acquaint your Excellency with my arrival
at this place last evening, with the persons comprising the
expedition to the westward, which your Excellency was pleased to
place under my direction.

Your Excellency is already informed of my proceedings up to
the 30th of April. The limits of a letter will not permit me to
enter at large into the occurrences of nineteen weeks; and as I
shall have the honour of waiting on your Excellency in a few
days, I trust you will have the goodness to excuse the summary
account I now offer to your Excellency.

I proceeded down the Lachlan in company with the boats until
the 12th of May, the country rapidly descending until the waters
of the river rose to a level with it, and dividing into numerous
branches, inundated the country to the west and north-west, and
prevented any further progress in that direction, the river
itself being lost among marshes: up to this point it had received
no accession of waters from either side, but on the contrary was
constantly dissipating in lagoons and swamps.

The impossibility of proceeding further in conjunction with
the boats being evident, I determined upon maturer deliberation,
to haul them up, and divesting ourselves of everything, that
could possibly be spared, proceed with the horses loaded with the
additional provisions from the boats, in such a course towards
the coast as would intersect any stream that might arise from the
divided waters of the Lachlan.

In pursuance of this plan, I quitted the river on the 11th
May, taking a south-west course towards Cape Northumberland, as
the best one to answer my intended purpose. I will not here
detail the difficulties and privations we experienced in passing
through a barren and desolate country, without any water but such
rain water as was found remaining in holes and the crevices of
rocks. I continued this course until the 9th of June, when having
lost two horses through fatigue and want, and the others in a
deplorable condition, I changed our course to north, along a
range of lofty hills, running in that direction, as they afforded
the only means of procuring water until we should fall in with
some running stream. On this course I continued until the 23d of
June, when we again fell in with a stream, which we had at first
some difficulty to recognise as the Lachlan, it being little
larger than one of the marshes of it, where it was quitted on the
17th of May.

I did not hesitate a moment to purs