curity from casual failure was almost complete, and where the success was sure to increase the distinctions and rewards of the manly investigator. It had somewhat of the feeling which an heir might have in taking a view of his inheritance for the first time-all before him new, and all before him his

own. •

The convict's information had hitherto been "a mingled yarn," partly false, but partly so true, that the Major, with all his sagacity, at last began to think that the "Kindur" lay before him. After traversing some plains, of which the interior of Australia seems chiefly composed, they came, on the 9th January, to a fine lagoon of considerable extent, brimful of pure water, short grass growing on the brink, no reeds, and a sprinkling of water-lilies. All this was favourable. Here they filled their kegs and kettles. They next crossed some rising ground, on which they perceived, to their astonishment and exultation, dry tufts of grass, old logs, and other drift matter, left high in the branches of the trees. Of course, this showed that the ground was inundated from time to time, an inundation which could proceed from nothing less than a powerful stream. "I felt confident," says Major Mitchell, "that we were at length approaching something new, perhaps the large river-the Kindur-of the bush-ranger." On descending by a very gentle slope, a dark and dense line of gigantic blue gum-trees, growing amid long grass and reeds, encouraged their hopes that they had at length found "the big ri

ver."

A margin of rich soil, covered with long grass and scored with deep furrows, intervened. The Major galloped over this, and saw a broad silvery expanse shaded by steep banks and lofty trees. No current was perceptible in the water, but the breadth and depth far exceeded those of the Nammoy. Nevertheless, this was not the Kindur, but evidently the Gwydir, a river previously discovered, but in a higher part of its course. Yet it may easily be conceived that the discovery, though a disappointment was delightful. It was a new feature of the country to them, and, after so much privation, heat, and exposure, the living stream and umbrageous foliage gave them a grateful sense of abundance, coolness, and shade. Trees of great magnitude

give a grand character to any landscape, but especially to river scenery. The blue gun-tree luxuriates on the margin of rivers, and in such situations grows to an enormous size. Such trees overhung the waters of the Gwydir, forming dense masses of shape, in which, as Major Mitchell poetically "white cockatoos sported like observes,

spirits of light."

But

He now advanced across the river which, though, probably, in the rainy season a powerful stream, at this period was not above the ankle. Riding some miles northward over a plain, he found another chanel of a river. here he had an instance of the wilderness. As he approached a thicket he saw a kangaroo, which sat looking at him and his horse till they were near it; and as the Major was asking his servant whether they could carry it back if they shot it, the horse, suddenly pricking his ears, drew his eye to a native, apparently also speculating on the kangaroo, and with two spears on his

shoulder. On perceiving the Major, the savage changed the object of his attention, stared for a moment, then took a step back, and, swinging his right arm in the air, poised one of his spears, and stood in the attitude to throw. The Major has evidently the glance of a painter, for his sketches in these volumes are very able; but he, probably never was less delighted by the picturesque of the human form than at this instance. This Mars or Apollo of the desert was a tail figure, covered with pipe clay, which, if it did not make him, as it probably was meant to do, beautiful, yet made him piebald and conspicuous. "And his position of defiance," the Major observes, "as he had probably never seen a horse before, was manly enough." To have got out of his way would naturally be the first idea, unless the rifle could anticipate the spear. But the Major was a soldier, and little. according to our ideas, as any demand was made for the display of intrepi dity under the circumstances, he chose not to retire. But he was also anxious to avoid beginning a quarrel with the natives. He, therefore, took the bolder alternative of galloping up to the spearman's front. This charge was effectual. The sudden movement of the English centaur perplexed the savage. He turned on his heel, and went at a dog-trot into the woods.

The Major now felt that he might retreat with a safe conscience-found a convenient cover by which he could return, without showing his back to the enemy, and took up his position upon the river with all the honours of

war.

The party now turned from the northern course westward, and found a change of weather. It rained heavily, the Gwydir marked its winter course by deep and extensive hollows, and here they fell in with a speciinen of an Australian Arcadia. Crossing one of these hollows, they passed among the huts of a native tribe. They were tastefully distributed among drooping acacias and casuarina. Some resembled bowers under yellow fragrant mimosa; some were isolated un der deep shades, while others were placed more socially, three or four huts together, fronting to one and the same fire. Each was semi-circular or circular; most of them were close to the trunk of a tree; and they were covered, not, as in other parts, by sheets of bark, but with a variety of materials, such as reeds, grass, and boughs. The interior of each looked clean, and to them, passing in the rain, gave some idea, not only of shelter, but even of comfort and happiness. They afforded a favourable specimen of the taste of the women, whose business it usually is to construct the huts. The village of bowers also occupied more space than the encampment of native tribes in general. Choice shady spots seem to have been an object, and to have been chosen with care.

