t or eastward: one of the former ending in a noisy cascade at
the junction. The river soon opened to a uniform width of sixty yards,
its waters being everywhere smooth and unruffled and the current scarcely
perceptible.

Ornithorynchus paradoxus.

Ducks were always to be seen in the reaches before us, and very
frequently the Ornithorynchus paradoxus, an animal which had not, I
believe, been hitherto seen so near the sea. After rowing about sixteen
miles we landed on the left bank near a cascade falling from under a
limestone cliff and there we encamped for the night. The sun was setting
in a cloudless sky while I eagerly ascended the highest cliffs in hopes
of obtaining a sight of the coast, but nothing was visible beyond a
gently undulating woody country, some swamps alone appearing in it to the
westward. The land about the cliffs of limestone was tolerably good and
grassy, but towards the end of this day's pull forests of the stringybark
sort of eucalyptus, having in them trees of large dimensions, closed on
the river. We endeavoured but in vain to catch fish, and whether the
waters contained the cod-perch (Gristes peelii) or not remained a
question. Our position and our prospects were now extremely interesting
and throughout the night I was impatient for the light of the next day.

COURSE OF THE RIVER.

August 19.

I arose at three in order to determine the latitude more exactly by the
altitude of various stars then approaching the meridian. These were Aries
and Menkar; while the two feet of the Centaur, both fine circumpolar
stars, were so steadily reflected in the placid stream that I obtained by
that means the altitude of both BELOW THE POLE. It was most essential to
the accuracy of my survey of the river that I should determine the
latitude as frequently and exactly as possible. The sun afterwards rose
in a cloudless sky and I ascertained the breadth of the river by means of
a micrometer telescope to be exactly 70 yards. We continued our
interesting voyage and found the river of very uniform width and that its
depth increased.

The current was slower but still perceptible although we found the water
had ebbed six inches during the night an indication that it was already
influenced by the tide although it tasted perfectly fresh. At a place
where I observed the sun's meridian altitude I found the breadth on
measurement to be 71 yards and the depth on sounding, 4 1/2, 3 1/2 and 3
fathoms. The direction of the