584 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



tlie goodness to excuse tite sum- 

 mary account I now offer to your 

 Exc. 



" I proceeded down the Lachlan 

 in company with the boats until 

 the 12th May, the country rapid- 

 ly descending until the waters of 

 the river rose to a level with it, 

 and, dividing into numerous 

 branches, inundated the country 

 to the west and N. W. prevented 

 any further progress in that direc- 

 tion, the river itself being lost 

 among marshes. Up to this point 

 it had received no accession of 

 waters from either side, but on 

 the contrary was constantly dis- 

 sipating in lagoons and swamps. 



" The impossibilitj' of proceed- 

 ing further in conjunction with 

 the boats being evident, I d-eter- 

 mined, upon maturer delibera- 

 tion, to haul them up, and divest- 

 ing ourselves of every thing that 

 could possibly be spared, proceed 

 with the horses loaded with the 

 additional provisions fiom the 

 boats, on such a course towards 

 tlie coast as would intersect any 

 stream that might arise fiom the 

 divided waters of the Lachlan. 



" In pursuance of this plan I 

 quitted the river on the 17th 

 May (mentioned by mistake in 

 the last gazette the 11th), taking 

 a S. W. course towards Cape 

 Northumberland, as the best one 

 to answer my intended purpose. 

 I will not here detail the difficul- 

 ties and privations we experienc- 

 ed in passing through a barren 

 and desolate country, without 

 any water but such rain-water as 

 was found remaining in holes and 

 the crevices of rocks. I con- 

 tinued this course until the 9th 

 June ; when, having lost two 

 horses through fatigue and want, 



and the others in a deplorable 

 condition, I changed our course 

 to north, along a range of lofty 

 hills running in that direction, as 

 they afforded the only means of 

 procuring water, until we should 

 fall in with some running stream. 

 On this course I continued till 

 the 23rd June, when we again 

 fell in with a stream, which we 

 had at first some difficulty to re- 

 cognize as the Lachlan, it being 

 little larger than one of the 

 branches of it where it was quitted 

 on the 17th May. 



" I did not hesitate a moment 

 to pursue the course of this 

 stream ; not that the nature of the 

 country or its own appearance in 

 any manner indicated that it 

 would become navigable, or was 

 even permanent, but I was un- 

 willing that the smallest doubt 

 should remain of any navigable 

 waters falling westward into the 

 sea, between the limits pointed 

 out in my instructions. 



" I continued along the banks 

 of the stream until the 8th July, 

 it having taken during this period 

 a westerly direction, and passing 

 through a perfectly level coun- 

 try, barren in the extreme, and 

 being evidently at periods entire- 

 ly under water. To this point it 

 had been gradually diminishing, 

 and spreading its waters over 

 stagnated lagoons and morasses, 

 without receiving any stream that 

 we knew of during the whole ex- 

 tent of its course. The banks 

 were not more than three feet 

 high, and the marks of flood on 

 the shrubs and bushes showed 

 that at times it rose between two 

 and three feet higher, causing the 

 whole country to become a marsh, 

 and altogether uninhabitable. 



•' Furtjier 



