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Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2 by Charles Sturt
page 103 of 237 (43%)
the fish in the western waters have smooth skins. On the other hand, the
waters of the new river were sweet, although turbid; it had a rapid
current in it; and its fish were of the ordinary kind. In the above
particulars, therefore, they differed much as they could well differ. Yet
there were some strong points of resemblance in the appearance of the
rivers themselves, which were more evident to me than I can hope to make
them to the reader. Both were shaded by trees of the same magnificent
dimensions; and the same kind of huts were erected on the banks of each,
inhabited by the same description, or race, of people, whose weapons,
whose implements, and whose nets corresponded in most respects.

We will now cast our eyes over the chart: and see if the position of the
two rivers upon it, will at all bear out our conclusion that they are one
and the same; and whether the line that would join them is the one that
the Darling would naturally take, in reference to its previous
course.--We shall find that the two points under discussion, bear almost
N.E. and S.W. of each other respectively, the direct line in which the
Darling had been ascertained to flow, as far as it had been found
practicable to trace it. I have already remarked that the fracture of my
barometer prevented my ascertaining the height of the bed of the Darling
above the sea, during the first expedition. A similar accident caused me
equal disappointment on the second; because one of the most important
points upon which I was engaged was to ascertain the dip of the interior.
I believe I stated, in its proper place, that I did not think the Darling
could possibly be 200 feet above the sea, and as far as my observations
bear me out, I should estimate the bed of the Murray, at its junction with
the new river, to be within 100. It would appear that there is a distance
of 300 miles between the Murray River at this place, and the Darling;
a space amply sufficient for the intervention of a hilly country. No one
could have been more attentive to the features of the interior than I was;
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