November 6.

It being evidently impracticable to proceed higher up in the boats; a
small party of us landed at daylight, in order to ascend a neighbouring
height, and thence to trace as far as possible the upward course of the
river, preparatory to a pedestrian excursion along its banks. Before
sunrise we reached the summit of a narrow ridge, trending East-South-East
1/2 a mile east, from where the boats were lying: in this singular ridge
I again noticed the dip to the south-east: it was composed of a variety
of rocks, jasper, a greyish kind of flinty indifferent limestone, and
greywacke.

SINGULAR APPEARANCE OF THE RIVER.

The view from it was very limited, the valley of the river turning short
to the northward, two miles east by south of our position, to which we
gave the name of Station Hill. Before I had finished my round of angles,
the heat had become so great that some of our party were compelled to
return to the boats, whilst myself, with two of the men, pushed on for
nearly two miles in an easterly direction, along the foot of some
table-topped hills, and were then gratified with another peep at the
river, which had a very singular appearance, in some places nearly dry,
discovering a wide bed of large pebbles: long narrow islands, whose shape
attested the former rapidity of the currents, covered with reeds and
acacias, and deep pools of standing water, were its most characteristic
features. Several kangaroos, alarmed by our approach, hastily quitted
their cool hidingplaces, presenting beautiful shots; but as the traces of
natives were both recent and numerous, we thought it most prudent to
reserve our fire, and shortly after, upon finding a native fire still
alight, to keep the open ground as much as possible. We travelled for a