NEAR THE CASTLEREAGH. 133 
but not finding any water for three miles below the lower 
junction, he returned to the camp, with a view of prose- 
cuting a longer journey on the morrow. Mr. Hume had be- 
come impressed with an opinion, that the junction up which 
we had slept was no other than the Castlereagh itself ; and 
that our position was on a creek, probably Morrissett’s chain 
of ponds, flowing into it. As the cattle wanted a few days’ 
rest, Mr. Hume and I determined to ride, unattended, along 
our track to our camp of the 21st, and then to follow the 
channel upwards, until we should arrive at the station of the 
natives, or until we should have ridden to such a distance as 
would set our conj ectures at rest. In the morning, however, 
instead of running upon our old track, we followed that of Mr. 
Hume to the junction, giving up our first intention, with a 
view to ascertain if there existed any water which wecould,by 
an effort, gain, below where Mr. Hume had been. The chan- 
nel was very broad, with a considerable fall in its bed, and, 
in appearance, more resembled the slope of a lawn than the 
bed of a river. It had two gum-trees in the centre of its 
channel, in one of which the ffoods had left the trunk of a 
large tree. We could discover where it narrowed and its 
banks rose, but, as we intended to make a eloser examination 
before we left the neighbourhood, we continued our journey 
down the principal channel. The ground exhibited an abun- 
dance of pasture in its immediate neighbourhood, but the 
distant country was miserably poor and bare. At about three 
miles, we came upon the fresh traces of some natives, which 
led us to the channel again, from which we had wandered 
