298 SALTNESS OF THE DARLING. [CH. VII. 



pure and sweet as any spring water. Fort Bourke consists 

 of an elevated plateau, overlooking a reach of the river a 

 mile and a half in length, the hill being situated near a 

 sharp turn, at the lower end of the reach. At this turn, 

 a small dry water-course, which surrounds Fort Bourke 

 on all sides, save that of the river, joins the Darling, 

 and contains abundance of grass. The plateau consists 

 of about 160 acres of rich loam, and was thinly wooded, 

 before it was entirely cleared by us in making our place 

 of defence. There are upon it various burying-places of 

 the natives, who always choose the highest parts of that low 

 country for the purpose of interment, their object being 

 probably the security of the graves from floods. The tribe 

 frequenting that neighbourhood, consists of a very few 

 inoffensive individuals, less mischievous, as already observed, 

 than any we had seen on the banks of the Darling. 



We were about to leave, at last, this extraordinary stream, 

 on which we had sojourned so long, enjoying abundance of 

 excellent water, in the heart of a desert country. From 

 the sparkling transparency of this water, its undiminished 

 current, sustained without receiving any tributary through- 

 out a course of 660 miles, and especially from its being salt 

 in some places and fresh at others, it seems probable that 

 the river, when in that reduced state, is chiefly supported by 

 springs. It would appear that the saltness occurs in the 

 greatest body of water, where no current was perceptible, 

 and as this was excessive when the river was first dicovered, 

 it may be attributed to saline springs, due to beds of rock- 

 salt in the sandstone or clay. The bed of the river is on an 

 average about sixty feet below the common surface of the 

 country. To this depth the soil generally consists of clay, 

 ill whicli calcareous concretions and selenite occur abun- 

 dantly; but at some parts, the clay, cbarged with iron, 

 forms a soft kind of rock in the bed, or banks of the river. 

 TluTo are no traces of water-courses on these level plains, 

 -11(1) as might be expected to fall from the hills behind ; 



