R 3.4.

The Murrumbidgee compared with other rivers.
Heaps of stones used in cooking.
High reeds on the riverbank.
Lake Weromba.
Native encampment.
Riverbanks of difficult access.
Best horse drowned.
Cross a country subject to inundations.
Traverse a barren region at some distance from the river.
Kangaroos there.
Another horse in the river.
Lagoons preferable to the river for watering cattle.
High wind, dangerous in a camp under trees.
Serious accident; a cartwheel passes over The Widow's child.
Graves of the natives.
Choose a position for the depot.
My horse killed by the kick of a mare.
Proceed to the Darling with a portion of the party.
Reach the Murray.
Its breadth at our camp.
Meet with a tribe.
Lake Benanee.
Discover the natives to be those last seen on the Darling.
Harassing night in their presence.
Piper alarmed.
Rockets fired to scare them away.
They again advance in the morning.
Men advance towards them holding up their firearms.
They retire, and we continue our journey.
Again followed by the natives.
Danger of the party.
Long march through a scrubby country.
Dismal prospect.
Night without water or grass.
Heavy rain.
Again make the Murray.
Strange natives visit the camp at dusk.

THE MURRUMBIDGEE COMPARED WITH OTHER RIVERS.

May 15.

The night had been stormy with rain so that I had not been able to
ascertain the latitude of the point at which we had reached this
important river. It was Sunday and, although the two men sent after
Burnett's party had come in early enough, we remained in the same camp. I
had already been struck with the remarkable dissimilarity between the
Murrumbidgee and all the interior rivers previously seen by me,
especially the Darling. The constant fulness of its stream, its
water-worn and lightly-timbered banks, and the firm and accessible nature
of its immediate margin, unbroken by gullies, were all characters quite
the reverse of those which I had seen elsewhere. Whatever reeds or
polygonum might be outside, a certain space along the river was almost
everywhere clear, probably from its constant occupation by the natives.

HEAPS OF STONES USED IN COOKING.

One artificial feature not observed by me in other places distinguishes
the localities principally frequented by the natives, and consists in the
lofty mounds of burnt clay or ashes used by them in cooking. The common
process of natives in dressing their provisions is to lay the food
between layers of heated