By following a track of the natives, I found a fine well in the bed of the river, under the banks; the water was almost perfectly fresh; and that of the river was only slightly brackish.  A fishing weir crossed the stream, where it was about twenty yards broad, and from two to three feet deep.  We were occupied to a late hour of the night in cutting up our emus.  I had intended to stop the next day, but, as our camp in the bed of the river was surrounded by a thick underwood; as the dew was very heavy, the water brackish, and the young feed dangerous for our cattle, which had fed so long on dry grass, I thought it prudent to continue my journey.  The longitude of this river, according to my daily distances, was 137 degrees 5 minutes.

Sept. 15.—­We travelled about fifteen miles N. 25 degrees W., passing for the first eight miles over a very fine available country, but without meeting with water, or even with a watercourse.  Beyond that, however, the country became more undulating, and we crossed, for about four miles, a most wretched sandstone scrub.  Here we saw some natives, but they avoided us.  The scrub opened upon fine box flats, with numerous shallow watercourses; farther on, they were interrupted by scrubby or thickly timbered elevations, on which we met with some Cycas palms from thirty to fifty feet high, thick at the butt, and tapering gradually towards the crown.  At one of the shallow creeks, which suddenly became rocky, and probably formed falls and rapids in the wet season, we struck upon a well beaten foot-path of the natives, which led us through Cypress pine thickets, and over open lawns to a creek, whose right bank was covered with Cycas groves of the most strikingly picturesque appearance; and here I observed that the Cycas, although it generally has a simple stem, frequently grew with two or three arms.  The foot-path went up the creek:  lower down, I found broad, deep, but dry water-holes; and, still lower, Salicornia indicated the approach to the salt water.  The foot-path conducted us from one Zamia grove to another, which alternated with fine forest composed principally of white-gum, the fresh green foliage of which was extremely pleasing to the eye.  I observed some large wells, ten or twelve feet deep, and eight or ten in diameter, which the natives had dug near the Zamia groves, but they were without the slightest indication of moisture.  I continued to follow the path for five miles, until I came to a broad-leaved tea-tree forest.  The sun was then low, and my companions far behind:  I, therefore, returned to ascertain the cause of their delay; and found that our old bullock had refused to carry his pack, and it had been put on a horse; but that, even then, the poor beast was scarcely able to crawl before us.  His weakness had been occasioned by a diarrhoea brought on by the green feed and the brackish water at Seven Emu River; and I congratulated myself on not having remained there longer, as probably all my bullocks would have been equally affected.  We encamped without water, hobbled our horses, and watched the bullocks, which were all very tired and little inclined to feed during the greater part of the night.