16 
EXTREME HEAT OF THE WEATHER. 
joined by the rest of the tribe, and they now numbered 
about three and twenty. They were rather distant in their 
manner, and gazed with apparent astonishment at the scene 
that was passing before them. 
If there had been other proof wanting, of the lamentably 
parched and exhausted state of the interior, we had on this 
occasion ample evidence of it, and of the fearful severity of 
the drought under which the country was suffering. As soon 
as the sun dipped under the horizon, hundreds of birds came 
crowding to the border of the lake, to quench the thirst 
they had been unable to allay in the forest. Some were 
gasping, others almost too weak to avoid us, and all were 
indifferent to the reports of our guns. 
On leaving the Buddah, eleven only of the natives ac- 
companied us. We reached the river again about noon, on a 
north-half-east course, where it had a rocky bed, and con- 
tinued to journey 'along it, until we reached the cata- 
ract, at which we halted. We travelled over soil generally 
inferior to that which we had seen on the preceding day, 
but rich in many places. The same kind of timber was 
observed, but the acacia pendula was more prevalent than 
any other, although near the river the flooded gum and 
Australian apple-tree were of beautiful growth. 
It had appeared to me that the waters of the Macquarie 
had been diminishing in volume since our departure from 
Wellington Valley, and I had a favourable opportunity of 
judging as to the correctness of this conclusion at the cata- 
ract, where its channel, at all times much contracted, was 
