New river, supposed to be the Darling.

It was my first care to call for our friend, and to express to him, as well as I could, how much we stood indebted to him, at the same time that I made him a suitable present; but to the chiefs of the tribes, I positively refused all gifts, notwithstanding their earnest solicitations.  We next prepared to examine the new river, and turning the boat’s head towards it, endeavoured to pull up the stream.  Our larboard oars touched the right bank, and the current was too strong for us to conquer it with a pair only; we were, therefore, obliged to put a second upon her, a movement that excited the astonishment and admiration of the natives.  One old woman seemed in absolute ecstasy, to whom M’Leay threw an old tin kettle, in recompense for the amusement she afforded us.

Hoist the Union Jack.

As soon as we got above the entrance of the new river, we found easier pulling, and proceeded up it for some miles, accompanied by the once more noisy multitude.  The river preserved a breadth of one hundred yards, and a depth of rather more than twelve feet.  Its banks were sloping and grassy, and were overhung by trees of magnificent size.  Indeed, its appearance was so different from the water-worn banks of the sister stream, that the men exclaimed, on entering it, that we had got into an English river.  Its appearance certainly almost justified the expression; for the greenness of its banks was as new to us as the size of its timber.  Its waters, though sweet, were turbid, and had a taste of vegetable decay, as well as a slight tinge of green.  Our progress was watched by the natives with evident anxiety.  They kept abreast of us, and talked incessantly.  At length, however, our course was checked by a net that stretched right across the stream.  I say checked, because it would have been unfair to have passed over it with the chance of disappointing the numbers who apparently depended on it for subsistence that day.  The moment was one of intense interest to me.  As the men rested upon their oars, awaiting my further orders, a crowd of thoughts rushed upon me.  The various conjectures I had formed of the course and importance of the Darling passed across my mind.  Were they indeed realized?  An irresistible conviction impressed me that we were now sailing on the bosom of that very stream from whose banks I had been twice forced to retire.  I directed the Union Jack to be hoisted, and giving way to our satisfaction, we all stood up in the boat, and gave three distinct cheers.  It was an English feeling, an ebullition, an overflow, which I am ready to admit that our circumstances and situation will alone excuse.  The eye of every native had been fixed upon that noble flag, at all times a beautiful object, and to them a novel one, as it waved over us in the heart of a desert.  They had, until that moment been particularly loquacious, but the sight of that flag and the sound of our voices hushed the tumult, and while they were still lost in astonishment, the boat’s head was speedily turned, the sail was sheeted home, both wind and current were in our favour, and we vanished from them with a rapidity that surprised even ourselves, and which precluded every hope of the most adventurous among them to keep up with us.