Perhaps no time is so favourable for a view along the horizon as the sunset hour; and here, at an elevation of from five to six hundred feet above the plain, the visible line of it could not have been less than from thirty-five to forty-five miles.  The hill upon which I stood was broken into two points; the one was a bold rocky elevation; the other had its rear face also perpendicular, but gradually declined to the north, and at a distance of from four to five miles was lost in an extensive and open plain in that direction.  In the S.E. quarter, two wooded hills were visible, which before had appeared to be nothing more than swells in the general level of the country.  A small hill, similar to the above, bore N.E. by compass; and again, to the west, a more considerable mountain than that I had ascended, and evidently much higher, reflected the last beams of the sun as he sunk behind them.  I looked, however, in vain for water.  I could not trace either the windings of a stream, or the course of a mountain torrent; and, as we had passed a swamp about a mile from the hill, we descended to it for the night, during which we were grievously tormented by the mosquitoes.

Results of the excursion.

I had no inducement to proceed further into the interior.  I had been sufficiently disappointed in the termination of this excursion, and the track before me was still less inviting.  Nothing but a dense forest, and a level country, existed between me and the distant hill.  I had learnt, by experience, that it was impossible to form any opinion of the probable features of so singular a region as that in which I was wandering, from previous appearances, or to expect the same result, as in other countries, from similar causes.  In a geographical point of view, my journey had been more successful, and had enabled me to put to rest for ever a question of much previous doubt.  Of whatever extent the marshes of the Macquarie might be, it was evident they were not connected with those of the Lachlan.  I had gained knowledge of more than 100 miles of the western interior, and had ascertained that no sea, indeed that little water, existed on its surface; and that, although it is generally flat, it still has elevations of considerable magnitude upon it.

Although I had passed over much barren ground, I had likewise noticed soil that was far from poor, and the vegetation upon which in ordinary seasons would, I am convinced, have borne a very different aspect.

Yet, upon the whole, the space I traversed is unlikely to become the haunt of civilized man, or will only become so in isolated spots, as a chain of connection to a more fertile country; if such a country exist to the westward.

The hill which thus became the extreme of my journey, is of sandstone formation, and is bold and precipitous.  Its summit is level and lightly timbered.  As a tribute of respect to the late Surveyor-General, I called it Oxley’s Table Land, and I named the distant hills D’Urban’s Group, after Sir Benjamin D’Urban, in compliance with a previous request of my friend Lieut.  De la Condamine, that I would so name any prominent feature of the interior that I might happen to come upon.