(Footnote.  See above.)

RETURN OF THE BOATS.

August 2.

This morning the boats returned; they had gone up the Adelaide in a general southerly direction, nearly 80 miles:  the windings of the river, which were very great in some places, forming the shape of the letter S. It became at this distance very narrow, and was divided into two branches, one taking a southerly direction, the other an easterly; the latter was too narrow for the boat’s oars, while the former was blocked up by fallen trees lying across it.  As in addition to the difficulties just mentioned, only one day’s provision remained in the boats, the further exploration of the Adelaide was necessarily, though reluctantly, abandoned.

BANKS OF THE ADELAIDE.

For thirty miles of the upper part of the river the water was fresh; while the banks, excepting near the point of separation, were low, being not more than five feet above the present level of the river, a circumstance very favourable for irrigation, and the cultivation of rice.  Fifteen miles from the mouth they were fringed by the growth of mangroves; and higher up many of the points were thickly wooded, while on either side stretched a vast extent of prairie country, dotted here and there with islands of timber, which served to break the native monotony of the scene.  Somewhat less than halfway up, rose on both banks a thick jungle of bamboo, which, in places where the water was always fresh, attained the gigantic height of from 60 to 80 feet.  Between 20 and 70 miles from the mouth the soil is a good light-coloured mould; above this, commencing where the bank of the river is marked by a coarse red gritty sandstone projection, the aspect of the country changes from that of low plains to a slightly wooded and gently undulating surface, in some places stony.  This character continued to the furthest point reached in the boats, in latitude 12 degrees 57 minutes South, and longitude 131 degrees 19 minutes East.

When they had penetrated thus far into the new lands of Australia, the explorers returned, having experienced those sensations of delightful excitement, to which we have before alluded, and which naturally called forth strong emotions of regret in those who were denied a participation in the feverish enjoyment of discovery.

From the highest tree at Captain Wickham’s furthest point, the appearance of the country was, as far as the eye could reach, one wearisome level, broken to the southward, at a distance of ten miles, by a rocky mound about 150 feet high.

UPPER PART OF THE RIVER.

The river, which for some distance had not been fifty yards wide, with a rocky bed in places, and banks from six to twenty feet high, was subject at this point to a tidal change of level of about three feet, but there was no perceptible stream, and the water which a few miles lower down had been muddy, was here quite clear.  Small bamboos and other drift were observed in the branches of the trees eight or ten feet above the water, showing the height which the river attains at some seasons of the year.  By the hollows on many of the plains, water appeared to have lain some time, and doubtless parts of this low land were periodically overflowed.