li) with a despatch for
the government at Sydney, giving an account of our journey thus far, and
stating my intention of descending the Namoi in the boats. Bombelli was
mounted on horseback, armed with a pistol, and provided with food for
twelve days, being sufficient to enable him to carry the despatch to
Pewen Bewen, and to return to the depot which I had arranged to establish
here.

EMBARK ON THE NAMOI IN CANVAS BOATS.

December 29.

We launched the second boat, and having loaded both, I left two men in
charge of the carts, bullocks and horses, at Bullabalakit, and embarked,
at last, on the waters of the Namoi, on a voyage of discovery.

IMPEDIMENTS TO THE NAVIGATION.

We passed along several reaches without meeting any impediment, but, at
length, an accumulation of drift timber and gravel brought us up at a
spot where two large trees had fallen across the stream from opposite
banks. From the magnitude of these trunks and others which, interwoven
with rubbish and buried in gravel, supported them, I anticipated a long
delay, but the activity of the whole party was such that a clear passage
was opened in less than half an hour. The sailors swam about like frogs,
and swimming, divided with a cross-cut saw trees under water. I found I
could survey the river as we proceeded by measuring, with a pocket
sextant, the angle subtended by the two ends of a twelve feet rod held in
the second boat, at the opposite end of each reach, the bearing being
observed at the same time. By referring to one of Brewster's tables, the
angle formed by the rod of twelve feet, I ascertained thus the length of
each reach. This operation occasioned a delay of a few seconds only, just
as the last boat arrived in sight of each place of observation.

Several black swans floated before us, and they were apparently not much
alarmed even at the unwonted sight of boats on the Namoi. The evenness of
the banks and reaches, and the depth and stillness of the waters were
such that I might have traced the river downwards, at least so far as
such facilities continued, had our boats been of a stronger material than
canvas.

BOAT STAKED, AND SINKS.

But dead trees lay almost invisible under water, and at the end of a
short reach where I awaited the reappearance of the second boat, we heard
suddenly confused shouts, and on making to the shore, and running to the
spot, I found that the boat had run foul of a sunken tree and had filled
almost immediately.