144 
TAKE BEARINGS. 
but we had not gone very far, when the individual I 
have described brought his family, consisting of about 
fifteen persons. We were going down a part of the 
river in which there was a very slight fall. The natives 
were posted under some blue-gum trees, upon the right 
bank, and there was a broad shoal of sand immediately 
to our left. They walked over to this shoal, to receive 
some little presents, but did not follow when we con- 
tinued our journey. 
During the whole of the day the river ran to the N. W. 
We stopped for the night under some cliffs, similar to those 
we had already passed, but somewhat higher. From their 
summit, mountains were visible to the N. W., but at a great 
distance from us. I doubted not that they were at the head 
of the southern gulfs; or of one of them, at all events. 
Our observations placed us in 34° 08' south of lat., and in 
long. 139° 41' 15"; we were consequently nearly seventy 
miles from Spencer’s Gulph, in a direct line, and I should 
have given that as the distance the hills appeared to be from 
us. They bore as follows : — 
Lofty round mountain, S. 127° W. 
Mountain scarcely visible, S. 128° W. 
Northern extremity of a broken range, S. 102° W. 
Southern extremity scarcely visible, S. 58° W. 
The country between the river and these ranges appeared 
to be very low, and darkly wooded : that to the N. E. was 
more open. The summit of the cliff did not form any table- 
land, but it dipped almost immediately to the westward, 
