again, but it was impossible for the teams to reach it without assistance.
I therefore sent M'Leay forward, with orders to unload the pack animals as
soon as he should make the river, and send them back to help the teams. He
had scarcely been separated from me 20 minutes, when one of the men came
galloping back to inform me that no river was to be found--that the
country beyond the wood was covered with reeds as far as the eye could
reach, and that Mr. M'Leay had sent him back for instructions. This
intelligence stunned me for a moment or two, and I am sure its effect upon
the men was very great. They had unexpectedly arrived at a part of the
interior similar to one they had held in dread, and conjured up a thousand
difficulties and privations. I desired the man to recall Mr. M'Leay; and,
after gaining the wood, moved outside of it at right angles to my former
course, and reached the river, after a day of severe toil and exposure,
at half-past five. The country, indeed, bore every resemblance to that
around the marshes of the Macquarie, but I was too weary to make any
further effort: indeed it was too late for me undertake anything until
the morning.

ANXIOUS COGITATIONS; SURVEY OF RIVER AND ENVIRONS.

The circumstances in which we were so unexpectedly placed, occupied my
mind so fully that I could not sleep; and I awaited the return of light
with the utmost anxiety. If we were indeed on the outskirts of marshes
similar to those I had on a former occasion found so much difficulty
in examining, I foresaw that in endeavouring to move round then I should
recede from water, and place the expedition in jeopardy, probably, without
gaining any determinate point, as it would be necessary for me to advance
slowly and with caution. Our provisions, however, being calculated to last
only to a certain period, I was equally reluctant to delay our operations.
My course was, therefore, to be regulated by the appearance of the country