the lake had, it was evident,
once formed a part of its bed. The appearance of the country altogether
encouraged M'Leay and myself to walk out, in order to examine it from some
hills a little to the S.E. of the camp. From them we observed that the
flat extended over about fifty miles, and was bounded by the elevations
that continued easterly from the left bank of the Murray to the north,
and by a line of rising-ground to the south. The whole was lightly wooded,
and covered with grass. The season must have been unusually dry, judging
from the general appearance of the vegetation, and from the circumstance
of the lagoons in the interior being wholly exhausted.

Thirty-three days had now passed over our heads since we left the depot
upon the Morumbidgee, twenty-six of which had been passed upon the Murray.
We had, at length, arrived at the grand reservoir of those waters whose
course and fate had previously been involved in such obscurity. It
remained for us to ascertain whether the extensive sheet of water upon
whose bosom we had embarked, had any practicable communication with the
ocean, and whether the country in the neighbourhood of the coast
corresponded with that immediately behind our camp, or kept up its sandy
and sterile character to the very verge of the sea. As I have already
said, my hopes on the first of these points were considerably damped, but
I could not help anticipating a favourable change in the latter, since its
features had so entirely changed.

DETAINED BY THE WIND.

The greatest difficulty against which we had at present to contend was the
wind; and I dreaded the exertion it would call for, to make head against
it; for the men were so much reduced that I felt convinced they were
inadequate to any violent or prolonged effort. It still blew fresh at
8 p.m., but at that time it began to moderate. It may be imagined that I
listened to its subdued gusts with extreme anxiety. It did not wholly
abate until after 2 a.m., when it gradually declined, and about 3 a light
breeze sprung up from the N. E.

We had again placed sticks to ascertain with more precision the rise of
tide, and found it to be the same as in the river. In the stillness of the
night too we thought we heard the roaring of the sea, but I was myself
uncertain upon the point, as the wind might have caused the sound.

From the top of the hill from which we had obtained our first view of the
lake, I observed the waves breaking upon the dist