em from the summit of the hills behind our camp, on the 2nd of February,
which I laid down as the coast line bounding them.

A few days prior to the 2nd of February, we passed under some cliffs of
partial volcanic origin, and had immediately afterwards entered a
limestone country of the most singular formation. The river, although we
had passed occasional rapids of the most dangerous kind, had maintained a
sandy character from our first acquaintance with it to the limestone
division. It now forced itself through a glen of that rock of half a mile
in width, frequently striking precipices of more than two hundred feet
perpendicular elevation, in which coral and fossil remains were
plentifully embedded. On the 3rd February it made away to the eastward of
south, in reaches of from two to four miles in length. It gradually lost
its sandy bed, and became deep, still, and turbid; the glen expanded into
a valley, and the alluvial flats, which had hitherto been of
inconsiderable size, became proportionally extensive. The Murray increased
in breadth to more than four hundred yards, with a depth of twenty feet
of water close into the shore, and in fact formed itself into a safe and
navigable stream for any vessels of the minor class. On the 6th the cliffs
partially ceased, and on the 7th they gave place to undulating and
picturesque hills, beneath which thousands of acres of the richest flats
extended, covered, however, with reeds, and apparently subject to overflow
at any unusual rise of the river.

It is remarkable that the view from the hills was always confined.--We
were apparently running parallel to a continuation of the ranges we had
seen on the 2nd, but they were seldom visible. The country generally
seemed darkly wooded, and had occasional swells upon it, but it was one
of no promise; the timber, chiefly box and pine, being of a poor growth,
and its vegetation languid. On the 8th the hills upon the left wore a
bleak appearance, and the few trees upon them were cut down as if by the
prevailing winds. At noon we could not observe any land at the extremity
of a reach we had just entered; some gentle hills still continued to form
the left lank of the river, but the right was hid from us by high reeds.
I consequently landed to survey the country from the nearest eminence, and
found that we were just about to enter an extensive lake which stretched
away to the S.W., the line of water meeting the horizon in that direction.
Some