of the tribes would
have attempted our capture. Indeed, in several instances, we were obliged
to resort to blows ere we could disengage ourselves from the crowds around
us, and whenever this occurred, it called forth the most sullen and
ferocious scowl--such, probably, as would be the forerunner of hostility,
and would preclude every hope of mercy at their hands. With each new tribe
we were, in some measure, obliged to submit to an examination, and to be
pulled about, and fingered all over. They generally measured our hands and
feet with their own, counted our fingers, felt our faces, and besmeared
our shirts all over with grease and dirt. This was no very agreeable
ceremony, and a repetition of it was quite revolting, more especially when
we had to meet the grins or frowns of the many with firmness and
composure.

TEMPESTUOUS WEATHER.

The weather had been tempestuous and rainy, for three or four successive
days: on the 28th it cleared up a little. Under any circumstances,
however, we could not have delayed our journey. We had not proceeded very
far when it again commenced to rain and to blow heavily from the N.W.
The river trended to the South. We passed down several rapids, and
observed the marks of recent flood on the trees, to the height of seven
feet. The alluvial flats did not appear to have been covered, or to be
subject to overflow. The timber upon them was not of a kind that is found
on flooded lands, but wherever reeds prevailed the flooded or blue gum
stretched its long white branches over them. The country to the westward
was low and bushy.

SINGULAR FORMATION OF THE BANKS.

The left bank of the Murray was extremely lofty, and occasionally rose to
100 feet perpendicularly from the water. It is really difficult to
describe the appearance of the banks at this place; so singular were they
in character, and so varied in form. Here they had the most beautiful
columnar regularity, with capitals somewhat resembling the Corinthian
order in configuration; there they showed like falls of muddy water that
had suddenly been petrified; and in another place they resembled the
time-worn battlements of a feudal castle. It will naturally be asked, of
what could these cliffs have been composed to assume so many different
forms? and what could have operated to produce such unusual appearances?
The truth is, they were composed almost wholly of clay and sand. Wherever
the latter had accumulated, or predominated, the gradual