would take, since it would prove whether the little old man had played us
false or not. From the cliffs under which we had slept, it held a direct
N.W. course for two or three miles. It then turned suddenly to the S.E.,
and gradually came round to E.N.E., so that after two hours pulling, we
found ourselves just opposite to the spot from which we had started, the
neck of land that separated the channels not being more than 200 yards
across. I have before noticed a bend similar to this, which the Murray
makes, a little above the junction of the supposed Darling with it.

CHART OF THE RIVER.

It may appear strange to some of my readers, that I should have laid down
the windings of the river so minutely. It may therefore be necessary for
me to state that every bend of it was laid down by compass, and that the
bearings of the angles as they opened were regularly marked by me, so that
not a single winding or curve of the Murray is omitted in the large chart.
The length of some of the reaches may be erroneous, but their direction is
strictly correct. I always had a sheet of paper and the compass before me,
and not only marked down the river line, but also the description of
country nearest; its most minute changes, its cliffs, its flats, the kind
of country back from it, its lagoons, the places at which the tribes
assembled, its junctions, tributaries and creeks, together with our
several positions, were all regularly noted, so that on our return up the
river we had no difficulty in ascertaining upon what part of it we were,
by a reference to the chart; and it proved of infinite service to us,
since we were enabled to judge of our distance from our several camps, as
we gained them day by day with the current against us; and we should often
have stopped short of them, weary and exhausted, had we not known that two
or three reaches more would terminate our labour for the day.