38 CAUSES OF THE FAILUKE OF THE RIVER. 
It did not, however, continue more than twenty yards 
when it ceased, and I walked round the head of it as I had 
done round that of the other. We then examined the space 
between the creeks, where the hank receives the force of 
the current, which I did not doubt had formed them by the 
separation of its eddies. Observing water among the reeds, 
I pushed through them with infinite labour to a consider- 
able distance. The soil proved to be a stiff clay ; the reeds 
were closely embodied, and from ten to twelve feet high ; 
the waters were in some places ankle deep, and in others 
scarcely covered the surface. They were flowing in differ- 
ent points, with greater speed than those of the river, which 
at once convinced me that they were not permanent, but 
must have lodged in the night during which so much rain 
had fallen. They ultimately appeared to flow to the north- 
ward, but I found it impossible to follow them, and it was 
not without difficulty that, after having wandered about at 
every point of the compass, I aaain reached the boat. 
The care with which I had noted every change that took 
place in the Macquarie, from Wellington Valley downwards, 
enabled me, in some measure, to account for its present 
features. I was led to conclude that the waters of the 
river being so small in body, excepting in times of flood, 
and flowing for so many miles through a level country with- 
out receiving any tributary to support their first impulse, 
became too sluggish, long ere they reached the marshes, 
to cleave through so formidable a barrier ; and consequently 
spread over the surrounding country — whether again to take 
