Aspect of the country and of the river banks.

The river improved upon us at every mile.  Its reaches were of noble breadth, and splendid appearance.  Its current was stronger, and it was fed by numerous springs.  Rocks, however, were more frequent in its bed, and in two places almost formed a barrier across the channel, leaving but a narrow space for the boats to go down.  We passed several elevations of from 70 to 90 feet in height, at the base of which the stream swept along.  The soil of these elevations was a mixture of clay (marl) and sand, upon coarse sandstone.  Their appearance and the manner in which they had been acted upon by water, was singular, and afforded a proof of the violence of the rains in this part of the interior.  From the highest of these, I observed that the country to the S.E. was gently undulated, and so far changed in character from that through which we had been travelling; still, however, it was covered with a low scrub, and was barren and unpromising.

About noon of the 18th, we surprised two women at the water-side, who immediately retreated into the brush.  Shortly after, four men showed themselves, and followed us for a short distance, but hid themselves upon our landing.  The country still appeared undulated to the S.E.; the soil was sandy, and cypresses more abundant than any other tree.  We passed several extensive sand-banks in the river, of unusual size and solidity, an evident proof of the sandy nature of the interior generally.  The vast accumulations of sand at the junctions of every creek were particularly remarkable.  The timber on the alluvial flats was not by any means so large as we had hitherto observed it; nor were the flats themselves so extensive as they are on the Morumbidgee and the Macquarie.  Notwithstanding the aspect of the country which I have described, no positive change had as yet taken place in the general feature of the interior.  The river continued to flow in a direction somewhat to the northward of west, through a country that underwent no perceptible alteration.  Its waters, confined to their immediate bed, swept along considerably below the level of its inner banks; and the spaces between them and the outer ones, though generally covered with reeds, seemed not recently to have been flooded; while on the other hand, they had, in many places, from successive depositions, risen to a height far above the reach of inundation.  Still, however, the more remote interior maintained its sandy and sterile character, and stretched away, in alternate plain and wood, to a distance far beyond the limits of our examination.