the south before it
reached Oolawambiloa.

We had now therefore the direct testimony of the natives that the Darling
(for it could be no other) joined the Murray and that the river Lachlan
did not lose its channel here as supposed by Mr. Oxley, but that in five
days' journey further we might expect to trace it into the Murrumbidgee.

MR. OXLEY'S LOWEST CAMP ON THE LACHLAN.

May 5.

The ground being very heavy the cattle in the carts proceeded but slowly
along the plains to the northward of the Lachlan; and while the party
followed Mr. Stapylton I went along the bank with the natives to visit
Mr. Oxley's last camp, which was not above a mile from that we had left.
On my way I crossed a bed of fine gravel, a circumstance the more
remarkable, not only because gravel was so uncommon on these muddy
plains, but because Mr. Oxley had also remarked that no stone of any kind
could be seen within five miles of the place. This gravel consisted of
sand and pebbles of quartz about the size of a pea. Our female guide, who
appeared to be about thirty years of age, remembered the visit of the
white men; and she this day showed me the spot where Mr. Oxley's tent
stood, and the root with some remains of the branches of a tree near it
which had been burnt down very recently, and on which she said some marks
were cut.

SLOW GROWTH OF TREES.

Several trees around had been sawn and on two, about thirty yards west
from the burnt stump, were the letters WW and IW 1817. The tree bearing
the last letters was a goborro or dwarf box, and had been killed two
years before by the natives stripping off a sheet of bark; but from the
growth of the solid wood around the carved part it appeared that this
tree had increased in diameter about an inch and a half in seventeen
years; the whole diameter, including the bark, being sixteen inches. We
immediately dug around the burnt stump in search of the bottle deposited
there by Mr. Oxley, but without success. The gins said that he rode
forward some way beyond, and marked another tree at the furthest place he
reached. I accordingly went there with them, and they showed me a tree
marked on each side but, the cuttings being in the bark only, they were
almost grown out. It stood beside a small branch or outlet of the river,
which led into a hollow of polygonum. The natives also said that one of
Mr. Oxley's men was nearly drowned in trying to cross this but that they
got him out. They positively assured me