he
year before, and had as much difficulty in finding a marked tree of Mr.
Hume's upon its banks, as if it had been a needle in a bundle of straw.
Fortunately, however, the Surveyor-General was enabled to satisfy himself
as to this locality, and he accordingly left the Murray, and traced the
junction upwards to the north for more than eight miles, when he was
suddenly illuminated. A ray of light fell upon him, and he became
convinced, as I had been, of the identity of this stream with the
Darling, and suddenly turning his back upon it, left the question as much
in the dark as before. Neither did he therefore on this occasion, throw
any light on the nature and character of the distantinterior.

In the year 1837 the Royal Geographical Society, assisted by Her
Majesty's Government, despatched an expedition under the command of
Lieuts. afterwards Captains Grey and Lushington--the former of whom has
since been Governor of South Australia, and is at the present moment
Governor in Chief of New Zealand--to penetrate into the interior of the
Australian continent from some point on the north-west or west coast; but
those gentlemen were unable to effect such object. The difficulties of
the country were very great, and their means of transport extremely
limited; and in consequence of successive untoward events they were
ultimately obliged to abandon the enterprise, without any satisfactory
result. But I should be doing injustice to those officers, more
particularly to Captain Grey, if I did not state that he shewed a degree
of enthusiasm and courage that deserve the highest praise.

As, however, both Sir Thomas Mitchell and Capt. Grey [Note 4. Journals of
Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, during the
years 1837-8-9, by Captain George Grey.] have published accounts of their
respective expeditions, it may not be necessary for me to notice them,
beyond that which may be required to connect my narrative and to keep
unbroken the chain of geographical research upon the continent.

In the year 1838, I myself determined on leading a party overland from
New South Wales to South Australia, along the banks of the Murray; a
journey that had already been successfully performed by several of my
friends, and among the rest by Mr. Eyre. They had, however, avoided the
upper branches of the Murray, and particularly the Hume, by which name
the Murray itself is known above the junction of the Murrumbidgee with
it. Wishing