WITH THE DARLING. 
119 
were still more confirmed by subsequent observation. — That 
the Darling should have lost its current in its upper branches, 
is not surprising, when the level nature of the country into 
which it falls is taken into consideration ; neither does it 
surprise me that it should be stationary in one place, and 
flowing in another ; since, if, as in the present instance, 
there is a great extent of country between the two points, 
which may perhaps be of considerable elevation, the river 
may receive tributaries, whose waters will of course follow 
the general decline of the country. I take it to be so in the 
case before us ; and am of opinion, that the lower branches of 
the Darling are not at all dependent on its sources for a 
current, or for a supply of water. I have somewhere 
observed that it appeared to me the depressed interior 
over which I had already travelled, was of comparatively 
recent formation. And, by whatever convulsion or change 
so extensive a tract became exposed, I cannot but infer, 
that the Darling is the main channel by which the last 
waters of the ocean were drained off. The bottom of the 
estuary, for it cannot be called a valley, being then left ex- 
posed, it consequently remains the natural and proper reser- 
voir for the streams from the eastward, or those falling easter- 
ly from the westward, if any such remain to be discovered. 
From the junction of the Morumbidgee to the junction of 
the new river, the Murray had held a W. N. W. course. 
From the last junction it changed its direction to the S.W., 
and increased considerably in size. The country to the 
south was certainly lower than that to the north ; for, al- 
