Anxious to trace further the course of the river, Captain Wickham and myself ascended the top of a neighbouring hill before early dawn.  The view which presented itself when the day broke, was fraught with every charm of novelty.  A rapid stream passing between barren rocky heights, here stealing along in calm silence, there eddying and boiling as it swept past, lay at our feet.  By a sudden bend two miles east of where we stood, it was hid from our view; the ranges overlapping, however, still pointed out the further course of the Victoria.  The boat lay in the mouth of a creek, which communicating with another four miles further down, formed an island on the eastern side of the river, which we called Entrance Isle.

The formation of this part was a sandstone of a reddish hue, and in a state of decomposition.  A wiry grass and the never-failing eucalyptus were sparingly scattered over the face of the country, which round the entrance had a most unpromising and dreary appearance, showing at a glance its utterly sterile character.

Exploration of the river.

Taking a hasty breakfast, we pulled up the river; the tortuous nature of the first reaches, changing their directions suddenly from north to east-south-east with a depth of seventeen and twenty fathoms, produces violent eddies and whirlpools.  Passing these, a splendid sheet of water lay before us, trending south-east by south, as far as the eye could reach from the boat, and more than a mile wide.  In the first part of this we had a few shoal casts of the lead, but afterwards the depth was eight and ten fathoms, it being near low-water.  In order to catch a glance at what was beyond, and to spell the oars, we landed at a point on the east side, from which Endeavour Hill bore West 1/2 South three miles.  Here the river, by taking a slight turn more to the southward, was again lost sight of.  We were sorry to perceive that it was much occupied by shoals, that showed themselves at this time of tide.  The first began five miles beyond our station, commencing from abreast of a rugged ridge, on the west bank.  The singular manner in which the blocks of sandstone were strewed over this height, caused it to bear a strong resemblance to old ruins.  The appearance of the country had not as yet improved, though the sandstone had lost that reddish hue we had noticed in the morning, while preserving the very marked dip to the south-east.

Continuing we found the change in the direction of the river very slight, and at the end of sixteen miles it suddenly turned off to the eastward, which I was sorry to find, as its diverging from its original south-easterly direction, appeared likely to disappoint our expectation that the Victoria would prove a highroad to the interior of the continent.  The width had hitherto been almost two miles, but there was not sufficient depth to give us any hope of bringing the ship up thus far.

Appearance of the country.