138 Remarks on the Physical Geography, S^c, of the 



plainSj beds of sand have always been met with, and in the 

 sand brackish water is found. 



The following particulars of a well that has been sunk on 

 the Murrumbidgee plains may be not without interest :— 

 The well was sunk to a bed of sand^ when water was obtained. 

 It is 49 feet deep, has 7 feet of water in it. The water tastes 

 like lime-water, probably from the potash of the decomposing 

 felspar, for the sand found is a disintegrated granite. On 

 the 9th of June, the temperature of the water was 66°, that of 

 the Murray being 50°. On the 27th of April, at Swan Hill, 

 the temperature was 62°. 



It was vaj earnest wish to have got some fresh horses, and 

 to have retui'ned to follow down the large creek, because I 

 considered it as an object of great interest to do so ; but my 

 companions did not feel justified in incurring the necessary 

 expense. 



The whole of that country might, in a few years, be occu- 

 pied by millions of sheep, but a policy, as shortsighted in 

 general as in its details it is unworthy, stands up like some 

 monster of antiquity to repel the tide of settlement. One 

 commissioner, like a king of the wilderness, reigns over forty 

 millions of acres. He is allowed one horse only. Now, as 

 all runs are obtained by tender, and all tenders must wait for 

 the report of the commissioner, and as that gentleman is ex- 

 pected to visit each run tendered for over a country in extent 

 equal to two-thirds of Victoria, with only one horse to ride, 

 it follows that runs applied for by the present generation will 

 be ready for the occupation by the next. Meanwhile, New 

 South Wales is content to defrauditself of additional revenue, 

 Victoria is prevented from extending her commercial limits, 

 a great increase of stock, with its production of wool and 

 human food is hindered, and a vast region of illimitable salt- 

 bush plains slumbers on as a wilderness, where no man 

 dwells. 



I have only to add, that I have been indebted to the inde- 

 fatigable Dr. Mueller for his list of names of plants collected 

 during our joui'ney. 



List of the Plants collected by Lockhart Morton, Esq., 

 between the Rivers Darling and Lachlan : — 



Flindersia maculosa, Perd. Mueller 

 Dodonsea viscosa, Linne 

 Heterodendron oleifolium, Desfontaines 



