52 
CHANGE IN THE COUNTRY. 
which the other known rivers of New Holland had been 
found to exhaust themselves ; the least change, therefore, 
for the worse was sufficient to raise my apprehensions ; yet, 
although theMorumbidgee had received no tributary from the 
Dumot downwards, and was leading us into an apparently 
endless level, I saw no indication of its decreasing in size, 
or in the rapidity of its current. Certainly, however, I had, 
from the character of the country around us, an anticipation 
that a change was about to take place in it, and this antici- 
pation was verified in the course of the following day. The 
alluvial flats gradually decreased in breadth, and we jour- 
neyed mostly over extensive and barren plains, which in many 
places approached So near the river as to form a part of its 
bank. They were covered with the salsolaceous class of 
plants, so common in the interior, in a red sandy soil, and 
were as even as a bowling green. The alluvial spaces near 
the river became covered with reeds, and, though subject 
to overflow at every partial rise of it, were so extremely 
small as scarcely to afford food for our cattle. Flooded-gum 
trees of lofty size grew on these reedy spaces, and marked 
the line of the river, but the timber of the interior appeared 
tunted and useless. 
We found this part of the Morumbidgee much more 
populous than its upper branches. When we halted, we had 
no fewer than forty-one natives with us, of whom the young 
men were the least numerous. They allowed us to choos e 
a place for ourselves before they formed their own camp, 
and studiously avoided encroaching on our ground so as 
