turn in again upon the river; and as I
considered it important to ascertain the direction of the Macquarie at so
critical and interesting a point, I thought it better to adopt the latter
measure. We, accordingly, made for the river, and pitched our tents, as at
the last station, in the midst of reeds.

There were two points at this time, upon which I was extremely anxious.
The first was as to the course of the river; the second, as to the extent
of the marshes by which we had been checked, and the practicability of the
country to the northward.

In advising with Mr. Hume, I proposed launching the boat, as the surest
means of ascertaining the former, and he, on his part, most readily
volunteered to examine the marshes, in any direction I should point out.
It was therefore, arranged, that I should take two men, and a week's
provision with me in the boat down the river; and that he should proceed
with a like number of men on an excursion to the northward.

After having given directions as to the regulations of camp during our
absence, we separated, on the morning of the 26th for the first time, in
furtherance of the objects each had in view.

BOAT EXCURSION.

In pulling down the river, I found that its channel was at first extremely
tortuous and irregular, but that it held a general N.W. course, and bore
much the same appearance as it had done since our descent from Mount
Foster.

We had a laborious task in lifting the boat over the trunks of trees that
had fallen into the channel of the river or that had been left by the
floods, and at length we stove her in upon a sunken log. The injury she
received was too serious not to require immediate repair; and we,
therefore, patched her up with a tin plate. This accident occasioned some
delay, and the morning was consumed without our having made any
considerable progress. At length, however, we got into a more open
channel.

The river suddenly increased in breadth to thirty-five or forty-five
yards, with a depth of from twelve to twenty feet of water. Its banks
shelved perpendicularly down, and were almost on a level with the surface
of the stream; and the flood mark was not more than two feet high on the
reeds by which they were lined. We had hitherto passed under the shade of
the flooded gum, which still continued on the immediate banks of the
river; but, the farther we advanced, the more did we find these trees in a
state of decay, until at length they ceased, or were