The geographical knowledge gained on this journey consisted mainly in the confirmation of tentative theories —­ the identity of the Karaula with the Darling, and the uninterrupted course of the latter river southwards, as Major Mitchell himself had to confess, into the Murray.  Furthermore it seemed now satisfactorily settled that all the inland rivers as yet discovered found the same common embouchure.  Mitchell’s experience too proved that the pastoral country through which the Darling ran was by no means unfit for habitation, nor was the river a salt one; true some of his men had noticed that the water was brackish in places, but this brackishness, it was seen, had a purely local origin.

Mitchell was a keen observer of the habits and customs of the aborigines.  He was remarkably quick at detecting tribal differences and distinctions, and his records of his intercourse with them —­ which occupies so much of his journals —­ were most interesting then, when little had been written on the subject; and are even more valuable now, as a first-hand account by an intelligent man and a practised observer of the appearance of the natives at the time of earliest contact with the white man.

7.4.  Australia Felix.

One would have thought that the fact of the union of the Darling and the Murray was now sufficiently well-established; but the official mind deemed otherwise.  When the Surveyor-General’s next expedition started in March, 1836, he was informed that the survey of the Darling was to be completed without any delay; that, having returned to the point where his last journey had come to an end, he was to trace the river right into the Murray —­ see the waters of the two mingle in fact —­ then to cross over the Murray and follow up the southern bank, recrossing, and regaining the settled districts at Yass Plains.  Although the primary object of the expedition was the verification of previous discoveries, the programme was largely departed from, and this particular journey of Mitchell’s led to the opening up and speedy settlement of what is now the State of Victoria.

A drought, long-continued and severe, was in full force when Mitchell commenced his preparations for departure; consequently bullocks and horses in suitable condition were hard to obtain.  But as the Government spared no expense, the necessary animals were at last available.  Though upon reaching Bathurst Mitchell was informed that the Lachlan River was dry, he started on his third exploring expedition in the best of spirits.  His mind overflowed with old memories and associations, and he wrote in his journal that this was the anniversary of the day “when he marched down the glacis of St. Elvas to the tune of St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning, as the sun rose over the beleaguered towers of Badajoz.”  He had heard that the aborigines of the lower Murray had been informed of his approach, and that they had assured the other tribes that they were gathering murry coolah —­