endeavoured to make him cooey to them, or call them, but they made off,
setting fire to the grass. Any information from natives of these parts
might have been very useful to us then, and I hoped they would at length
come to us. Thermometer, at sunrise, 26°; at 4 P. M., 67°; at 9, P. M.,
48°;--with wet bulb, 46°.

2D MAY.--There was a decided difference between the river we were now
upon, as well as the country along its banks, and the large river by
which we had travelled so far. This was undoubtedly but a small
tributary, as its direction seen this day showed, being from the
westward, while its waters, meandering in various narrow channels amongst
plains, reminded us of some of the finest parts of the south. Which was
the principal channel, and which to cross, which to travel by, was rather
difficult to determine. The country was very fine. These water courses
lay between finely rounded grassy slopes, with a few trees about the
water's edge, marking their various courses at a distance. A considerable
breadth of open grassy plain, intervened between this river and the woods
back from it. At length, sloping stony bergs came near the river's bed,
but there the smooth naked water-worn clay was the best ground we could
have for wheels, and we thus hugged each bend of the river, passing close
to the channel. I hoped thus to find plains on the next change of the
river's course. And so it turned out for some way, but the receding bergs
guided me, even when only seen at a considerable distance, in shaping my
course. Keeping my eye on their yellow slopes, I travelled far along a
grassy flat which brought me to a lake containing water like chrystal,
and fringed with white lotus flowers. Its western shore consisted of
shelving rock. An immense number of ducks floated on its eastern
extremity. From this lake, following a grassy flat to the N. W., we at
length reached the river, or rather its bed, seared into numerous
channels. The lake, and long flat connected with it, appeared to me more