BOAT EXCURStON. 
36 
After having given directions as to the regulations of the 
camp during our absence, we separated, on the morning of 
the 26th for the first time, in furtherance of the objects 
each had in view. 
In pulling down the river, I found that its channel was 
at first extremely tortuous and irregular, but that it held a 
general N.W. course, and bore much the same appearance 
as it had done since our descent from Mount Foster. 
We had a laborious task in lifting the boat over the 
trunks of trees that had fallen into the channel of the river 
or that had been left by the floods, and at length we stove 
her in upon a sunken log. The injury she received was too 
serious not to require immediate repair ,• and we, therefore, 
patched her up with a tin plate. This accident occasioned 
some delay, and the morning was consumed without our 
having made any considerable progress. At length, how- 
ever, we got into a more open channel. 
The river suddenly increased in breadth to thirty-five or 
forty-five yards, with a depth of from twelve to twenty feet 
of water. Its banks shelved perpendicularly down, and 
were almost on a level with the surface of the stream ; and 
the flood mark was not more than two feet high on the 
reeds by which they were lined. We had hitherto passed 
under the shade of the flooded gum, which still continued 
on the immediate banks of the river ; but, the farther we 
advanced, the more did we find these trees in a state of decay, 
until at length -they ceased, or were only rarely met with. 
About 2 p. m. I brought up under a solitary tree, in con- 
D 2 
