The Morumbidgee from Juggiong to our present encampment had held a general S.S.W. course, but from the summit of a hill behind the tents it now appeared to be gradually sweeping round to the westward; and I could trace the line of trees upon its banks, through a rich and extensive valley in that direction, as far as my sight could reach.  The country to the S.E. maintained its lofty character, but to the westward the hills and ranges were evidently decreasing in height, and the distant interior seemed fast sinking to a level.  The general direction of the ranges had been from N. to S., and as we had been travelling parallel to them, their valleys were shut from our view.  Now, however, several rich and extensive ones became visible, opening from the southward into the valley of the Morumbidgee, and, as a further evidence of a change of country from a confused to a more open one, a plain of considerable size stretched from immediately beneath the hill on which I was to the N.W.

Geology of the neighbourhood.

The Morumbidgee itself, from the length and regularity of its reaches, as well as from its increased size, seemed to intimate that it had successfully struggled through the broken country in which it rises, and that it would henceforward meet with fewer interruptions to its course.  It still, however, preserved all the characters of a mountain stream; having alternate rapids and deep pools, being in many places encumbered with fallen timber, and generally running over a shingly bed, composed of rounded fragments of every rock of which the neighbouring ranges were formed, and many others that had been swept by the torrents down it.  The rock formation of the hills upon its right continued of that chlorite schist which prevailed near Mr. Whaby’s, which I have already noticed, and quartz still appeared in large masses, on the loftier ranges opposite, so that the geology of the neighbourhood could not be said to have undergone any material change.  It might, however, be considered an extraordinary feature in it, that a small hill of blue limestone existed upon the left bank of the river.  The last place at which we had seen limestone was at Yass, but I had learned from Mr. Whaby, that, together with whinstone, it was abundant near a Mr. Rose’s station on the Dumot, that was not at any great distance.  The irregularity, however, of the intervening country, made the appearance of this solitary rock more singular.

Although the fires of the natives had been frequent upon the river, none had, as yet, ventured to approach us, in consequence of some misunderstanding that had taken place between them and Mr. Stuckey’s stockmen.  Mr. Roberts’ stockmen [these men had lately fixed themselves on the river a little below Mr. Whaby’s], however, brought a man and a boy to us at this place in the afternoon, but I could not persuade them to accompany us on our journey—­neither could I, although my native boy understood them perfectly, gain any particular information from them.