themselves, and followed us for a short distance, but hid themselves upon
our landing. The country still appeared undulated to the S.E.; the soil
was sandy, and cypresses more abundant than any other tree. We passed
several extensive sand-banks in the river, of unusual size and solidity,
an evident proof of the sandy nature of the interior generally. The vast
accumulations of sand at the junctions of every creek were particularly
remarkable. The timber on the alluvial flats was not by any means so large
as we had hitherto observed it; nor were the flats themselves so extensive
as they are on the Morumbidgee and the Macquarie. Notwithstanding the
aspect of the country which I have described, no POSITIVE change had as
yet taken place in the general feature of the interior. The river
continued to flow in a direction somewhat to the northward of west,
through a country that underwent no perceptible alteration. Its waters,
confined to their immediate bed, swept along considerably below the level
of its inner banks; and the spaces between them and the outer ones, though
generally covered with reeds, seemed not recently to have been flooded;
while on the other hand, they had, in many places, from successive
depositions, risen to a height far above the reach of inundation. Still,
however, the more remote interior maintained its sandy and sterile
character, and stretched away, in alternate plain and wood, to a distance
far beyond the limits of our examination.

About the 21st, a very evident change took place in it. The banks of the
river suddenly acquired a perpendicular and water-worn appearance. Their
summits were perfectly level, and no longer confined by a secondary
embankment, but preserved an uniform equality of surface back from the
stream. These banks, although so abrupt, were not so high as the upper
levels, or secondary embankments. They indicated a deep alluvial deposit,
and yet, being high above the reach of any ordinary flood, were covered
with grass, under an open box forest, into which a moderately dense scrub