uring the
afternoon. The river maintained its breadth and depth nor were the reeds
continuous upon its banks. We passed several plains that were considerably
elevated above the alluvial deposits, and the general appearance of the
country induced me strongly to hope that we should shortly get out of the
region of reeds, or the great flooded concavity on which we had fixed our
depot; but the sameness of vegetation, and the seemingly diminutive size
of the timber in the distance, argued against any change for the better
in the soil of the interior. Having taken the precaution of shortening the
painter of the skiff, we found less difficulty in steering her clear
of obstacles, and made rapid progress down the Morumbidgee during the
first cool and refreshing hours of the morning. The channel of the river
became somewhat less contracted, but still retained sufficient depth for
larger boats than ours, and preserved a general westerly course. Although
no decline of country was visible to the eye, the current in places ran
very strong. It is impossible for me to convey to the reader's mind an
idea of the nature of the country through which we passed. On this day the
favourable appearances, noticed yesterday, ceased almost as soon as we
embarked. On the 10th, reeds lined the banks of the river on both sides,
without any break, and waved like gloomy streamers over its turbid waters;
while the trees stood leafless and sapless in the midst of them. Wherever
we landed, the same view presented itself--a waving expanse of reeds, and
a country as flat as it is possible to imagine one. The eye could seldom
penetrate beyond three quarters of a mile, and the labour of walking
through the reeds was immense; but within our observation all was green
and cheerless. The morning had been extremely cold, with a thick haze at
E.S.E. About 2 p.m. it came on to rain heavily, so that we did not stir
after that hour.

CONTRACTION OF THE CHANNEL.

I had remarked that the Morumbidgee was not, from the depot downwards, so
broad or so fine a river as it certainly is at the foot of the mountain
ranges, where it gains the level country. The observations of the last two
days had impressed upon my mind an idea that it was rapidly falling off,
and I began to dread that it would finally terminate in one of those fatal
marshes in which the Macquarie and the Lachlan exhaust themselves. My hope
of a more favourable issue was considerably damped by the general
appe