from my extreme easterly one was 420 miles; Sir Thomas Mitchell’s distance from my extreme west, being about 380 miles, and that from my last position, (on Cooper’s Creek), about 260.  He had been traversing a country of great richness and fertility, a country, indeed, such as he had never before seen, and in a despatch addressed to the Governor of New South Wales, thus describes it and the river he discovered on the occasion:—­

“On ascending the range early next morning, I saw open downs and plains with a line of river in the midst, the whole extending to the N.N.W., as far as the horizon.  Following down the little stream from the valley in which I had passed the night, I soon reached the open country, and during ten successive days I pursued the course of that river, through the same sort of country, each day as far as my horse could carry me, and in the same direction again approaching the Tropic of Capricorn.  In some parts the river formed splendid reaches, as broad and important as the river Murray; in others it spread into four or five branches, some of them several miles apart.  But the whole country is better watered than any part of Australia I have seen, by numerous tributaries arising in the downs.

“The soil consists of rich clay, and the hollows give birth to numerous water-courses, in most of which water was abundant.  I found at length that I might travel in any direction, and find water at hand, without having to seek the river, except when I wished to ascertain its general course, and observe its character.  The grass consists of Panicum and several new sorts, one of which springs green from the old stem.  The plains were verdant indeed, the luxuriant pasturage surpassed in quality, as it did in extent, any thing I had ever seen.  The Myall-tree and salt bush, (Acacia pendula and salsolae), so essential to a good run, are also there.  New birds and new plants marked this out as an essentially different region from any I had previously explored; and although I could not follow the river throughout its long course at that advanced season, I was convinced that its estuary was in the Gulf of Carpentaria; at all events the country is open and well watered for a direct route thereto.  That the river is the most important of Australia, increasing as it does by successive tributaries, and not a mere product of distant ranges, admits of no dispute; and the downs and plains of Central Australia, through which it flows, seem sufficient to supply the whole world with animal food.  The natives are few and inoffensive.  I happened to surprise one tribe at a lagoon, who did not seem to be averse that such strangers were in that country; our number being small, they seemed inclined to follow us.  I crossed the river at the lowest point I reached, in a great southerly bend in long. 144 degrees 34 minutes east, lat. 24 degrees 14 minutes south, and from rising ground beyond the left bank, I could trace its downward course far to the northward.