he had reached northward-flowing waters; but the direction
of the rivers that he found, the Claude and the Nogoa, soon convinced him
of his error, and that he was on rivers of the east coast. Even when he
had reached the Belyando, a river which he named and followed down for a
short distance, he still deluded himself that he had reached inland
waters. Intensely mortified at finding that he was on a tributary of the
Burdekin, and approaching the ground already trodden by Leichhardt, he
returned to the head of the Nogoa, once more subdivided his party, and
formed a stationary camp to await his return from a westward trip.

This time, however, he was blessed with the most splendid success. He
found the Barcoo, a river that seemed to him to promise all he sought
for. The direction of its upper course easily led him to believe that it
was an affluent of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and after tracing it for some
distance he returned to camp. The newly-discovered river he named the
Victoria, thinking it would prove to be the same as that found by Captain
Stokes on his survey expedition. It was on the Barcoo, or Victoria, that
Mitchell first noticed the now famous grass that bears his name. On their
return journey, they followed down the Maranoa, and at the old camp at
St. George's Bridge, they were told by the natives that white men had
visited the place during their long absence. It was a singular and
welcome feature of Mitchell's discoveries that they had always proved to
be adjacent to civilisation, and to be suitable for immediate occupation.

The discovery of the Barcoo was the last feather in the cap of the
Surveyor-General. He was doomed to learn soon that it was not the river
of his dreams, but only the head waters of that central stream discovered
by Sturt, Cooper's Creek; but meanwhile the delusion must have been very
gratifying.

In 1851 Mitchell was sent out to report on the Bathurst goldfields, and
on a subsequent visit to England he took with him the first specimen of
gold and the first diamond found in Australia. He was for a short time
one of the members for the Port Phillip electorate, but resigned, as he
found faithful discharge of the duties to be incompatible with his
office. He patented the boomerang screw propeller, and was the author of
many educational and other works, including a translation of the Lusiad
of Camoens. Although a strict martinet in his official duties, and
subject to a choleric temper, he w