A little above our camp of the 28th of January, we fell in with a large tribe of natives, whose anxiety to detain us was remarkable.  The wind, however, which, from the time we lost the sea breezes, had hung to the S.E., had changed to the S.W., and we were eagerly availing ourselves of it.  It will not he supposed we stopped even for a moment.  In truth we pressed on with great success, and did not land to sleep until nine o’clock.  As long as the wind blew from the S.W., the days were cool, and the sky overcast even so much so as to threaten rain.

The least circumstance, in our critical situation, naturally raised my apprehensions, and I feared the river would be swollen in the event of any heavy rains in the hilly country; I hoped, however, we should gain the Morumbidgee before such a calamity should happen to us, and it became my object to press for that river without delay.

Obstacles to the navigation—­dangerous rapids.

Although we had met with frequent rapids in our progress upwards, they had not been of a serious kind, nor such as would affect the navigation of the river.  The first direct obstacle of this kind occurs a little above a small tributary that falls into the Murray from the north, between the Rufus and the cliffs we have alluded to.  At this place a reef of coarse grit contracts the channel of the river.  No force we could have exerted with the oars would have taken us up this rapid; but we accomplished the task easily by means of a rope which we hauled upon, on the same principle that barges are dragged by horses along the canals.

As we neared the junction of the two main streams, the country, on both sides of the river, became low, and its general appearance confirmed the opinion I have already given as to its flooded origin.  The clouds that obscured the sky, and had threatened to burst for some time, at length gave way, and we experienced two or three days of heavy rain.  In the midst of it we passed the second stage of our journey, and found the spot lately so crowded with inhabitants totally deserted.  A little above it we surprised a small tribe in a temporary shelter; but neither our offers nor presents could prevail on any of them to expose themselves to the torrent that was falling.  They sat shivering in their bark huts in evident astonishment at our indifference.  We threw them some trifling presents and were glad to proceed unattended by any of them.

Perilous ascent of the rapids.

It will be remembered that in passing down the river, the boat was placed in some danger in descending a rapid before we reached the junction of the Murray with the stream supposed by me to be the Darling.  We were now gradually approaching the rapid, nor did I well know how we should surmount such an obstacle.  Strength to pull up it we had not, and I feared our ropes would not be long enough to reach to the shore