hs along its margin.

RE-PASSED THE RUFUS.

We experienced the most oppressive heat about this time. Calms generally
prevailed, and about 3 p.m. the sun's rays fell upon us with intense
effect. The waters of the Murray continued extremely muddy, a circumstance
we discovered to be owing to the turbid current of the Rufus, which we
passed on the 1st of March. It is, really, singular whence this little
stream originates. It will be remembered that I concluded it must have
been swollen by rains when we first saw it; yet, after an absence of more
than three weeks we found it discharging its waters as muddy as ever into
the main stream; and that, too, in such quantities as to discolour its
waters to the very lake. The reader will have some idea of the force of
the current in both, when I assure him that for nearly fifty yards below
the mouth of the Rufus, the waters of the Murray preserve their
transparency, and the line between them and the turbid waters of its
tributary was as distinctly marked as if drawn by a pencil. Indeed,
the higher we advanced, the more did we feel the strength of the current,
against which we had to pull.

DIFFICULTIES AT THE RAPIDS.

A little below the Lindesay, a rapid occurs. It was with the utmost
difficulty that we stemmed it with the four oars upon the boat, and the
exertion of our whole strength. We remained, at one time, perfectly
stationary, the force we employed and that of the current being equal.
We at length ran up the stream obliquely; but it was evident the men were
not adequate to such exertion for any length of time. We pulled that day
for eleven successive hours, in order to avoid a tribe of natives who
followed us. Hopkinson and Fraser fell asleep at their oars, and even the
heavy Clayton appeared to labour.

We again occupied our camp under the first remarkable cliffs of the
Murray, a description of which has been given in page 128 of this work.
[GEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION.] Their summit, as I have already remarked forms a
table land of some elevation. From it the distant interior to the S.S.E.
appears very depressed; that to the north undulates more. In neither
quarter, however, does any bright foliage meet the eye, to tell that a
better soil is under it; but a dark and gloomy vegetation occupies both
the near and distant ground, in proof that the sandy sterile tracts,
succeeding the river deposits, stretch far away without a change.

A little above our camp of the 28th of Janu