magnitude as to dispel all doubts as to this last being the river we had
so long anxiously looked for. Limited as our resources were, we could not
resist the temptation which this beautiful country offered us, to remain
two days upon the junction of these rivers, for the purpose of examining
its vicinity to as great an extent as possible.

"Our examination increased the satisfaction we had previously felt; as
far as the eye could reach, in every direction, a rich and picturesque
country extended, abounding in limestone, slate, good timber, and every
other requisite which could render an uncultivated country desirable.

"The soil cannot be excelled; whilst a noble river of the first magnitude
affords the means of conveying its productions from one part of the
country to the other. Where we quitted it, its course was northerly, and
we were then north of the parallel of Port Stephens, being in latitude
32. 32. 45. S., and 148. 52. E. longitude.

"It appeared to me that the Macquarie had taken a north-north-west course
from Bathurst, and that it must have received immense accessions of water
in its course from that place. We viewed it at a period best calculated
to form an accurate judgment of its importance, when it was neither
swelled by floods beyond its natural and usual height, nor contracted
within its proper limits by summer droughts; of its magnitude when it
should have received the streams we had crossed, independently of any
which it may receive from the east (which, from the boldness and height
of the country, I presume must be at least as many as from the south),
some idea may be formed when I inform your excellency, that at this point
it exceeded in breadth and apparent depth the Hawkesbury at Windsor, and
that many of the reaches were of grander and more extended proportion
than the admired one on the Nepean River, from the Warragamba to Emu