more dead than alive. Wilson alone had kept heart, and managed to sustain
the flagging spirits of his companions sufficiently to enable them to
stagger in to the settlement.

Their report of the surroundings of the colony contained little more than
what was already known or guessed at. They described the country passed
over as alternating between barren, rocky ridges and spacious meadows.
Running creeks had been crossed, and they turned back on the bank of a
river which they described as being as large as the Hawkesbury, with
level country in view on the opposite side.

They had seen but few natives, and those they saw were clothed in skins
from head to foot. Amongst other novelties they had noticed the blue-gum
trees, the mountain wallaroo, which had drawn their attention from being
larger and fatter than those formerly familiar to them, a kind of
pheasant, as they described it, now known as the lyre-bird, a specimen of
which the brought back with them, and a kind of mole, the modern wombat,
one of which formed their last meal before reaching the settlement. These
accounts corroborated the former reports made by Wilson. This expedition
was, however, of not much service from a geographical point of view, from
the unreliability of the course kept.

The party also reported coming across a hill of salt, and in the month of
March, Henry Hacking was sent out to inspect it. He was accompanied by
Wilson and another man, who were supplied with provisions and directed to
penetrate as far into the country as their supplies would permit. Hacking
found that several veins of salt existed, and the two men stated that
they had succeeded in getting 140 miles S.W. by W. from Prospect Hill.
During their journey they had travelled over many varieties of country,
crossing a number of narrow creeks and rivers with which the land was