I have stated, that I felt satisfied in my own mind, that the beautiful
stream we had passed was no other than the river Darling of my former
journey. The bare assertion, however, is not sufficient to satisfy the
mind of the reader, upon a point of such importance, more especially when
it is considered how remarkable a change the Darling must have undergone,
if this were indeed a continuation of it. I am free to confess that it
required an effort to convince myself, but after due consideration, I see
no reason to alter the opinion I formed at a moment of peculiar
embarrassment. Yet it by no means follows that I shall convince others,
although I am myself convinced. The question is one of curious
speculation, and the consideration of it will lead us to an interesting
conjecture, as to the probable nature of the distant interior, between the
two points. It will be remembered that I was obliged to relinquish my
pursuit of the Darling, in east long. 144 degrees 48 minutes 30 seconds
in lat. 30 degrees 17 minutes 30 seconds south. I place the junction of
the Murray and the new river, in long. 140 degrees 56 minutes east, and in
south lat. 34 degrees 3 minutes. I must remark, however, that the lunars I
took on this last occasion, were not satisfactory, and that there is,
probably, an error, though not a material one, in the calculation. Before
I measure the distance between the above points, or make any remarks on
the results of my own observations, I would impress the following facts
upon the reader's mind.

I found and left the Darling in a complete state of exhaustion. As a river
it had ceased to flow; the only supply it received was from brine
springs, which, without imparting a current, rendered its waters saline
and useless, and lastly, the fish in it were different from those
inhabiting the other known rivers of the interior. It is true, I did not
procure a perfect specimen of one, but we satisfactorily ascertained that
they were different, inasmuch as they had large and strong scales, whereas