Return to the camp.

In returning to the camp, I made a circuit to the N.E., and reached the Macquarie late on the evening of the 5th of January; having been absent six days, during which we could not have ridden less than 200 miles.  Yet the horses were not so fatigued as it was natural to expect they would have been.

My servant informed me that a party of natives had visited the camp on the 3rd, but that they retired precipitately on seeing the animals.  I regretted to find the men but little better than when I left them.  Several still complained of a painful irritation of the eyes, and of great weakness of sight.  Attributing their continued indisposition in some measure to our situation, I was anxious to have moved from it; but as Mr. Hume was still absent, I could not decide upon the measure.  He made his appearance, however, on the 6th, having ridden the greater part of the day through rain, which commenced to fall in the morning.  Soon after his arrival, Dawber, my overseer of animals, who had accompanied him, was taken suddenly ill.  During the night he became much worse, with shivering and spasms, and on the following morning he was extremely weak and feverish.  To add to my anxiety, Mr. Hume also complained of indisposition.  His state of health made me the more anxious to quit a position which I fancied unwholesome, and in which, if there was no apparent, there was certainly some secret, exciting cause; and as Mr. Hume reported having crossed a chain of ponds about four miles to the eastward, and out of the immediate precincts of the marshes, I ordered the tents to be struck, and placing Dawber on my horse, we all moved quietly over to them.

Mr. Hume’s excursion.

The result of Mr. Hume’s journey perplexed me exceedingly.  He stated, that on setting out from the Macquarie his intention was to have proceeded to the N.E., to ascertain how far the reeds existed in that direction, and, if at all practicable, to reach the Castlereagh; but in case of failure, to regain the Macquarie by a westerly course.  At first he travelled nearly four miles east, to clear the marshes, when he came on the chain of ponds to which we had removed.

He travelled over good soil for two miles after crossing this chain of ponds, but afterwards got on a red sandy loam, and found it difficult to proceed, by reason of the thickness of the brush, and the swampy state of the ground in consequence of the late rain.

The timber in the brushes was of various kinds, and he saw numerous kangaroos and emus.  On issuing from this brush, he crossed a creek, leading northerly, the banks of which were from ten to twelve feet high.  Whatever the body of water usually in it is, it now only afforded a few shallow puddles.  Mr. Hume travelled through brushes until he came upon a third creek, similar to the one he had left behind him, at which he halted for the night.  The water in it was bad, and the feed for the animals extremely poor.  The brush lined the creek thickly, and consisted chiefly of acacia pendula and box.  The country preserved an uniform level, nor did Mr. Hume, from the highest trees, observe any break on the horizon.