, and another
night had closed over us before I heard the distant calls of the
bullock-drivers; but I had the satisfaction soon after of seeing the
whole party and equipment again united on the banks of this promising
stream. The barometer was rising, the spring advancing, and the
approaching warmth might be expected to harden the ground. The cattle
would be refreshed by a week's rest in the midst of the rich pasture
around us, while our labours to all appearance were on the eve of being
crowned by the discovery of some harbour which might serve as a port to
one of the finest regions upon earth. At all events if we could no longer
travel on land, we had at length arrived with two boats within reach of
the sea, and this alone was a pleasing reflection after the delays we had
lately experienced.

THE BOATS LAUNCHED ON THE GLENELG.

August 18.

An uncommonly fine morning succeeded a clear frosty night. The boats were
hoisted out to be launched once on the bosom of the newly discovered
Glenelg; and they were loaded with what the party going with them might
require for ten days. I left with Mr. Stapylton instructions that the men
under his charge should move up to and occupy the round point of the
hill, a position which I named Fort O'Hare in memory of a truly brave
soldier, my commanding officer who fell at Badajoz in leading the forlorn
hope of the Light Division to the storm.

MR. STAPYLTON LEFT WITH A DEPOT AT FORT O'HARE.

At twelve o'clock I embarked on the river with sixteen men in two boats,
leaving eight with Mr. Stapylton in the depot.

CHARACTER OF THE RIVER.

We met with many dead trees for the first mile or two, but none of these
either prevented or delayed our passage; and the river then widened into
fine reaches wholly clear of timber, so that the passage further down was
quite uninterrupted. The scenery on the banks was pleasing and various:
at some points picturesque limestone cliffs overhung the river, and
cascades flowed out of caverns hung with stalactites; at others the
shores were festooned with green dripping shrubs and creepers, or
terminated in a smooth grassy bank sloping to the water's edge. But none
of the banks consisted of water-worn earth; they were in general low and
grassy, bounding the alluvial flats that lay between the higher points of
land. Within the first three or four miles from Fort O'Hare two
tributaries joined the main stream from the right or westward, and one
from the lef