IJF.SOLATING KFFFCTS OF THE DROUGHT. 145 
I had wandered. During the short interval I had been 
out, I had seen rivers cease to flow before me, and sheets 
of water disappear ; and had it not been for a merciful 
Providence, should, ere reaching the Darling, have been 
overwhelmed by misfortune. 
I am giving no false picture of the reality. So long- 
had the drought continued, that the vegetable kingdom 
was almost annihilated, and minor vegetation had dis- 
appeared. In the creeks, weeds had grown and withered, 
and grown again ; and young saplings were now rising- 
in their beds, nourished by the moisture that still re- 
mained ; but the largest forest trees were drooping, and 
many were dead. The emus, with outstretched necks, gasp- 
ing for breath, searched the channels of the rivers for 
water, in vain; and the native dog, so thin that it 
could hardly walk, seemed to implore some merciful hand 
to despatch it. How the natives subsisted it was difficult 
to say, but there was no doubt of the scarcity of food 
among them. 
We arrived in camp at a late hour, and having nothing 
to detain us longer, prepared for our retreat in the morn- 
ing. The natives had remained with the party during the 
greater part of the day, and had only left them a short 
time prior to our arrival. 
When examining the creek on which we had been en- 
camped for some days, Mr. Hume observed a small junc- 
tion ; and as we knew we were almost due N. of the 
marshes of the Macquarie, both of us were anxious to 
I. 
VOL. T. 
