FLINDERS RIVER. 



293 



the trees, a huge flock of screeching vampyres, that 

 disturbed for a time the serenity of the scene by their 

 discordant notes ; and a few reaches further up, 

 noisy flights of our old friends, the whistling ducks, 

 greeted our ears. Their presence and cries were 

 hailed with delight, not exactly because they gave 

 rise to any romantic associations, but because they 

 promised to recruit our victualling department, 

 which had not been supplied with such dainties 

 since leaving Disaster Inlet. Had our taste re- 

 sembled that of some of the natives of the western 

 coast ofAfrica, the vampyres would have answered 

 our purpose. 



The yawl grounding repeatedly, occasioned so 

 much delay, that after proceeding seven miles I 

 pushed on with the gig alone. Our course was still 

 S. by E. and the reaches were less crooked. Four 

 miles further we were delighted to find our progress 

 rendered hazardous by sunken trees, so much so 

 indeed, that I was most reluctantly obliged to wait 

 a few hours for daylight. There could now no longer 

 be a doubt that we were in a river, and I immedi- 

 ately embraced the opportunity of gratifying my 

 earnest and heartfelt desire of paying the promised 

 tribute to our scientific predecessor ; and accord- 

 ingly named this, our first discovery, after him, 

 The Flinders. 



As soon as the blackened heads of the fallen trees, 

 evidences of how fierce a torrent had borne them 

 hither, could be discerned, we proceeded. The 



