66 
COUNTRY COVERED WITH REEDS. 
In several instances, the force of both teams was put to one 
dray, to extricate it from the bed into which it had sunk, 
and the labour was considerably increased from the natuie 
of the weather. The wind was blowing as if through a fur- 
nace, from the N. N. E., and the dust was flying in clouds, 
so as to render it almost suffocating to remain exposed to 
it. This was the only occasion upon which we felt the hot 
winds in the interior. We were, about noon, endeavouring 
to gain a point of a wood at which I expected to come upon 
the river again, but it was impossible for the teams to leach 
it without assistance. I therefore sent M'Leay forward, 
with orders to unload the pack animals as soon as he should 
make the river, and send them back to help the teams. He 
had scarcely been separated from me 20 minutes, when one 
of the men came galloping back to inform me that no river 
was to be found — that the country beyond the wood was 
covered with reeds as far as the eye could reach, and that 
Mr. M'Leay had sent him back for instructions. This in- 
telligence stunned me for a moment or two, and I am sure 
its effect upon the men was very great. They had unex- 
pectedly arrived at a part of the interior similar to one they 
had held in dread, and conjured up a thousand difficulties 
and privations. I desired the man to recal Mr. M'Leay ; 
and, after gaining the wood, moved outside of it at right 
angles to my former course, and reached the river, after a day 
of severe toil and exposure, at half-past five. The country, 
indeed, bore every resemblance to that around the marshes 
of the Macquarie, but I was too weary to make any further 
