of water. We travelled on a N.W. 1/2 W. course for about ten miles, and
again stopped for the night without water. In the course of the afternoon,
we traversed several flats, on which the rough-gum alone was growing.
These flats were evidently subject to flood; and contained an alluvial
soil.

They became more frequent as we travelled down the river, and the work was
so heavy for the animals, that I was obliged to keep wide of them, in
doing which we struck upon a creek of large size, coming from the N.E.
and, having crossed, we traversed its right bank to its junction with the
Castlereagh, and stopped close to it at a pond of water, though the feed
for the animals was bad. The country to the left of the river, though
somewhat high, was the same, in essential points, as that to the right.

The Castlereagh seemed to have increased in size below the creek, but
still it had no resemblance to a river. We had not proceeded very far down
its banks, on the 18th, when we crossed a broad footpath leading to it
from the interior. I turned my horse to the left, and struck upon a long
sheet of water, from which I startled a number of pelicans. It was evident
that the natives had recently been in the neighbourhood, but we thought it
probable they might have been a hunting party, who had returned again to
the plains. The whole track we passed over during the day was miserably
poor and bare of vegetation, nor did the appearance of the country to the
N.E. indicate any improvement. We lost the traces of the natives
immediately after crossing their path or beat, and again found the bed of
the river dry, after we had passed the sheet of water to which it led. The
soil was so rotten and yielding, that the team knocked up early; indeed,
it was a matter of surprise to me that they should not have failed before.
The river made somewhat to the westward with little promise of
improvement. The wretched appearance of the country as we penetrated into