NATIVE VILLAGE. 
89 
at a loss to account for the current we undoubtedly had 
observed in the river when we first came upon it. At mid- 
day D’Urban’s Group bore S. 65 E. distant about 32 miles. 
We made a little westing in the afternoon. The river conti- 
nued to maintain its character and appearance, its lofty 
banks, and its long still reaches: while, however, the blue- 
gum trees upon its banks were of magnificent size, the soil 
had but little vegetation upon it, although an alluvial deposit. 
We passed over vast spaces covered with the polygonum 
junceum, that bore all the appearance of the flooded 
tracks in the neighbourhood of the marshes, and on which 
the travelling was equally distressing to the animals. In- 
deed, it had been sufficiently evident to us that the waters 
of this river were not always confined to its channel, capa- 
cious as it was, but that they inundated a belt of barren 
land, that varied in width from a quarter of a mile to a 
mile, when they were checked by an outer embankment 
that prevented them from spreading generally over the 
country, and upon the neighbouring plains. At our halting 
place, the cattle drank sparingly of the water, but it acted 
as a violent purgative both on them and the men who par- 
took of it. 
On the 5th, the river led us to the southward and west- 
ward. Early in the day, we passed a group of seventy 
huts, capable of holding from twelve to fifteen men each. 
They appeared to be permanent habitations, and all of 
them fronted the same point of the compass. In searching 
amongst them we observed two beautifully made nets, of 
