d on which both
the flooded-gum and the grass were of luxuriant height. We found a
quantity of a substance like pipe-clay in the bed of the river, similar to
that mentioned by Mr. Oxley.

GREAT HEAT.

The heat, which had been excessive at Wellington Valley, increased upon us
as we advanced into the interior. The thermometer was seldom under 114
degrees at noon, and rose still higher at 2 p.m. We had no dews at night,
and consequently the range of the instrument was trifling in the
twenty-four hours. The country looked bare and scorched, and the plains
over which we journeyed had large fissures traversing them, so that the
earth may literally be said to have gasped for moisture. The country,
which above the cataract had borne the character of open forest, excepting
on the immediate banks of the river, where its undulations and openness
gave it a park-like appearance, or where the barren stony ridges prevailed
below that point, generally exhibited alternately plain and brush, the
soil on both of which was good. On the former, crested pigeons were
numerous, several of which were shot. We had likewise procured some of the
rose-coloured and grey parrots, mentioned by Mr. Oxley, and a small
paroquet of beautiful plumage; but there was less of variety in the
feathered race than I expected to find, and most of the other birds we had
seen were recognised by me as similar to specimens I had procured from
Melville Island, and were, therefore, most probably birds of passage.

ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY, AND THE RIVER.

As we neared Mount Harris, the Macquarie became more sluggish in its flow,
and fell off so much as scarcely to deserve the name of a river. In
breadth, it averaged from thirty-five to forty-five yards, and in the
height of its banks, from fifteen to eighteen. Mr. Hume had succeeded in
taking some fish at one of the stock stations; but if I except those
speared by the natives, we had since been altogether unsuccessful with the
hook, a circumstance which I attribute to the lowness of the river itself.

About thirty miles from the cataract the country declines to the north as
a medium point, and again changes somewhat in its general appearance. To
the S. and S.W. it appeared level and wooded, while to the N. the plains
became more frequent, but smaller, and travelling over them was extremely
dangerous, in consequence of the large fissures by which they were
traversed. The only trees to be observed were dwarf-box and the