ENERVATING EFFECT OF THE GREAT HEAT. 77 



named the reach Tortoise Reach, in consequence. 

 Here too Mr. Bynoe added some rare and beauti- 

 ful specimens of finches to his collection. The cool 

 north-west wind had now deserted us, and though 

 yet scarcely nine o'clock a. m. the thermometer 

 stood at 105°. I had again the good fortune to 

 shoot a kangaroo : it was a long cross shot, the 

 animal going at speed. Our route now lay across 

 a barren stony plain, of which the vegetation it 

 might once have boasted had been burnt off: the 

 blackened ground, heated by the fierce rays of the 

 sun, seemed still to us on fire. In crossing a 

 creek which lay in our path, and which we managed 

 to do by means of a fallen tree, Mr. Forsyth shewed 

 symptoms of being struck with the sun, but a little 

 water, which I was happy enough to get from the 

 creek, revived him. Several others of the party 

 also complained of the trying effects of the great 

 heat ; after a short rest, I therefore determined on 

 raakinof for the river, which we arrived at in half an 

 hour, near a bed of dry rocks, but with the reaches 

 on either side wide and deep, and shut in by steep 

 banks. By this time one of the men was seriously 

 indisposed ; all hopes, therefore, of proceeding 

 much further upon this most interesting expedition 

 I was compelled, though very reluctantly, to abandon. 

 This was still the more a subject of deep regret, be- 

 cause the present width, and the south-easterly 

 direction which the river now appeared to take, gave 

 me just hopes that great progress might be made in 



