Y.

It now appeared that the Murray had taken a permanent southerly course;
indeed, it might strictly be said that it ran away to the south. As we
proceeded down it, the valley expanded to the width of two miles; the
alluvial flats became proportionably larger; and a small lake generally
occupied their centre. They were extensively covered with reeds and grass,
for which reason, notwithstanding that they were little elevated above the
level of the stream, I do not think they are subject to overflow. Parts of
them may be laid under water, but certainly not the whole. The rains at
the head of the Murray, and its tributaries, must be unusually severe to
prolong their effects to this distant region, and the flats bordering it
appear, by successive depositions, to have only just gained a height above
the further influence of the floods. Should this prove to be the case, the
valley may be decidedly laid down as a most desirable spot, whether we
regard the richness of its soil, its rock formation, its locality, or the
extreme facility of water communication along it. It must not, however, be
forgotten or concealed, that the summits of the cliffs by which the valley
is enclosed, have not a corresponding soil. On the contrary, many of the
productions common to the plains of the interior still existed upon them,
and they were decidedly barren; but as we measured the reaches of the
river, the cliffs ceased, and gave place to undulating hills, that were
very different in appearance from the country we had previously noted
down. It would have been impossible for the most tasteful individual to
have laid out pleasure ground to more advantage, than Nature had done in
planting and disposing the various groups of trees along the spine, and
upon the sides of the elevations that confined the river, and bounded the
low ground that intervened between it and their base. Still, however, the
soil upon these elevations was sandy, and coarse, but the large oat-grass
was abundant upon them, which yielded pasture at least as good as that in
the broken country between Underaliga and Morumbidgee.

We had now gained a distance of at least sixty miles from that angle of
the Murray at which it reaches its extreme west. The general aspect of the
country to our right was beautiful, and several valleys branched away into
the interior upon that side which had a most promising appearance, and
seemed to abound with kangaroos, as the traces of them were numero