COUNTRY SUBJECT TO INUNDATION. 61 
whose bosom nature had implanted a love of freedom. We 
learnt from four blacks, with whom he had spoken, and 
who came to us in the afternoon, that he had gone up the 
river, — as I conjectured, to the last large tribe we had left, 
with whom he appeared to become very intimate. 
A creek coming from the N. N. W. here fell into the Mo- 
rumbidgee ; a proof that the general decline of country was 
really to the south, although a person looking over it would 
have supposed the contrary. 
We started on the 23d, with the same boundlessness of 
plain on either side of us ; but in the course of the morning 
a change took place, both in soil and productions ; and 
from the red sandy loam, and salsolaceous plants, amidst 
which we had been toiling, we got upon a light tenaceous 
and blistered soil, evidently subject to frequent overflow, 
and fields of polygonum junceum, amidst which, both the 
crested pigeon and the black quail were numerous. The 
drays and animals sank so deep in this, that we were ob- 
liged to make for the river, and keep upon its immediate 
banks. Still, with all the appearance of far-spread inun- 
dation, it continued undiminished in size, and apparently 
in the strength of its current. Its channel was deeper than 
near the mountains, but its breadth was about the same. 
On the 24th, we were again entangled amidst fields of 
polygonum, through which we laboured until after eleven, 
when we gained a firmer soil. Some cypresses appeared 
upon our right, in a dark line, and I indulged hopes that a 
change was about to take place in the nature of the coun- 
