had come to the verge of the unknown, and halted in
order to consider as to his immediate movements. He consulted with Hume,
and as there seemed to be no present obstacle to their progress, it was
determined, as Sturt writes, "to close with the marshes."

This they did much sooner than was expected, for at the end of the first
day's march their camp was set in the very midst of the reeds. A halt for
a couple of days was made, whilst Sturt prepared his despatches to the
Governor. On the 26th, the two messengers were sent off to Bathurst, and
the progress of the party was resumed. Before the day closed, they found
themselves on a dreary expanse of flats and of desolate reed beds. The
progress of the main body was thus suddenly and completely checked, and
Sturt decided to launch the boat and with two men endeavour to trace the
course of the river, while Hume and two others endeavoured to find an
opening to the northward.

The boat voyage soon terminated, for Sturt was as completely baffled as
Oxley had been. The channel ceased altogether, and the boat quietly
grounded. Sturt could do nothing but return to camp and await Hume's
report. All search for the lost river proved vain.

Hume had found a serpentine sheet of water to the north which he was
inclined to think was the continuation of the elusive Macquarie. He had
pushed on past it, but had been checked by another body of reed beds. It
was decided to shift camp to this lagoon and launch the boat once more;
but without result, for the boat was hauled ashore again after having
vainly followed the supposed channel in amongst reeds and shallows. Again
the leader and his second went forward on a scouting trip. Each took with
them two men; Sturt going to the north-west, and Hume to the north-east.
They left on the last day of December, 1828.

Sturt toiled on until after sunset he came to a northward-flowing creek,
in which there was a fair supply of water. Next day their course lay
through plains intersected with belts of scrub, and they discovered
another creek, inferior to the last one both in size and the quality of
the water. They camped for a few hours on its bank, and Sturt called it
New Year's Creek, but it is now known as the Bogan River. They were about
to pass that night without water on the edge of a dry plain, when one of
the men had his attention drawn to the flight of a pigeon, and searching,
found a puddle of rain water which barely satisfied them. An isolate