lawn than the bed of a river.  It had two gum-trees in the centre of its channel, in one of which the floods had left the trunk of a large tree.  We could discover where it narrowed and its banks rose, but, as we intended to make a closer examination before we left the neighbourhood, we continued our journey down the principal channel.  The ground exhibited an abundance of pasture in its immediate neighbourhood, but the distant country was miserably poor and bare.  At about three miles, we came upon the fresh traces of some natives, which led us to the channel again, from which we had wandered unintentionally.  In it we found there had been water very lately, and it appeared that the natives had dug holes at the bottom to insure a longer supply.  These were now exhausted, but still retained the appearance of moisture.  At a mile and a half beyond these, we were led to some similar holes, by observing a number of birds flying about them.  The water was too muddy for us to drink, but the horses emptied them successively.  We now kept sufficiently near the channel to insure our seeing any pool that might still remain in it, but rode for about seven miles before we again saw water, and even here, although it was a spring, we were obliged to dig holes, and await their filling, before we could get sufficient for our use.  Having dined, we again pursued our journey, and almost immediately came upon a long narrow ditch, full of water, and lined by bulrushes.  The creek or river had for some time kept the centre of a deep alluvial valley, in which there was plenty of food for the cattle, and which, at this place, was apparently broader than anywhere else.  The situation being favourable, we returned to the camp, and reached it late.

Depression of the men.

I do not know whether I was wrong in my conjecture, but I fancied, about this time, that the men generally were desponding.  Whether it was that the constant fatigue entailed on myself and Mr. Hume, and that our constant absence, or the consequent exhaustion it produced, had any effect on their minds, or that they feared the result of our perseverance, is difficult to say; but certainly, they all had a depression of spirits, and looked, I thought, altered in appearance; nor did they evince any satisfaction at our success—­at least, not the satisfaction they would have shown at an earlier period of our journey.

Before moving forward, it remained for us to ascertain if the channel from the junction was the Castlereagh, or only a creek.  The intersection of so many channels in this neighbourhood, most of them so much alike, made it essentially necessary that we should satisfy ourselves on this point.  Mr. Hume, therefore, accompanied me, as had at first been intended the morning of our return to the place at which we had slept.  We took fresh horses, but dispensed with any other attendants, and indeed went wholly unarmed.

Camp of natives.