His character--Features of this part of the country and capabilities of
its coasts--Its adaptation for colonization--Suggestions for the
furtherance of future Expeditions.

APPENDIX.

No. I. Geological Specimens found to the south-west of Port Jackson
No. II. Official Report to the Colonial Government

ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE SECOND VOLUME
(Not included in this etext)

View on the Morumbidgee River
Junction of the supposed Darling with the Murray
Palaeornis Melanura, or Black Tailed Paroquet
Pomatorhinus Temporalis
Pomatorhinus Superciliosus
Chart of Cape Jervis, and Encounter Bay
Mass of Fossils of the Tertiary Formation
Bulla
Conus
Genus Unknown
Chrystallized Selenite
Selenite
Single Fossils of the Tertiary Formation

EXPEDITION DOWN THE MORUMBIDGEE AND MURRAY RIVERS, IN 1829, 1830 AND 1831.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory

Remarks on the results of the former Expedition--The fitting out of
another determined on--Its objects--Provisions, accoutrements, and
retinue--Paper furnished by Mr. Kent--Causes that have prevented the
earlier appearance of the present work.

OBJECTS OF THE EXPEDITION.

The expedition of which we have just detailed the proceedings was so far
satisfactory in its results, that it not only set at rest the hypothesis
of the existence of an internal shoal sea in southern Australia, and
ascertained the actual termination of the rivers it had been directed to
trace, but also added very largely to our knowledge of the country
considerably to the westward of former discoveries. And although no land
had been traversed of a fertile description of sufficient extent to invite
the settler, the fact of a large river such as the Darling lying at the
back of our almost intertropical settlements, gave a fresh importance to
the distant interior. It was evident that this river was the chief drain
for carrying off the waters falling westerly from the eastern coast, and
as its course indicated a decline of country diametrically opposite to
that which had been calculated upon, it became an object of great
importance to ascertain its further direction. Had not the saline quality
of its waters been accounted for, by the known existence of brine springs
in its bed, it would have been natural to have supposed that it
communicated with some mediterranean sea; but, under existing
circumstances, it remained to be proved whether this river held on a due
south course, or whether it ultimately