would permit, the beautiful country between the lake and the ranges; and
it was with heartfelt sorrow that I yielded to necessity. My men were,
indeed, very weak from poverty of diet and from great bodily fatigue.
Hopkinson, Mulholland, and Macnamee were miserably reduced.

It will be borne in mind that our difficulties were just about to
commence, when those of most other travellers have ceased; and that
instead of being assisted by the stream whose course we had followed, we
had now to contend against the united waters of the eastern ranges, with
diminished strength, and in some measure with disappointed feelings.

Under the most favourable circumstances, it was improbable that the men
would be enabled to pull for many days longer in succession since they
had not rested upon their oars for a single day, if I except our passage
across the lake, from the moment when we started from the depot; nor was
it possible for me to buoy them up with the hope even of a momentary
cessation of labour. We had calculated the time to which our supply of
provisions would last under the most favourable circumstances, and it
was only in the event of our pulling up against the current, day after
day, the same distance we had compassed with the current in our favour,
that we could hope they would last as long as we continued in the
Murray. But in the event of floods or any unforeseen delay, it was
impossible to calculate at what moment we might be driven to extremity.

On the other hand, it was sufficiently evident to me that the men were
too much exhausted to perform the task that was before them without
assistance, and that it would be necessary both for M'Leay and myself to
take our share of labour at the oars. The cheerfulness and satisfaction
that my young friend evinced at the opportunity that was thus afforded
him of making himself useful, and of relieving those under him from some