EXTENT OF THE LAKE. 
167 
\vind, or by the silvery and melancholy note of the black 
swans as they passed over us, to seek for food, no doubt, 
among the slimy weeds at the head of the lake. We had 
been quite delighted with the beauty of the channel, which 
was rather more than half-a-mile in width. Numberless 
mounds, that seemed to invite civilised man to erect his 
dwelling upon them, presented themselves to our view. 
The country round them was open, yet ornamentally 
wooded, and rocks and trees hung or drooped over the 
waters. 
We had in one day gained a position I once feared it 
would have cost us infinite labour to have measured. In- 
deed, had we been obliged to pull across the lake, unless 
during a calm, I am convinced the men would have been 
wholly exhausted. We had to thank a kind Providence 
that such was not the case, since it had extended its mercy 
to us at so critical a moment. We had indeed need of all the 
little strength we had remaining, and could ill have thrown 
it away on such an effort as this would have required. I 
calculated that we could not have run less than forty-five 
miles during the day, a distance that, together with the 
eight miles we had advanced the evening previously, would 
give the length of the lake at fifty-three miles. 
We had approached to within twelve miles of the ranges, 
but had not gained their southern extremity. From the 
camp, Mount Barker bore nearly north. The ranges ap- 
peared to run north and south to our position, and then to 
bend away to the S. S. W., gradually declining to that point, 
