At a quarter of a mile from the camp we crossed a running stream which also contained deep and apparently permanent pools.  Several pine or callitris trees grew near its banks being the first we had seen for some time.  I named this mountain stream the Mackenzie.  Beyond it were grassy undulating plains with clumps of casuarinae and box trees (eucalypti).  At three miles and a half we crossed another chain of ponds, and at four miles we came to a deep stream, running with considerable rapidity over a bed of sandstone rock.  It was overhung with mimosa-bushes; and it was not until after considerable search that I could find a convenient place for fording it.  This I named the Norton.  Good grassy hills arose beyond, and after crossing them we found an undulating country and sandy soil where there were shallow lagoons and but little grass.

THE WIMMERA IN A UNITED CHANNEL.

At nine miles I was aware, from the sloping of the ground, of the vicinity of a river; and we soon came once more upon the Wimmera, flowing in one deep channel nearly as broad as the Murrumbidgee, but in no other respect at all similar.  The banks of this newly discovered river were not water-worn but characterised by verdant slopes, the borders being fringed with bushes of mimosae.  The country was indeed fine adjacent to the Wimmera, and at the point where we came to it the river was joined by a running creek from the south which we crossed, and at two miles and a quarter further we encamped on a spot overlooking a reedy lagoon, from which some long slopes descended towards the river, distant from our camp about half a mile.  When we thus again intersected the Wimmera I was travelling due west, partly with a view to ascertain its ultimate course.

LOSE THIS RIVER.

The isolated hill lay before me, and it was now to be ascertained whether the course of the stream was to the south or north of it.  The appearance of the country from Mount Zero certainly afforded no prospect of our falling in with the river where we did, but at this camp Burnett, having climbed to the top of a high tree, thought he could trace the course to the southward of the hill before us, which bore nearly west.  This prospect accorded with my wishes, and I hoped to trace it to the coast without deviating too far to the westward of my intended route.

July 22.

A small stream from the south crossed our way when we had proceeded about half a mile.  At six miles and a half we met with another; and three miles beyond it I perceived a change in the appearance of the country.  We had been for some time travelling through forest land which now opened into grassy and level plains, variegated with belts and clumps of lofty trees giving to the whole the appearance of a park.  We had now the hilly mass of Mount Arapiles on our right, or north of us, but to my surprise there was no river flowing between us and those heights as I had reason to suppose from what had been seen from the tree by