116 
THE NEW RIVER IDENTIFIED 
on if we had not called to them. As it was, they remained 
with us but for a short time. We treated them very 
kindly, but they were evidently under constraint, and were, 
no doubt, glad when they found we did not object to their 
departing. 
I have stated, that I felt satisfied in my own mind, that the 
beautiful stream we had passed was no other than the river 
Darling of my former journey. The bare assertion, how- 
ever, is not sufficient to satisfy the mind of the reader, upon 
a point of such importance, more especially when it is con- 
sidered how remarkable a change the Darling must have 
undergone, if this were indeed a continuation of it. I am 
free to confess that it required an effort to convince myself, 
but after due consideration, I see no reason to alter the 
opinion I formed at a moment of peculiar embarrassment. 
Yet it by no means follows that I shall convince others, al- 
though I am myself convinced. The question is one of cuiious 
speculation, and the consideration of it will lead us to an 
interesting conjecture, as to the probable nature of the dis- 
tant interior, between the two points. It will be remem- 
bered that I was obliged to relinquish my pursuit of the 
Darling, in east long. 144° 48' 30" in lat. 30° 17 30 south. 
I place the junction of the Murray and the new river, in 
long. 140° 56' east, and in south lat. 34° 3'. I must remark, 
however, that the lunars I took on this last occasion, were 
not satisfactory, and that there is, probably, an error, though 
not a material one, in the calculation. Before I measure 
the distance between the above points, or make any remarks 
