CFI. VII.] GEOLOGY OF THE DARLING. 301 



out by the slightest wind. Over such gTound it was very 

 fatiguing to walk, the foot at each step sinking to the ankle, 

 and care being necessary to avoid holes, always ready to re- 

 ceive the whole leg, and sometimes the body. It was not 

 very safe to ride on horseback even at a walk, and to gallop 

 or trot in that country, was quite out of the question. 

 The labour which this kind of ground cost the poor bul- 

 locks, drawing heavy carts, reduced them to so great a state 

 of weakness, that six never returned from the Darling. The 

 work was so heavy for the two first teams on our advancing 

 into these regions, that one team was rendered quite un- 

 serviceable by leading ; but on returning we found the beaten 

 track much easier for the whole party. Notwithstanding 

 these disadvantages, we were much indebted to Providence 

 for the continued dryness of tlie winter ; for although it 

 seemed then, as if nothing short of a deluge, could have 

 completed the saturation, there were also many proofs, that 

 great inundations sometimes occurred ; and it was still more 

 obvious, that had rainy weather, or any overflowing of the 

 river happened, we could no longer have travelled on the 

 banks of the Darling. 



The rocks about the surface of this country are few and 

 simple. Besides the clay, nothing occurred in the river bed, 

 except calcareous concretions, selenite, and in some parts 

 sandstone similar to that seen at the base of almost all 

 the hills. Back from the river, the first elevation usually 

 consisted of hillocks of red sand, so soft and loose, that 

 the cattle could scarcely draw the carts through. The clay 

 adjacent to the sand, was firmer than any clay seen else- 

 Avhere on the plains, because the sand there acted like a 

 sponge, taking up the water from the adjacent clay, which 

 consequently preserved its tenacity at all seasons. This 

 edge of clay along the skirts of plains at the base of tlie 

 red sand ridges, I found the most favourable ground for 

 travelling upon. Still further back, gravel, consisting of 

 fragments, not much water-worn, of various hard rocks. 



