h-west direction without
discovering any indication of either river; on the contrary, the country
was chiefly open, being beautifully variegated with clumps of picturesque
trees. The weather was very hot until a thunder-shower fell and cooled
the air in some degree. During the night the mosquitoes were very
troublesome; and the men rolled about in the grass unable to find rest.

January 18.

At half-past six we proceeded in a north-west direction until at seven
miles a thick scrub of acacias obliged us to turn a little to the
northward. When we had advanced ten miles a burnt forest, with numerous
columns of smoke arising from different parts of the country before us,
proved almost beyond doubt that we were at length approaching the river.
Satisfied that the dense line of wood whence these columns of smoke arose
was the river, I turned westward for the purpose, in the first place, of
proceeding along the skirts of it in the opener ground; secondly, that
the natives, whose voices resounded within the woods, might have time to
see us, and, thirdly, that we might make out a day's journey before we
approached the riverbank.

AGAIN REACH THE GWYDIR.

From west I at length bent our course north-west, and finally northward,
thus arriving on the banks of the Gwydir after a journey of fifteen
miles. But here the river was so much altered in its character that we
could never have been induced by mere appearance to believe this stream
was the same river which we came upon about a degree further to the
eastward. The banks were low and water-worn, the southern or left bank
being in general the steepest, its height about 14 feet, the breadth was
insignificant, not more than 12 or 14 feet; the current slow but
constant; and the water of a whitish colour. I at first supposed it might
be only a branch of the river we had seen above, until I ascertained, by
sending Mr. White to examine it upwards, and a man on horseback
downwards, that it preserved the same attenuated character in both
directions. The course appeared to be very tortuous, and it flowed
through a soft absorbent soil in which no rock of any kind could be seen.

A NEW CUCUMBER.

In the rich soil near the water we found a species of cucumber about the
size of a plum, the flower being of a purple colour. In taste it
resembled a cucumber, but that it was also very bitter. Mr. White and I
peppered it and washed the slices with vinegar and then chewed it, but
neither of us