that if it continued northerly,
I should strike it again; if not, that it would either spread over the
Stony Desert, or fall short of it altogether.

On making this discovery, therefore, my hopes were centered in its
upward, not its downward course, for judging that in crossing the Stony
Desert, I had crossed the lowest part of the interior, my anticipations
of finding any important river in the central regions of Australia were
destroyed. My endeavour had been, not only to examine the country through
which I was immediately passing, but to deduce from it, what might be its
more extended features, and to put together such facts as I reasonably
could, to elucidate the past and present state of the continent. In the
course of my investigations, I saw grounds for believing that the fall of
the interior was from north to south and from east to west. However much
the more northerly streams might hold to the northward and westward,
whilst in the hilly country, I felt assured, that as soon as they gained
the depressed interior, they would double round to the southward, and
thus disappoint the explorer. Sir Thomas Mitchell himself tells us, that
every river he traced on his recent journey, excepting the Victoria,
disappointed him, by turning to that point and entering a sandy country.
It is evident, indeed, upon the face of Sir Thomas Mitchell's journal,
that there are no mountains in that part of the interior, in which the
basins of the Victoria must lie, or from which a river could emanate, of
such a character, as to lead even the most sanguine to expect, that after
having ceased to flow, it would continue onwards for another 460 miles
through such a country. From the favour able nature of the
Surveyor-General's report, however, it was deemed a point of great
importance to ascertain the further course of the river, and Mr. Kennedy,
a young and intelligent officer, who had accompanied Sir Thomas Mitchell
into the interior, was ordered on this interesting service. Before I make
any observations, however, on the result of his investigations, I shall
give the following extract from his letter to the Colonial Secretary, on
his return from the interior.

"Having reached the lowest point of the Victoria attained by the
Surveyor-General, I was directed to pursue the river, and determine the
course thereof as accurately as my light equipment, and consequent rapid
progress, might permit. Accordingly, on the 13th of August we moved d