Extreme Disappointment on finding it salt--Fall in with a tribe of
natives--Our course arrested by the want of fresh water--Extraordinary
sound--Retreat towards the Macquarie.


We left our position at the head of the plain early on the 13th of
January, and, ere the sun dipped, had entered a very different country
from that in which we had been labouring for the last three weeks. We had,
as yet, passed over little other than an alluvial soil, but found that it
changed to a red loam in the brushes immediately backing the camp. An open
forest track succeeded this, over which the vegetation had an unusual
freshness, indicating that the waters had not long subsided from its
surface. We shortly afterwards crossed a hollow, similar to that Mr. Hume
had described, in which bulrushes had taken the place of reeds.
Flooded-gum trees, of large size, were also growing in it, but on either
side box alone prevailed, under which the forest grass grew to a
considerable height. We crossed the hollow two or three times, and as
often remarked the line of separation between those trees. The last time
we crossed it the country rose a few feet, and we journeyed for the
remainder of the day, at one time over good plains, at another through
brushes, until we found water and feed, at which we stopped for the night,
after having travelling about thirteen miles on a W. by N. course. The
mosquitoes were so extremely troublesome at this place that we called it
Mosquito Brush. At this time my men were improving rapidly, and Mr. Hume
complained less, and looked better. I hoped, therefore, that our progress
would be rapid into the interior.

CREEK LEADING NORTHERLY; PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.

On the 14th we took up a westerly course, and in the first instance