ributaries, and not a mere product of distant ranges,
admits of no dispute; and the downs and plains of Central Australia,
through which it flows, seem sufficient to supply the whole world with
animal food. The natives are few and inoffensive. I happened to surprise
one tribe at a lagoon, who did not seem to be averse that such strangers
were in that country; our number being small, they seemed inclined to
follow us. I crossed the river at the lowest point I reached, in a great
southerly bend in long. 144 degrees 34 minutes east, lat. 24 degrees 14
minutes south, and from rising ground beyond the left bank, I could trace
its downward course far to the northward. I saw no Callitris (Pine of the
colonists) in all that country, but a range, shewing sandstone cliffs
appeared to the southward, in long. 145 degrees and lat. 24 degrees 30
minutes south. The country to the northward of the river, is, upon the
whole, the best, yet, in riding ninety miles due east from where I
crossed the southern bend, I found plenty of water, and excellent grass,
a red gravel there approaches the river, throwing it off to the
northward. Ranges extending N. N. W. were occasionally visible from the
country to the northward."

Sir Thomas Mitchell's position at his extreme west was more than 460
miles from the nearest part of the Gulf of Carpentaria; he was in a low
country, and on the banks of a river which had ceased to flow. Whatever
the local appearances might have been, which led the Surveyor-General to
conclude that it would reach the northern coast, I do not know, but
notwithstanding the favourable report he made of it, I never for a moment
anticipated that this river would do so; I felt assured, indeed, that
however promising it might be, it would either enter the Stony Desert or
be found to turn southward, and be lost amongst marshes and lagoons. The
appearance of Cooper's Creek might have justified my most sanguine
expectations, but I was too well aware of the character of Australian
rivers, and had seen too much of the country into which they fall, to
trust them beyond the range of sight. My natural course on the discovery
of Cooper's Creek would have been to have traced it downwards, but I was
not unmindful that I should keep it between myself and the track on which
Mr. Browne and I had last returned from the north-west interior, in
pursuing the northerly course I intended, and I consequently felt
satisfied, after a little consideration,