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CHAPTER V. 
General remarks — Result of tlie expedition — Previous anticipa- 
tions— Mr. Oxley’s remarks — Character of the Rivers flowing 
^ggterly Mr. Cunningham’s remarks — Fall of the Macquarie — 
Mr. Oxley’s erroneous conclusions respecting the character of the 
interior, naturally inferred from the state in which he found the 
country — The marsh of the Macquarie merely a marsh of the 
ordinary character— Captain King’s observations— Course of the 
Darling— Character of the low interior plain — The convict 
Barber’s report of rivers traversing the interior — Surveyor General 
Mitchell’s Report of his recent expedition. 
Whether the discoveries that have been made during this 
expedition, will ultimately prove of advantage to the colony 
of New South Wales, is a question that time alone can 
answer. We have in the meanwhile to regret that no bene- 
ficial consequences will immediately follow them. The fur- 
ther knowledge that has been gained of the interior is but 
as a gleam of sunshine over an extensive landscape. A 
stronger light has fallen upon the nearer ground, but the 
distant horizon is still enveloped in clouds. The veil has only 
as it were been withdrawn from the marshes of the Mac- 
quarie, to be spread over the channel of the Darling. Un- 
