on the river. Our present situation is by no means enviable: in the
first place, there is every chance that the river may be lost in a
multitude of branches, among those marshy flats, and farther navigation
thus rendered impossible; and in the second, a rise of four feet in the
river would sweep us all away, since we have not the smallest eminence
to retreat to. Should the river lead through to the westward, and be
afterwards joined by the branches we have passed, it may become
something more interesting and encouraging: a wet or even a partially
rainy season will, in my judgment, preclude us from returning by our
present route, more especially if these low countries continue for any
distance.

I am by no means surprised at the paucity of natives that have been
seen: it would be quite impossible in wet seasons to inhabit these
marshes, and equally so for them to retreat in times of flood. Their
fires are universally observed near the higher grounds, and no traces of
any thing like a permanent camp has hitherto been seen; but in many
places
on the banks quantities of pearl muscle-shells were found near the
remains
of fires. That large species of bittern, known on the east-coast by the
local name of Native Companions, I believe from the circumstance of their
being always seen in pairs, was observed, on the flats, of very large
size, exceeding six feet in height: they were so shy that we were unable
to shoot any.

May 12.--The fine weather still continues to favour us. The river rose
in the course of the night upwards of a foot. It is a probable
supposition that the natives, warned by experience of these dangerous
flats, rather choose to seek a more precarious, but more safe