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 had the courage to swallow it.  The character of the spiders was very strange; and it seemed as if we had arrived in a new world of entomology.  They resembled an enamelled decoration, the body consisting of a hard shelly coat of dark blue colour, symmetrically spotted with white, and it was nearly circular, being armed with six sharp projecting points.* The latitude of this camp was 29 degrees 28 minutes 34 seconds South.

(Footnote.  An undescribed species of Cancriform epeira, belonging to the subgenus Gasteracantha of M. Hahn.)

REDUCED STATE OF THE RIVER.