Probably from seeing that we were aware of their intentions, they left us early, and pointing somewhat to the eastward of north, said they were going to the Colare, and on being asked how far it was, they signified that they should sleep there.  I had on a former occasion recollected the term having been made use of by a black, on the Macquarie, when speaking to me of the Lachlan, and had questioned one of the young men who was with us at the time, and who seemed more intelligent than his companions, respecting it.  Immediately catching at the word, he had pointed to the N.N.W., and, making a sweep with his arms raised towards the sky had intimated, evidently, that a large sheet of water existed in that direction, in the same manner that another black had done on a former occasion:  on being further questioned, he stated that this communicated with the Morumbidgee more to the westward, and on my expressing a desire to go to it, he said we could not do so under four days.  We had, it appeared, by the account of the seven natives, approached within one day’s journey of it, and, as I thought it would be advisable to gain a little knowledge of the country to the north, I suggested to M’Leay to ride in that direction, while the party should be at rest, with some good feed for the cattle that fortune had pointed out to us.

Excursion towards the lachlan.

Our horses literally sank up to their knees on parts of the great plain over which we had in the first instance to pass, and we rode from three to four miles before we caught sight of a distant wood at its northern extremity; the view from the river having been for the last two or three days, as boundless as the ocean.  As we approached the wood, two columns of smoke rose from it, considerably apart, evidently the fires of natives near water.  We made for the central space between them, having a dead acacia scrub upon our right.  On entering the wood, we found that it contained for the most part, flooded-gum, under which bulrushes and reeds were mixed together.  The whole space seemed liable to overflow, and we crossed numerous little drains, that intersected each other in every direction.  From the resemblance of the ground to that at the bottom of the marshes of the Macquarie, I prognosticated to my companion that we should shortly come upon a creek, and we had not ridden a quarter of a mile further, when we found ourselves on the banks of one of considerable size.  Crossing it, we proceeded northerly, until we got on the outskirts of a plain of red sandy soil, covered with rhagodia alone, and without a tree upon the visible horizon.  The country appeared to be rising before us, but was extremely depressed to the eastward.  After continuing along this plain for some time, I became convinced from appearances, that we were receding from water, and that the fires of the natives, which were no longer visible, must have been on the creek we had crossed, that I judged to be leading W.S.W. from the opposite