could enter.

At this place we saw the last whistling-ducks on our way up; further on,
other species, to be hereafter mentioned, were found. A large alligator
also afforded us sport, although we did not secure him.

PICTURESQUE SCENERY.

The country was gradually becoming perceptibly higher, and the scenery
extremely picturesque. Tall palm-trees and bamboos were now to be seen
among the rich foliage on the lower slope of the banks, that rose here to
an elevation of fifty feet, and were much intersected with watercourses.
Onwards we hurried; the influence of the tide being scarcely felt, and
the river preserving its South-West 1/2 South direction, with a width of
two hundred yards, and a depth of two fathoms and a half. At the end of
three miles no change was perceptible, and we began to congratulate
ourselves on, at last, having found a stream that would carry the boats
far towards the point it was always the height of my ambition to reach,
the centre of the continent.

HOPE REACH.

To this part of the Albert that had given rise to such expectations we
gave the name of Hope Reach. A little higher up we landed on the right
bank to cook a meal and examine the country. I shall here attempt, with
the aid of Lieutenant Gore's sketch,* to give the reader some idea of the
beauty of the scene that now presented itself to our anxious gaze.

(*Footnote. See the view annexed.)

It was in truth as glorious a prospect as could greet the eye. A
magnificent sheet of water lay before us in one unbroken expanse,
resembling a smooth translucent lake. Its gentle repose harmonized
exquisitely with the slender motionless boughs of the drooping gums,
palms, and acacias, that clustered on the banks, and dipped their
feathery foliage in the limpid stream, that like a polished mirror bore,
within its bosom, the image of the graceful vegetation by which it was
bordered. The report of our guns, as they dealt destruction among the
quails that here abounded, rolled for the first time along the waters of
the Albert, breaking in on the hush of stillness that appeared to reign
over all like the presence of a spirit. The country that stretched away
from either bank was an extensive plain, covered with long coarse grass,
above which was occasionally seen the head of a kangaroo, listening, with
its acute ear, for our approach.

No high land presented itself in any direction, and the eye was only
relieved by the growth of trees and shrubs that