198 
OBSTACLES TO THE NAVIGATION. 
was remarkable. The wind, however, which, from the time 
we lost the sea breezes, had hung to the S.E., had changed 
to the S W., and we were eagerly availing ourselves of it. 
It will not be supposed we stopped even for a moment. In 
truth we pressed on with great success, and did not land to 
sleep until nine o’clock. As long as the wind blew from 
the S. W., the days were cool, and the sky overcast ; even 
so much so as to threaten rain. 
The least circumstance, in our critical situation, naturally 
raised my apprehensions, and I feared the river would be 
swollen in the event of any heavy rains in the hilly coun- 
try; I hoped, however, we should gain the Morumbidgee 
before such a calamity should happen to us, and it became 
my object to press for that river without delay. 
Although we had met with frequent rapids in our progress 
upwards, they had not been of a serious kind, nor such as 
would affect the navigation of the river. The first direct 
obstacle of this kind occurs a little above a small tributary 
that falls into the Murray from the north, between the 
Rufus and the cliffs we have alluded to. At this place a 
reef of coarse grit contracts the channel of the river. No 
force we could have exerted with the oars would have taken 
us up this rapid ; but we accomplished the task easily by 
means of a rope which we hauled upon, on the same prin- 
ciple that barges are dragged by horses along the canals. 
As we neared the junction of the two main stieams, the 
country, on both sides of the livei, became low, and its 
general appearance confirmed the opinion I have already 
