f the country on the
banks of this river. It seemed that the land was everywhere alike good,
alike beautiful; all parts were verdant, whether on the finely varied
hills or in the equally romantic vales which seemed to open in endless
succession on both banks of the river. No time was lost this morning in
raising the boats out of the water and, having proceeded myself to the
camp at an early hour, and led the carts round, and the carriage to take
up the boats, the whole party was once more in movement by eleven
o'clock. As far as I had yet traced the course of the river it appeared
to flow towards the west-south-west, and it was thus doubtful, at that
stage of our progress, whether the estuary might not be to the westward
of Cape Northumberland; whereas my chief inducement in looking for a
river on this side of the Grampians was the promising situation afforded
by the great bay to the eastward of that cape for some harbour or
estuary, and this being more likely, considering the position of the
mountains. I had little doubt that under such circumstances some river
would be found to enter the sea there and, having left the Wimmera
flowing westward, and crossed as I imagined the highest ground that could
extend from the mountain range to Cape Bernouilli, I expected to meet at
length with rivers falling southward. The ultimate course of the Glenelg
could only be ascertained by following it down, and to do this by land
was not easy; first because it was joined by many small tributaries
flowing through deep valleys and from all points of the compass; and
secondly, because the general horizon was so level that no point
commanding any extensive view over the country could be found. Thus while
our main object was to pursue the river, we were obliged to grope our way
round the heads of ravines often very remote from it, but which were very
perplexing from their similarity to the ravine in which the main stream
flowed. A more bountiful distribution of the waters for the supply of a
numerous population could not be imagined, nor a soil better adapted for
cultivation. We this day crossed various small rivulets or chains of
ponds, each watering a grassy vale, sheltered by fine swelling hills. The
whole country consisted of open forest land on which grew a few gumtrees
(or eucalypti) with banksia and occasionally a few casuarinae.

FISHES PECULIAR TO DIFFERENT PONDS.

August 3.

The ponds where we had encamped were large and deep, an