CHAPTER II. 
Prosecution of our course into the interior — Mosquito brush — Aspect 
and productions of tlie country — Hunting party of natives' — 
Courageous conduct of one of them — Mosquitoes — A man 
missing — Group of hills called New Year’s Range — Journey 
down New Year’s Creek — Tormenting attack of the kangaroo 
fly — Dreariness and desolation of the country — Oxley’s Table 
Land — D’Urhan’s Group — Continue our journey down New- 
Year’s Creek — Reach a large river (the Darling) — Extreme disap- 
pointment on finding it salt — Fall in with a tribe of natives — Our 
course arrested hy the want of fresh water — Extraordinary sound — 
Retreat towards the Macquarie. 
We left our position at the head of the plain early on 
the 13th of January, and, ere the sun dipped, had entered a 
very different country from that in which we had been 
labouring for the last three weeks. We had, as yet, passed 
over little other than an alluvial soil, but found that it 
changed to a red loam in the brushes immediately backing 
the camp. An open forest track succeeded this, over 
which the vegetation had an unusual freshness, indicating 
that the waters had not long subsided from its surface. 
We shortly afterwards crossed a hollow, similar to that Mr. 
Hume had described, in which bulrushes had taken the 
place of reeds. Flooded-gum trees, of large size, were also 
growing in it, but on either side box alone prevailed, under 
whichfc he forest grass grew to a considerable height. We 
crossed tlie hollow two or three times, and as often re- 
marked the line of separation between those trees. The 
