54 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



the same evening, just as they had camped for the night." A 

 reconciliation was effected, and the whole party held on their 

 western course for three or four days, the ranges and the gullies 

 getting less difficult to cross, until on the 14th they descended 

 into a fine undulating country, somewhat too boggy for comfort- 

 able travelling, but a great relief from the strain of incessant 

 climbing of the past three weeks. On the morning of the 16th of 

 November they came suddenly upon a fine river, fully eighty yards 

 wide, deep, clear, and clothed with verdure to the water's edge. It 

 seemed to them the finest and most promising stream yet discovered 

 in Australia, and Hume christened it by his own name out of 

 compliment, he says, to the memory of his father. Four or five 

 years later the same river, discovered by Sturt much lower down, 

 was called by him the Murray, which name it now retains through- 

 out its entire length ; but there is a touch of injustice in the tacit 

 ignoring of the claims which the original discoverer had to per- 

 petuate the remembrance of his courageous enterprise. Looking 

 across this noble stream, the explorers saw for the first time the 

 fine park-like timbered plains destined, even in their lifetime, to 

 be covered with the flocks and herds of the yet unborn colony of 

 Victoria. 



But grand as was the prospect which so fine a river opened up 

 for discovery, it could not be taken advantage of without a boat, 

 and so far was rather a hindrance than an assistance. At first 

 they started down the stream to seek for a suitable ford, but the 

 farther they went the more majestic became the current, and after 

 two days' journey they reluctantly retraced their steps, and from 

 the point where they first struck it ascended the stream about 

 fifteen miles. Here they chanced upon a spot where a jutting 

 range had narrowed the river to about forty yards, and the process 

 by which they had crossed the Murrumbidgee was repeated, except 

 that in lieu of the cart a rough framework of wattles was covered 

 with the invaluable tarpaulin, and a water-tight boat was made in a 

 few hours. On the following morning, after travelling only four or 

 five miles amongst the lagoons which spread all around them, they 

 were surprised to come upon another river, about the same width 

 as their last crossing-place, with a strong current. This was the 



