Of the country over which we have passed, it is impossible for me to have formed a correct opinion under its present melancholy circumstances.  It has borne the appearance of barrenness, where in even moderate rain, it might have shown very differently, though no doubt we passed over much of both good and bad land; our animals on the whole, have thrived on the food they have had, which would argue favourably for the herbage.  Generally speaking, I fear the timber is bad—­the rough-gum may be used for knees, and such purposes, and we may have seen wood for the wheelwright and cabinet-maker, specimens of which I have procured, but none for general or household purposes.

The creeks we have traced are different in character from those in the settled districts, inasmuch as that, like the river, they have a belt of barren land near then and but little grass—­they have all of them been numerously frequented by the natives, as appeared from the number of muscle-shells on their banks, but now having scarcely any water in them, the fish having either been taken, or are dead, and the tribes gone elsewhere for food, while the badness of the river water has introduced a cutaneous disease among the natives of that district, which is fast carrying them off.  Our intercourse with these people was incessant from the time we first met them, and on all occasions they behaved remarkably well, nor could we have seen less than than two hundred and fifty of them.

Our return is to be attributable to the want of water alone, and it is impossible for me to describe the effects of the drought on animal as well as vegetable nature.  The natives are wandering in the desert, and it is melancholy to reflect on the necessity which obliges them to drink the stinking and loathsome water they do—­birds sit gasping in the trees and are quite thin—­the wild dog prowls about in the day-time unable to avoid us, and is as lean as he can be in a living state, while minor vegetation is dead, and the very trees are drooping.  I have noticed all these things in my Journal I shall have the honour of submitting through you, for the Governor’s perusal and information, on my return.  Finally, I fear our expedition will not pave the way to any ultimate benefit; although it has been the means by which two very doubtful questions,—­the course of the Macquarie, and the nature of the interior, have been solved; for it is beyond doubt, that the interior for 250 miles beyond its former known limits to the W.N.W., so far from being a shoal sea, has been ascertained not only to have considerable elevations upon it, but is in itself a table land to all intents and purposes, and has scarcely water on its surface to support its inhabitants.