It had been very carefully wrapped in a great number of oppossum skins, the head bound round with the net usually worn by the natives, and also the girdle:  it appeared after being enclosed in those skins to have been placed in a larger net, and then deposited in the manner before mentioned.  The bones and head showed that they were the remains of a powerful tall man.  The hair on the head was perfect, being long and black; the under part of the body was not totally decayed, giving us reason to think that he could not have been interred above six or eight months.  Judging from his hair and teeth, he might have been between thirty and forty years of age:  to the west and north of the grave were two cypress-trees distant between fifty and sixty feet; the sides towards the tomb were barked, and curious characters deeply cut upon them, in a manner which, considering the tools they possess, must have been a work of great labour and time.  Having satisfied our curiosity, the whole was carefully re-interred, and restored as near as possible to the station in which it was found.  The river fell in the course of the day near two feet.

July 31.—­Again employed in the construction of our raft, which I hope will be completed sufficiently early to-morrow to allow us time to get every thing over, and encamp on the other side.  The river fell about two feet in the course of the day, and still continues to fall rapidly.  The dogs were very successful, killing three emus and a small kangaroo.

August 1.—­Still employed on the raft, which will be ready for use about one o’clock.  The river fell a foot during the night, but the trees that would have been useful to us are still under water.  The mean of the different observations made here gave the following results.

Mean lat. 33 deg. 04 min. 02 sec.  S.
Comp. long. 146 31 50 E.
Variation 7 23 00 E.

The series of triangles by which the longitude from our situation on the 17th of May has been computed, corresponds precisely with the bearings taken from this station to the principal objects forming their bases, and whose relative situation on the chart had been fixed on the 17th of May; it was extremely satisfactory to find in so extensive a survey that the angles should thus so completely verify our situation.

Our raft was finished and launched by one o’clock; its capability of carrying any burden we had to put upon it fully answered our expectations; but here its utility ended, the violence of the current caused by the high flood or the stream rendered all our labour abortive, as no exertions we were capable of making could enable us to get it across the stream.  We had stretched a line across the river by which to tow it over, but the men were not able to withstand the force of the current acting on the body of the raft; they let go their line and were carried about three quarters of a mile down, when they were brought up by some trees and got safe on shore, making the raft fast.  The flood had been slowly subsiding all day, giving us hopes that we should still be enabled to fell some trees for a bridge, which was now our only resource, as it was considered most advisable to use our utmost efforts to cross here rather than go farther up the stream.