Information from A native.

The Morumbidgee appeared, on examination, to have increased in breadth, and continued to rise gradually.  It is certainly a noble stream, very different from those I had already traced to their termination.  The old black informed me that there was another large river flowing to the southward of west, to which the Morumbidgee was as a creek, and that we could gain it in four days.  He stated that its waters were good, but that its banks were not peopled.  That such a feature existed where he laid it down, I thought extremely probable, because it was only natural to expect that other streams descended from the mountains in the S.E. of the island, as well as that on which we were travelling.  The question was, whether either of them held on an uninterrupted course to some reservoir, or whether they fell short of the coast and exhausted themselves in marshes.  Considering the concave direction of the mountains to the S.E., I even at this time hoped that the rivers falling into the interior would unite sooner or later, and contribute to the formation of an important and navigable stream.  Of the fate of the Morumbidgee, the old black could give no account.  It seemed probable, therefore, that we were far from its termination.

I had hitherto been rather severe upon the animals, for although our journey had not exceeded from twelve to fifteen miles a day, it had been without intermission.  I determined, therefore, to give both men and animals a day of rest, as soon as I should find a convenient place.  We started on the 11th with this intention, but we managed to creep over eight or ten miles of ground before we halted.  The country was slightly undulated, and much intersected by creeks, few of which had water in them.  The whole tract was, however, well adapted either for agriculture, or for grazing, and, in spite of the drought that had evidently long hung over it, was well covered with vegetation.  We had passed all high lands, and the interior to the westward presented an unbroken level to the eye.  The Morumbidgee appeared to hold a more northerly course than I had anticipated.  Still low ranges continued upon our right, and the cypress ridges became more frequent and denser; but the timber on the more open grounds generally consisted of box and flooded-gum.  Of minor trees, the acacia pendula was the most prevalent, with a shrub bearing a round nut, enclosed in a scarlet capsule, and an interesting species of stenochylus.  I had observed as yet, few of the plants of the more northern interior.

Natives—­their ugliness.

In this neighbourhood, the dogs killed an emu and a kangaroo, which came in very conveniently for some natives whom we fell in with on one of the river flats.  They were, without exception, the worst featured of any I had ever seen.  It is scarcely possible to conceive that human beings could be so hideous and loathsome.  The old black, who was rather good-looking, told me they were the last we should see for some time, and I felt that if these were samples of the natives on the lowlands, I cared very little how few of I them we should meet.