The country we have passed through this day afforded some of the most beautiful specimens of acacia which we had yet seen, at the same time that they were quite new in the species.  The soil however was still of the same description, red and sandy, but for the last five or six miles more firm and compact; many of the plants were recognized as having been originally seen in the neighbourhood of the Macquarie River, and not since:  this, with the more generally open appearance of the country, gave us hopes that in a few days we should be fortunate enough to fall in with that stream, which would free us from any farther apprehensions of suffering from want of water; for in that event it is my intention to keep in its immediate vicinity until our arrival at Bathurst.  Our course made good was N. 71.  E., distance thirteen miles and a quarter.

August 8.—­Made the usual observations to ascertain our situation, the result of which placed us in lat. 32. 47. 58.  S., long. 147. 23.  E., and the variation of the needle 5. 20.  E. The valley in which we encamped is enclosed by forest hills on all sides but the east, affording us plenty of water from what is, even at this dry season, a perceptible stream.  The grass however was quite killed by the frost, and, although abundant, did not afford such nourishment to the horses as their condition required, insomuch that if we fall in with a part of the country that has been burnt in the course of to-morrow’s route, I shall give them a day’s rest.

Kangaroos of a very large size abound in every direction around us:  our dogs killed one weighing seventy or eighty pounds, which proved a great and refreshing acquisition to us.

To the valley I gave the name of Emmeline’s Valley, and the hill from which we corrected our survey with Mount Melville and Mount Cunningham, Macnamara’s Hill.  The day was clear and mild, and in the course of it some new and fine plants were procured.

August 9.—­The morning fine and pleasant.  At half past eight we left the valley, intending still to keep our course north of east, as the most likely point on which to make the Macquarie River, from which, judging by the botanical productions of that stream, we cannot be very far.

For three or four miles the country was tolerably open and good, being clothed with luxuriant broom-grass.  The cypress trees of good dimensions; but no signs of water.  For the remainder of our day’s journey, we passed over tracts of low barren ridges covered with brush, and iron bark trees, and open valleys; the country was of moderate elevation, but still we were not so fortunate as to find any water, although every slope was searched.  After having travelled fourteen miles, during the latter part of which it rained hard, I thought it most advisable to stop, as we had just passed through a thick brush into a more open country, which would afford the horses something to eat; the rain, which still continued, relieving us from apprehension of their suffering much from want of water.  As to ourselves, we had taken our now usual precaution to fill our keg, which gave us a pint each for our evening consumption, and the same quantity for breakfast the next morning.