absolutely dry, while it afforded the best and clearest proof of the
severity and continuance of the drought in the interior, at the same time
damped the spirits and ardour of the men. We kept the left bank of the
river as we proceeded down it, and passed two or three larger ponds about
a mile below where we had slept, but there they ceased. The bed of the
river became one of pure sand, nor did there appear to be any chance of
our finding any water in it. I stopped the party at about eight miles, and
desired the men to get their dinners, to give Mr. Hume and myself time to
search for a supply upon the plains. Disappointed to the left, we crossed
the channel of the Castlereagh, and struck over a small plain upon the
right bank, and at the extremity of it, came upon a swamp, from which we
immediately returned for the cattle, and got them unloaded by seven
o'clock. As there was sufficient pasture around us, I proposed to Mr. Hume
on the following day, to leave the party stationary, and to ride down the
river to see how far its present appearances continued. Like the
generality of rivers of the interior, it had, where we struck upon it,
outer banks to confine its waters during floods, and to prevent them from
spreading generally over the country; the space between the two banks
being of the richest soil, and the timber chiefly of the angophora kind.
Flooded-gum overhung the inner banks of the river, or grew upon the many
islands, with casuarina. It became evident, however, that the outer banks
declined in height as we proceeded down the river, nor was it long before
they ceased altogether. As we rode along, we found that the inner ones
were fast decreasing in height also. Riding under a hanging wood of the
angophora, which had ceased for a time, we were induced to break off to
our right, to examine some large flooded-gum trees about a couple of miles
to the N.W. of us. On arriving near them, we were astonished to find that
they concealed a serpentine lagoon that had a belt of reeds round it.
Keeping this lagoon upon our right, we at length came to the head of it,
past which the river sweeps. Crossing the channel of the river, we