The two wooded hills I had seen from Oxley’s Table Land were visible from the range, bearing south; and other eminences bore by compass S.W. and W. by S.; but in every other direction the horizon was unbroken.  To the westward, there appeared to be a valley of considerable extent, stretching N. and S., in which latter direction there was a long strip of cleared ground, that looked very like the sandy bed of a broad and rapid river.  The bare possibility of the reality determined me to ascertain by inspection, whether my conjecture was right, and Mr. Hume accompanied me on this excursion.  After we left the camp we crossed a part of the range, and travelled for some time through open forest land that would afford excellent grazing in most seasons.  We passed some hollows, and noticed many huts that had been occupied near them; but the hollows were now quite dry, and the huts had been long deserted.  After about ten miles’ ride we reached a plain of white sand, from which New Year’s Range was distinctly visible; and this no doubt was the spot that had attracted my attention.  Pools of water continued on it, from which circumstance it would appear that the sand had a substratum of clay or marl.  From this plain we proceeded southerly through acacia scrub, bounding gently undulating forest land, and at length ascended some small elevations that scarcely deserved the name of hills.  They had fragments of quartz profusely scattered over them; and the soil, which was sandy, contained particles of mica.

Mosquitoes.

The view from them was confused, nor did any fresh object meet our observation.  We had, however, considerably neared the two wooded hills, and the elevations that from the range were to the S.W., now bore N.W. of us.  We had wandered too far from the camp to admit of our returning to it to sleep; we therefore commenced a search for water, and having found some, we tethered our horses near it for the night, and should have been tolerably comfortable, had not the mosquitoes been so extremely troublesome.  They defied the power of smoke, and annoyed me so much, that, hot as it was, I rolled myself in my boat cloak, and perspired in consequence to such a degree, that my clothes were wet through, and I had to stand at the fire in the morning to dry them.  Mr. Hume, who could not bear such confinement, suffered the penalty, and was most unmercifully bitten.

A man missing.

We reached the camp about noon the following day, and learnt, to our vexation, that one of the men, Norman, had lost himself shortly after we started, and had not since been heard of.  Dawber, my overseer, was out in search of him.  I awaited his return, therefore, before I took any measures for the man’s recovery; nor was I without hopes that Dawber would have found him, as it appeared he had taken one of the horses with him, and Dawber, by keeping his tracks, might eventually have overtaken him.  He returned, however, about 3 p.m. unsuccessful, when Mr. Hume and I mounted our horses, and proceeded in different directions in quest of him, but were equally disappointed.