more obstruction than might have been expected, two men, Thomas Thatcher
and John Hall, were sent back to Bathurst with a report to Governor
Macquarie, as had been previously arranged.

No sooner had the two parties separated, one with high hopes of their
future success, the others bearing back tidings of these confident hopes,
than doubt and distrust entered the mind of the leader. In his journal,
written not twenty-four hours after the departure of his messengers, he
says:--


"For four or five miles there was no material change in the general
appearance of the country from what it had been on the preceding days,
but for the fast six miles the land was very considerably lower,
interspersed with plains clear of timber, and dry. On the banks it was
still lower, and in many parts it was evident that the river floods swept
over them, though this did not appear to be universally the case. . . .
These unfavourable appearances threw a damp upon our hopes, and we
feared that our anticipations had been too sanguine."


In his after report to the Governor, forwarded by Mr. Evans to Newcastle,
he writes:--


"My letter, dated the 22nd June last, will have made your Excellency
acquainted with the sanguine hopes I entertained from the appearance of
the river, that its termination would be either in interior waters or
coastwise. When I wrote that letter to your Excellency, I certainly did
not anticipate the possibility that a very few days farther travelling