On the 14th January the Major had on his map the Nandawar range, with the courses of the Nammoy on one side and the Gwydir on the other. He was between the two rivers, and at no great distance from either; Mount Riddell, the nearest point of the range bore 20 S. of E., being distant fortytwo miles-the opposite bearing, or 20 deg. N. of W. might, therefore, be considered to express the common direction of these waters. In a country so liable to inundation as this between the rivers appeared to be, it was a primary object to travel along he highest or driest part, and that could only be in the above direction, or parallel to, or midway between the rivers, until he could thus trace out their junction, and so terminate thus far the survey of both, by the determi

nation of a point so important in geography.

Thus advancing, leading alternately the life of a forester, a hunter, and a man of science, the Major advanced to the conquest of his new empire at the head of his little army of a dozen convicts. The men seem all to have behaved remarkably well, and thus to give another illustration of the advantage of giving even the most unlucky in this generation something to do. This book ought to give the penitentiary system its death blow. Of course, blockheads, who call themselves philosophers, and tyrants, who would pass for philanthropists, will be still for chains, dungeons and the air on the swamps of the Thames; but common sense will decide for Austra lia.

66

The heat of the weather suddenly became once more intense; but the country was fine. It consisted of an open forest, which, gradually growing thinner, gave intervals of open plain. Still in search of water, they crossed to another plain, a beautiful one, covered with shining verdure, and ornamented with trees, which, though dropped in nature's careless haste," gave the whole the appearance of an immense park. This will be the hunting-ground of some future Australian potentate. But now a pond, covered with the greenest weeds, would have been a more attractive prospect. The cattle were sinking with intolerable heat, and all were enfeebled and worn down. On those occasions the most common things became important. When the sun had nearly set, a black swan, high in the air, attracted all eyes. He was slowly winging his way to the southwest, with many smaller birds following in his train. "The sight of an aquatic bird," as the Major pleasingly observes, "was refreshing to us then." But even this was regarded as a bad omen for the northern quarter, for, as the swan must then have been going home, it was to be presumed that the greater body of water lay in the di rection of his flight. Yet, if this might not be indicative of lakes, it evidently did not preclude the probability of rivers existing in the north, and rivers were the peculiar object.

They again advanced. "The irresistible attraction of a perfectly unknown region still led us northward."

But water-water, which seems in all cases of emergency to supersede the value of food, and to become the great essential of life-was not to be found. Still, though the prospect of finding it now seemed hopeless, it was resolved to try the result of as long a march as possible, with the intention of giving the little water remaining in their cask to the cattle, and then taking advantage of the night, and the cool of the next day, to return to the depotcamp. In the mean time this melancholy march became still more melancholy. The party, faint with heat and thirst, toiled after their indefatigable leader. The plains had evidently once been melted with moisture, for they bore numerous marks of human feet; but the soil was now baked like a brick floor. Water, too, had evidently once lodged in every hollow, and the prints of the kangaroo, when pursued by the natives, and impeded by the mud, were variously visible. After thus marching five miles, they reached an accacia wood. Still no water. The party halted, but the Major, determined on exploring to the last, rode on, and observing a slight hollow in front, and following it about a mile, he saw a few dry leaves in a heap, which he conjectured had been thus collected by water falling in that direction. This was not much, but the Major's sagacity had drawn the right conclusion. He now followed the slope downwards. His horse now had his share in the adventure. The animal, which on other occasions would neigh after the others, now pulled hard upon the bridle, and seemed determined to have his own way. His rider threw the bridle on his neck; he bounded forward over a rising ground in front, then through a wood; and then, says the Major, "My eyes were blest with the sight of some fine ponds of water once more, with banks of shining verdure, the whole extending in a line which resembled the bed of a considerable stream. I galloped back with the good news to the party, whose desperate thirst seemed to make them incredulous. It was still early, but we had already got over a good day's journey, and we could thus encamp and turn our cattle to browse on the luxuriant herbage which surrounded the ponds. They were wide, deep, and full, separated only by grassy intervals resembling bridges."

