GEOGRAPHICAL REMARKS. 
225 
with regard to that singular stream, I was, from the little 
knowledge I had obtained, puzzled as to its actual course ; 
and I thought it as likely that it might turn into the heart 
of the interior, as that it would make to the south. It had 
not, however, escaped my notice, that the northern rivers 
turned more abruptly southward (after gaining a certain 
distance from the base of the ranges) than the more southern 
streams : near the junction of the Castlereagh with the 
Darling especially, the number of large creeks joining the 
first river from the north, led me to conclude that there was 
at that particular spot a rapid fall of country to the south. 
The first thing that strengthened in my mind this half- 
formed opinion, was the fall of the Lachlan into the Mo- 
rumbidgee. I had been told that Australia was a basin ; 
that an unbroken range of hills lined its coasts, the internal 
rivers of which fell into its centre, and contributed to the 
formation of an inland sea ; I was not therefore prepared 
to find a break in the chain — a gap as it were for the escape 
of these waters to the coast. 
Subsequently to our entrance into the Murray, the re. 
markable efforts of that river to maintain a southerly course 
were observed even by the men, and the singular runs it 
made to the south, when unchecked by high lands, clearly 
evinced its natural tendency to flow in that direction. 
Had we found ourselves at an elevation above the bed of 
the Darling when we reached the junction of the principal 
tributary with the Murray, l should still have had doubts 
on my mind as to the identity of that tributary with the 
VOL. II. 
Q 
