for me to dwell at the
present moment, mark them as distinct rivers, which have been formed by
Nature for the same purposes, in remote and opposite parts of the
island. Not having as yet given a name to the latter, I now availed
myself of the opportunity of complying with the known wishes of His
Excellency the Governor, and, at the same time, in accordance with my
own feelings as a soldier I distinguished it by that of the "Murray."

It had been my object to ascertain the decline of the vast plain
through which the Murray flows, that I might judge of the probable fall
of the waters of the interior; but by the most attentive observation I
could not satisfy myself upon the point. The course of the Darling now
confirmed my previous impression that it was to the south, which
direction it was evident the Murray also, in the subsequent stages of
our journey down it, struggled to preserve; from which it was thrown by
a range of minor elevations into a more westerly one. We were carried
as far as 139 degrees 40 minutes of longitude, without descending below
34 degrees in point of latitude; in consequence of which I expected
that the river would ultimately discharge itself, either into St.
Vincent's Gulf or that of Spencer, more especially as lofty ranges were
visible in the direction of them from the summit of the hills behind
our camp, on the 2nd of February, which I laid down as the coast line
bounding them.

A few days prior to the 2nd of February, we passed under some cliffs of
partial volcanic origin, and had immediately afterwards entered a
limestone country of the most singular formation. The river, although
we had passed occasional rapids of the most dangerous kind, had
maintained a sandy character from our first acquaintance with it to the
limestone division. It now forced itself through a glen of that rock of
half a mile in width, frequently striking precipices of more than two
hundred feet perpendicular elevation, in which coral and fossil remains
were plentifully embedded. On the 3rd February it made away to the
eastward of south, in reaches of from two to four miles in length. It
gradually lost its sandy bed, and became deep, still, and turbid; the
glen expanded into a valley, and the alluvial flats, which had hitherto
been of inconsiderable size, became proportionally extensive. The
Murray increased in breadth to more than four hundred yards, with a
depth of twenty feet of water close into the shore, and in fact