during this dry season, was at an end. The temperature underwent a sudden
change, and this day was the coldest as yet experienced during the
journey; the thermometer at noon being only 48 deg.. F. Yuranigh contrived to
catch three fishes, of a kind wholly different from