h away in one
unbroken plain, for it was so generally covered with wood that every
inequality was hidden from our observation. To the S.W. the river line
was marked out by a succession of red cliffs, similar to those we had
already passed. To the north, the interior was evidently depressed; it
was overgrown with a low scrub, and seemed to be barren in the extreme.
The elevations upon which we stood were similar to the sand-hills near
the coast, and had not a blade of grass upon them. Yet, notwithstanding
the sterility of the soil, the large white amarillis which grew in such
profusion on the alluvial plains of the Macquarie, was also abundant
here. But it had lost its dazzling whiteness, and had assumed a sickly
yellow colour and its very appearance indicated that it was not in a
congenial soil.

LINDESAY RIVER.

We passed two very considerable junctions, the one coming from the
S.E., the other from the north. Both had currents in them, but the
former was running much stronger than the latter. It falls into the
Murray, almost opposite to the elevations I have been describing, and,
if a judgment can be hazarded from its appearance at its embouchure, it
must, in its higher branches, be a stream of considerable magnitude.
Under this impression, I have called it the Lindesay, as a tribute of
respect to my commanding officer, Colonel Patrick Lindesay of the 39th
regt. I place it in east long. 140 degrees 29 minutes, and in lat. 33
degrees 58 minutes south. Mr. Hume is of opinion that this is the most
southerly of the rivers crossed by him and Mr. Hovel in 1823; but, as I
have already remarked, I apprehend that all the rivers those gentlemen
crossed, had united in one main stream above the junction of the
Morumbidgee, and I think it much more probable that this is a new
river, and that it rises to the westward of Port Phillips, rather than
in the S.E. angle of the coast.

NATIVES BECOME TROUBLESOME.

We found the blacks who had deserted us with a tribe at the junction,
but it was weak in point of numbers; as were also two other tribes or
hordes to whom we were introduced in rapid succession. Taken
collectively, they could not have amounted to 230 men, women, and
children. The last of these hordes was exceedingly troublesome, and I
really thought we should have been obliged to quarrel with them.
Whether it was that we were getting impatient, or that our tempers were
soured, I know not, but even M'Leay, whose partiality to