It is remarkable that the view from the hills was always confined.—­We were apparently running parallel to a continuation of the ranges we had seen on the 2nd, but they were seldom visible.  The country generally seemed darkly wooded, and had occasional swells upon it, but it was one of no promise; the timber, chiefly box and pine, being of a poor growth, and its vegetation languid.  On the 8th the hills upon the left wore a bleak appearance, and the few trees upon them were cut down as if by the prevailing winds.  At noon we could not observe any land at the extremity of a reach we had just entered; some gentle hills still continued to form the left lank of the river, but the right was hid from us by high reeds.  I consequently landed to survey the country from the nearest eminence, and found that we were just about to enter an extensive lake which stretched away to the S.W., the line of water meeting the horizon in that direction.  Some tolerably lofty ranges were visible to the westward at the distance of forty miles, beneath which that shore was lost in haze.  A hill, which I prejudged to be Mount Lofty, bearing by compass S. 141 degrees W. More to the northward, the country was low and unbacked by any elevations.  A bold promontory, which projected into the lake at the distance of seven leagues, ended the view to the south along the eastern shore; between which and the river the land also declined.  The prospect altogether was extremely gratifying, and the lake appeared to be a fitting reservoir for the whole stream which had led us to it.

In the evening we passed the entrance; but a strong southerly wind heading us, we did not gain more than nine miles.  In the morning it shifted to the N.E. where we stood out for the promontory on a S.S.W. course.  At noon we were abreast of it, when a line of sand hummocks was ahead, scarcely visible in consequence of the great refraction about them; but an open sea behind us from the N.N.W. to the N.N.E. points of the compass.  A meridian altitude observed here, placed us in 35 degrees 25 minutes 15 seconds S. lat.—­At 1, I changed our course a little to the westward, and at 4 p.m. entered an arm of the lake leading W.S.W.  On the point, at the entrance, some natives had assembled, but I could not communicate with them.  They were both painted and armed, and evidently intended to resist our landing.  Wishing, however, to gain some information from them, I proceeded a short distance below their haunt, and landed for the night, in hopes that, seeing us peaceably disposed, they would have approached the tents; but as they kept aloof, we continued our journey in the morning.  The water, which had risen ten inches during the night, had fallen again in the same proportion, and we were stopped by shoals shortly after starting.  In hopes that the return of tide would have enabled us to float over them, we waited for it very patiently, but were ultimately obliged to drag the boat across a mud-flat of more than a quarter of a mile into deeper