186 
Captain Sturt’s Expedition into the 
bones now rest under a large mound of earth that was pointed 
out to me by several of the natives,' who were made orphans by 
that severe chastisement, but who do not seem to cherish any 
feelings of revenge towards the people who had made them 
fatherless. From this point, to the regret of all the party, Mr. 
Eyre returned to Moorundee. I parted with him with increased 
regret, not only as a friend for whom I had the sincerest esteem, 
but under a deep sense of all we owed to him for his disinterested 
exertions, and the generous liberality with which lie supplied us 
out of his own stores, with everything that he thought would be 
useful to us. 1 was detained in the neighbourhood of the Lake 
for some days, awaiting the return of Mr. Browne from a journey 
on which I had sent him with my stockman, Flood, and a native, 
Putcanti, the same who was wounded and captured at the affair 
on the Rufus, and who, handcuffed as he was, threw himself from 
the cliffs at the Great Bend into the river in attempting to make 
his escape: a bold deed, that none but a savage would have 
ventured to do. The subsequent kind treatment he received had 
reconciled him to those whom he once regarded as his enemies, 
and he now acted as guide to Mr. Browne, who I despatched to 
the eastward to examine the Ana-branch of the Darling, and to 
ascertain how far the back waters of the Murray extended up it. 
During Mr. Browne’s absence we had heavy rain for two days. 
He returned on the 18th; but we did not leave Lake Victoria 
until the 15tli, when we resumed our journey ; and on the 18th, 
turned from the Murray northwards ; the junction of the Ana¬ 
branch, or ancient channel, of the Darling with that River, being 
in lat. 34° 4' 30" S., and in long. 141° 53' E. We had found, 
as I had anticipated, an abundance of grass on the flats of the 
Murray, although we had to keep wide of the stream, in conse¬ 
quence of the flooded state of the lagoons. We crossed the 
Ana-branch fifteen miles above its junction with the Murray, 
and then passing an east course traversed barren sandy plains, 
separated by long lines of low and dreary scrub, chiefly composed 
of cypress, eucalyptus dumosa, and fusani. As the sun was 
setting we arrived at the Darling. His level beam illuminated 
the flats, which, covered with young grass and reeds, had the 