On the 23d, their course was crossed by a deep and rapid river, the largest they had yet seen, and containing fish in great abundance. After maturely considering the prospect this river opened, it remained questionable whether it did or did not belong to the Darling. They were nearly in the prolongation of the supposed course of that river, and still nearer to its supposed outlet on the southern coast than they were to any part of the northern coast of Australia. No rising ground could be seen to the northward or westward, and whether they proceeded in a boat, or along its banks, it was desirable to explore the course of this river downwards. After allowing the party some days' rest, the Major left the camp, on Feb. 2d, with six men and four pack-animals, carrying nine days provisions, and proceeded along the left of the newly-discovered river, the Karaula. Its course was found to be much more to the southward than had been expected; the stream separated into branches, and the channel was in many places crossed by large trees, reaching from bank to bank. After a journey of some twenty miles, the course of the river compelled them to travel still further southward, and seventeen miles more brought them into a plain, which they traversed in a south-west direction (the Major being nearly stung to death by a huge insect, Mahometanised by him Abispa Australiana), and, on emerging from a wood, beheld a magnificent sheet of water, extended in a north and south direction, like a noble river. Keeping its eastern banks, they traced it southwards to its termination, and there met another lagoon, which, turning round towards the east, threatened to stop their progress. At length arriving at the termination of the water they proceeded southward to look for the Gwydir-which they knew could not be far distant-and soon found it, so much reduced in size, that it could not contribute much to that they were tracing, and in search of which they now turned westward. On this course the windings of the Gwydir often came in their way, so that they turned to north 25° east, in which direction, says the Major, "I at length reachthe large river which had been the object of our excursion. Here it was

indeed a noble piece of water and, I regretted much that this had not been our first view of it, that we might have realised, at least for a day or two, all that we had imagined ofthe Kindur.' I now overlooked from a bank, seventy feet high, a river as broad as the Thames at Putney, on which the goodly waves, perfectly free from fallen timber, danced in full liberty." But, alas! on tracing it downwards, anxious to discover that this breadth and magnitude continued, the Major had the mortification to see the Karaula re-assume its former comparative insignificance. A little way below a fall the meandering Gwydir terminated in it, nor could he perceive any difference in the appearance of the channel below that junction. Thus terminated the excursion to explore the Karaula-and there seemed no necessity for extending it further, for it could not, in the Major's opinion, be supposed other than the Darling. The junction of the Nammoy could not be far distant; even that of the Castlereagh was only about 70 miles to the south-west-the direction of the supposed general course of the Darling-and, therefore, it was probable that he had now explored the chief sources of that river, by supplying a connecting link between it, as seen below, and those rivers which had been crossed by Mr. Cunningham near the coast range above. It now only remained for him to return to his party, and to cross the river there, in order to ascertain the nature of the country forming the northern or north-western side of this extensive basin.

did, under the shade of a tree. At 1-ngth they ventured to walk about the tents, and they then insisted on presenting their clubs and wamineras to our men. None of the names which we had written down from Barber's statements seemed at all familiar to their ears; but showed that th ir language was nearly Mr White obtained a vocabulary, which the same as that o the aborigines at Waliamoul; the only difference being the addition of na to each noun, a、 *namil' for mil,' the eye, &c. They were much disposed to steal. Mr White ob served one to purloin a tea-cup from his canteen, and conceal it very cleverly in his kangaroo cloak. Another, notwithstanding the vigilance of our men, had nearly got off with the carpenter's axe. The looked rather foolish when Mr. fron the cloak. The number of our White managed to shake his tea-cup party seemed an object of their attention and they explained, by pointing in the direction in which I had gone, and bolding up even fingers, our number, that we had no goue down the river onob served by them. They did not appear to be acquainted with the use of bread; but they well understood the purpose of the boat; and when callidé (the sea) was pronounced to them, they pointed in the direction of Moreton Bay, repeating They immediately recognised Whiting very f equently the word Wabingall. the top-sawyer at the pit, as was cbvious by their imitating, as soon as he appeared, the motion of sawing, and pointing at the same time to him. They seemed rather struck with the thickness of his wrists: and, indeed, took some interest in comparing their limbs with those of the party. One man had hair and features very different from those of his companions, the hair being partA sailor of our party thought he resem ed on the forehead, long, and not curled. bled a Malay. On the discharge of a fied, and soon after retired, making double barrel, they seemed much terrisigns that they should return, and by gestures, inviting some of the men to Cross the river with them. Two tomahawks were presented to them, and one of their number was dressed out with old clothes. Their name for the river was understood to be 'Karaula.' This interview took place on the day previous to my return to the camp."

But now all the Major's ardent hopes exploring the country beyond the Karaula were blasted by the arrival of his friend, Mr. Finch, who had been following the route of the expedition with stores.