48 RESULTS OF THE EXCURSION. 
1 had no inducement to proceed further into the interior. 
I had been sufficiently disappointed in the termination of 
this excursion, and the track before me was still less invit- 
ing. Nothing but a dense forest, and a level country, ex- 
isted between me and the distant hill. I had learnt, by 
experience, that it was impossible to form any opinion of 
the probable features of so singular a region as that in which 
I was wandering, from previous appearances, or to expect 
the same result, as in other countries, from similar causes. 
In a geographical point of view, my journey had been more 
successful, and had enabled me to put to rest for ever a 
question of much previous doubt. Of whatever extent the 
marshes of the Macquarie might be, it was evident they 
were not connected with those of the Lachlan. I had 
gained a knowledge of more than 100 miles of the western 
interior, and had ascertained that no sea, indeed that little 
water, existed on its surface ; and that, although it is gene- 
rally flat, it still has elevations of considerable magnitude 
upon it. 
Although 1 had passed over much barren ground, I had 
likewise noticed soil that was far from poor, and the vege- 
tation upon which in ordinary seasons would, I am con- 
vinced, have borne a very different aspect. 
Yet, upon the whole, the space I traversed is unlikely to 
become the haunt of civilized man, or will only become so 
in isolated spots, as a chain of connection to a more fertile 
country ; if such a country exist to the westward. 
The hill which thus became the extreme of my journey. 
