40 
CHARACTER OF THE RIVER 
it, bearing S. 82° W. distant 12 miles, and another singular 
elevation that bore S. 32° W. called by the natives, Kengal. 
The appearance to the E. S. E. was still that of a mountain- 
ous country, while from the N. E., the hills gradually de- 
crease in height, until lost in the darkness of surrounding 
objects to the northward. We did not travel this day more 
than 13 miles on a W. by N. course. The Morumbidgee, 
where we struck it, by its increased size, kept alive our an- 
ticipations of its ultimately leading us to some important 
point. The partial rains that had fallen while we were 
on its upper branch, had swollen it considerably, and it now 
rolled along a vast body of water at the rate of three miles 
an hour, preserving a medium width of 150 feet ; its banks 
retaining a height far above the usual level of the stream, 
A traveller who had never before descended into the interior 
of New Holland, would have spurned the idea of such a river 
terminating in marshes ; but with the experience of the 
former journey, strong as hope was within my breast, I 
still feared it might lose itself in the vast flat upon which we 
could scarcely be said to have yet entered. The country 
was indeed taking up more and more every day the fea- 
tures of the N. W. interior. Cypresses were observed upon 
the minor ridges, and the soil near the river, although still 
rich, and certainly more extensive than above, was occasion- 
ally mixed with sand, and scattered over with the claws of 
crayfish and shells, indicating its greater liability to be 
flooded ; nor indeed could I entertain a doubt that the river 
had laid a great part of the levels around us under water 
