we hauled down our sail and took to the oars. The bed of
the river however became choked with shallows and sandbanks, and when we
had ascended it about three miles, the water having shoaled to about six
inches, I selected a suitable place for our encampment and prepared to
start and explore the country on foot.

SURVEY OF MOUTHS OF THIS RIVER AND BABBAGE ISLAND.

As soon as all had been made snug I moved up the river with three men.
Its banks were here about five feet high; the bed of white sand, and
about half a mile across; the centre of the channel was full of salt
water, and in breadth about a quarter of a mile. We had not proceeded
more than a few hundred yards when we unexpectedly came upon another
mouth of the river as large as that upon which we stood, and which ran
off nearly west. The river itself appeared to come from the north-east,
and we saw salt water still further up than where we were.

NATIVES AND A SHARK.

Just on the eastern bank of the stream was a clump of small trees and
reeds which I walked up to examine with a desire to recognise any trees
belonging to known species, but to my horror, on looking into the reeds,
I saw what appeared to be a huge alligator fast asleep. The men now
peeped at it and all agreed that it was an alligator. I therefore
retreated to a respectful and suitable distance and let fly at it with a
rifle; it gave, as we thought, a kind of shake, and then took no further
notice of us. I therefore took a double-barrelled gun from one of the men
and drove two balls through the beast, and now feeling sure it must be
dead (for it never moved) I walked up to it, when, upon examination, it
turned out to be a huge shark, of a totally new species, which had been
left in some hole by the tide where the natives had found and killed it,
and, being disturbed by our approach, had run away, first hiding it in
this clump of reeds. There were two natives and they had made off right
up the bed of the river, taking the precaution to step in one another's
tracks so as to conceal if possible their number.

CHARACTER OF THE RIVER.

To those who have never seen a river similar to the one we were now upon
it is difficult to convey a true idea of its character. It consisted of
several channels or beds divided from each other by long strips of land,
which, in times of flood, become islands; the main channel had an average
breadth of about two hundred and seventy yards; the average height of the
bank