168 
Sir T. Mitchell's Expedition into the 
miles higher (at the station of Mr. Parnell, jun.) there was a 
good ford across the River Darling (or Barwan, the aboriginal 
name, there in general use). I accordingly crossed the river at 
Mr. Parnell’s station, and the superintendent sent with us two 
aboriginal natives, who guided us in a very straight direction, 
and over a fine open country, to the Narran Swamp, which we 
reached at twenty-six miles from the Darling. These guides 
would have gone further, had not the intense heat, the extreme 
weakness of our cattle, and the passage of the swamp occasioned 
delay. I there, however, received a despatch from Commissioner 
Mitchell, enclosing a map, and affording me much useful infor¬ 
mation respecting the rivers in the country before us. The 
Narran River terminates in the swamp; and in tracing that river 
upwards, or northward, we found it full of water, and increasing 
in size and importance as we ascended, until we came upon the 
Balonne, in long. 148° 25' E., lat. 28° 35' 38' S. Along the 
banks of the Narran, the grass is of the very best description. 
Panicum Icevinode, and Anlhistirium Australis (barley grass and 
kangaroo grass of the colonists) growing on plains or in open 
forests, very available, in every respect, for cattle stations. But 
the seeds of the Panicum Icevinode constitute the chief food of 
the natives, who bruise these seeds between stones and bake the 
dough into cakes. As I advanced, these natives fell back on the 
main river, where the assembled body received our party very 
kindly. 
The banks of the Balonne Minor seem to-be thickly peopled. 
The head of the tribe met us seven miles from it, and afforded me 
much assistance in finding a way for our carts amongst the 
numerous lagoons. Others guided us across to the Culgba, 
which river we also crossed in long. 148° 21' 25' E., lat. 28° 
31' 19' S. From that point I travelled to the Balonne, with the 
intention of proceeding northward along its right bank. That 
great river is there at its maximum, and is only inferior to the 
Murray in breadth and depth. Lower down it separates into 
various channels,—the first branch being the Culgoa, falling into 
the Darling about thirty miles above Fort Bourke,—the remainder, 
or Minor Balonne, again spreads its waters into the Narran, the 
