APPENDIX NO. V. 
209 
elevation, from the summit of which I had a view of other 
high lands ; one to the S. W. being a very fine mountain. 
As I had not found any water excepting in two creeks, 
which I had left far behind me, and as I had got on a soil 
which appeared incapable of holding it, I made this this 
the termination of my journey, having exceeded 100 miles 
in distance from the camp, on my return to which I found 
Mr. Hume still absent. When he joined, he stated to me, 
that not making the Castlereagh as soon as he expected, 
he had bent down westerly for the Macquarie, and that he 
ended his journey at some gentle hills he had made ; so 
that it appeared we must either have crossed each other’s 
line of route, or that they were very near, and that want 
of length must alone have prevented them from cross- 
ing ; but as such an assumption led to the conclusion 
that the Macquarie no longer existed, I determined to 
pursue a middle course round the swamps, to ascertain 
the point ; as in case the river had ended, a westerly 
course was the one which my instructions directed me to 
pursue. 
In the immediate neighbourhood of the marshes we were 
obliged to sink wells for water, and it was thus early that 
we began to feel the want of a regular supply. 
Having made a creek about four miles from our position 
by cutting through the reeds where there was a narrow 
space, we pursued a westerly course over a plain, having 
every appearance of frequent inundation, and for four or 
five days held nearly the same direction ; in the course of 
which we crossed both our tracks on the excursions we 
had made, which had intersected each other in a dense oak 
brush ; thus renewing the few doubts, or rather the doubt 
VOL. I. 
P 
