neighbourhood.)

VIEW FROM LEADING HILL.

Anxious to trace further the course of the river, Captain Wickham and
myself ascended the top of a neighbouring hill before early dawn. The
view which presented itself when the day broke, was fraught with every
charm of novelty. A rapid stream passing between barren rocky heights,
here stealing along in calm silence, there eddying and boiling as it
swept past, lay at our feet. By a sudden bend two miles east of where we
stood, it was hid from our view; the ranges overlapping, however, still
pointed out the further course of the Victoria. The boat lay in the mouth
of a creek, which communicating with another four miles further down,
formed an island on the eastern side of the river, which we called
Entrance Isle.

The formation of this part was a sandstone of a reddish hue, and in a
state of decomposition. A wiry grass and the never-failing eucalyptus
were sparingly scattered over the face of the country, which round the
entrance had a most unpromising and dreary appearance, showing at a
glance its utterly sterile character.

EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER.

Taking a hasty breakfast, we pulled up the river; the tortuous nature of
the first reaches, changing their directions suddenly from north to
east-south-east with a depth of seventeen and twenty fathoms, produces
violent eddies and whirlpools. Passing these, a splendid sheet of water
lay before us, trending south-east by south, as far as the eye could
reach from the boat, and more than a mile wide. In the first part of this