ASCENT OF THE FITZ-ROY. 147 



could see nothino: of the river itself bevond the 

 reach in which the boats were lying ; its upper ex- 

 tremity bore S. by W. and was about half a mile 

 from our halting place. I made a discovery in 

 climbing this tree, which I hoped to make available 

 in our farther ascent of the Fitz-Roy, should we be so 

 fortunate as to accomplish its further exploration, 

 or in any similar circumstances during our exami- 

 nation of these untrodden wilds. It was this, and 

 I mention it, as the hint may be useful to others : I 

 found our enemies the musquitoes did not resort to 

 the higher portions of the tree, and that by climb- 

 ing some thirty feet from the ground, a night's 

 repose, or at least a night undisturbed by their 

 attacks might be obtained. 



Hastening back to the boats, we pushed on, but 

 were some time getting to the end of the reach, the 

 shallowness of the water rendering our advance 

 difficult and tedious ; entering at length the next, 

 which trended S.W. for about half a mile, the river 

 gradually widened out until it attained a breadth 

 of about half that space. An extensive flat of 

 sand fronted the eastern bank, which was very low, 

 and though now dry, bore undoubted marks of being 

 not unfrequently visited by floods. The western 

 bank of the next reach was low and broken, evi- 

 dently forming a group of low grassy islands when 

 the river is in a higher state. 



Some yellow sandstone cliff's, from ten to sixteen 

 feet in height, formed the opposite bank of this 

 L 2 



