CH. IV.] NATIVES AFRAID OF THE SHEEP. 215 



it was our old acquaintance the Karaula, unaltered in a 

 single feature. Here, we saw the same description of broken 

 earthy banks ; the same kind of lofty trees, and the long, 

 deep, and still reaches, so characteristic of a lengthened and 

 slumbering course. But the great question to be determined 

 was, the quality of the water, which, appearing to me, 

 from the top of the bank, very transparent, and of a green- 

 ish tinge, and without any indication of a current, I did not 

 doubt was salt, as when first discovered, in nearly the same 

 latitude, by Sturt. I was, however, so agreeably surprised, on 

 descending the steep bank, to find the taste perfectly sweet, 

 that I began to doubt, if this river could be " The Darling," 

 thinking, from the difierence in the longitude especially, that 

 it might still be the lower part of the Bogan, the course of 

 which continued westward, and on my right, as I rode from 

 the camp. I proceeded some distance down the river, and 

 found the reaches to extend first west-north-west, next north- 

 north-east (half a mile), then south-west by south (] | miles) ; 

 I was at length satisfied that this was indeed the river Dar- 

 ling, and I was no less gratified in perceiving a slight current 

 in it, with no obstruction for our boats as far as I had yet 

 examined. The paths of the natives were fresh trodden, but 

 we saw none of them, and I returned towards the camp, 

 where I arrived by two p. m. The bed of the Darling, at the 

 place where we reached it, could not be elevated more, ac- 

 cording to the state of the barometrical column, (as com- 

 pared at the time with that of my barometer, as it had stood 

 at Paramatta bridge), than 250 feet above the level of the 

 sea. I found, that the natives whom I had left at the camp, 

 no longer remained there, having quitted it soon after my 

 departure, apparently afraid of the sheep! 



May 26. — A party of our friends the natives again made 

 their appearance ; and five of them, including the three who 

 had visited us yesterday, took their stations under the same 

 tree, while a number of gins and children remained on the 

 border of the scrub, half a mile oif. Just before the camp 



