upon them.  The summits of these cliffs were as even as if they had been built by an architect; and from their very edge, the country back from the stream was of an uniform level, and was partly plain, and partly clothed by brush.  The soil upon this plateau, or table land, was sandy, and it was as barren and unproductive as the worst of the country we had passed through.  On the other hand, the alluvial flats on the river increased in size, and were less subject to flood; and the river lost much of its sandy bed, and its current was greatly diminished in strength.

Native character.

It blew so fresh, during the greater part of the day, from the westward, that we had great difficulty in pulling against the breeze.  The determined N.W. course the river kept, made me doubt the correctness of the story of the little old black; yet there was an openness of manner about him, and a clearness of description, that did not appear like fabrication.  He pointed to the S.S.W. when he left us, as the direction in which he would again join us, thus confirming, without any apparent intention, what he had stated with regard to the southerly course the river was about to take.  Among the natives who were with him, there was another man of very different manners and appearance.  Our friend was small in stature, had piercing grey eyes, and was as quick as lightning in his movements The other was tall, and grey headed; anxious, yet unobtrusive; and confident, without the least mixture of boldness.  The study of the human character on many occasions similar to this, during our intercourse with these people, rude and uncivilized as they were, was not only pleasing, but instructive.  We found that the individuals of a tribe partook of one general character, and that the whole of the tribe were either decidedly quiet, or as decidedly disorderly.  The whole of the blacks left us when we started, but we had not gone very far, when the individual I have described brought his family, consisting of about fifteen persons.  We were going down a part of the river in which there was a very slight fall.  The natives were posted under some blue-gum trees, upon the right bank, and there was a broad shoal of sand immediately to our left.  They walked over to this shoal, to receive some little presents, but did not follow when we continued our journey.

Take bearings.

During the whole of the day the river ran to the N.W.  We stopped for the night under some cliffs, similar to those we had already passed, but somewhat higher.  From their summit, mountains were visible to the N.W., but at a great distance from us.  I doubted not that they were at the head of the southern gulfs; or of one of them, at all events.  Our observations placed us in 34 degrees 08 minutes south of lat., and in long. 139 degrees 41 minutes 15 seconds; we were consequently nearly seventy miles from Spencer’s Gulf, in a direct line, and I should have given that as the distance the hills appeared to be from us.  They bore as follows:—­