8 
DEPARTURE FOR THE INTERIOR. 
bers, together with a species of merops or mountain bee- 
eater. 
On the 5th, our preparations being wholly completed, 
and the loads arranged, the party was mustered, and was 
found to consist of myself and Mr. Hume, two soldiers and 
eight prisoners of the crown, two of whom were to return 
with dispatches. Our animals numbered two riding, and 
seven pack, horses, two draft, and eight pack, bullocks, ex- 
clusive of two horses of my own, and two for the men to 
be sent back. 
The morning of the 7th December, the day upon which 
we were to leave the valley, was ushered in by a cloudless 
sky, and that heated appearance in the atmosphere which 
foretels an oppressively sultry day. I therefore put off the 
moment of our departure to the evening, and determined to 
proceed no further than Gobawlin. I was the more readily 
induced to order this short journey because the animals had 
not been practised to their full loads, and I thought they 
might have given some trouble at starting with an unusual 
weight. They moved off however very quietly, and as if 
they had been accustomed to their work by a long course 
of training. We took our departure from the settlement 
at 3 p. m. and, crossing to the right bank of the Macquarie, 
a little above its junction with the Bell, reached Mr. 
Wylde’s station about half-past 5. Thus we commenced 
our journey under circumstances as favorable as could have 
been wished. In disengaging ourselves on the following 
day from the hills by which Wellington Valley is encom- 
passed on the westward, with a view to approach Mr. Pal- 
