spear into the ground, and walked fearlessly up to him. We easily made him
comprehend that we were in search of water; when he pointed to the west,
as indicating that we should supply our wants there. He gave his
information in a frank and manly way, without the least embarrassment,
and when the party passed, he stepped back to avoid the animals, without
the smallest confusion. I am sure he was a very brave man; and I left him
with the most favourable impressions, and not without hope that he would
follow us.

From a more open forest, we entered a dense scrub, the soil in which was
of a bright-red colour and extremely sandy, and the timber of various
kinds. A leafless species of stenochylus aphylta, which, from the
resemblance, I at first thought one of the polygonum tribe, was very
abundant in the open spaces, and the young cypresses were occasionally so
close as to turn us from the direction in which we had been moving. In the
scrub we crossed Mr. Hume's tract, and, from the appearance of the ground,
I was led to believe mine could not be very distant.

FATE OF THE MACQUARIE.

We struck upon a creek late in the afternoon, at which we stopped; New
Year's Range bearing nearly due west at about four miles' distance. Had we
struck upon my track, the question about which we were so anxious would
still have been undecided; but the circumstance of our having crossed Mr.
Hume's, which, from its direction, could not be mistaken, convinced me of
the fate of the Macquarie, and I felt assured that, whatever channels it
might have for the distribution of its waters, to the north of our line of
route, the equality of surface of the interior would never permit it
again to form a river; and that it only required an examination of the
lower parts of the marshes to confirm the theory of the ultimate