82 
ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY, 
obstructions in consequence, and pursued our journey with 
restored confidence. Towards evening a great change also 
took place in the aspect of the country, which no longer bore 
general marks of inundation. The level of the interior was 
broken by a small hill to the right of the stream, but the 
view from its summit rather damped than encouraged my 
hopes of any improvement. The country was covered with 
wood and brush, and the line of the horizon was unbroken 
by the least swell. We were on an apparently boundless flat, 
without any fixed point on which to direct our movements, 
nor was there a single object for the eye to rest upon, beyond 
the dark and gloomy wood that surrounded us on every side. 
Soon after passing this hill, the whale-b«at struck upon 
a line of sunken rocks, but fortunately escaped without 
injury. Mulholland, who was standing in the bow, was 
thrown out of her, head foremost, and got a good soaking, 
but soon recovered himself. The composition of the rock 
was iron-stone, and it is the first formation that occurs west- 
ward of the dividing range. We noticed a few cypresses 
in the distance, but the general timber was dwarf-box, or 
flooded-gum, and a few of the acacia longa scattered at 
great distances. In verifying our position by some lunars, we 
found ourselves in 142° 46' 30" of east long., and in lat. 35° 
25' 15" S. the mean variation of the compass being 4° 10" E. 
it appearing that we were decreasing the variation as we 
proceeded westward. . 
On the 13th, we passed the first running stream that 
joins the Morumbidgee, in a course of more than 340 miles. 
