“I left Lake Victoria, as I told you in a former letter, on the 18th of September, and again cut across the country to the Murray.  As we travelled along we saw numerous tracks of wild cattle leading from the marshes to the river, and we encamped at the junction of the river and a lagoon (one of the most beautiful spots you ever saw), just where these tracks were most numerous.  In the night therefore we were surrounded by lowing herds, coming to the green pastures of which we had taken possession.  In the morning I sent Messrs. Poole and Brown, with Flood my stockman, and Mark to drive in some bullocks, as I was anxious to secure one or two workers.  The brush however was too thick, and in galloping through it after a bull, Flood’s carbine exploded, and blew off three of the fingers of his right hand.  This accident obliged me to remain stationary for two days, notwithstanding my anxiety to get up to the lagoon at Williorara, to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the report I had heard of the massacre of a party of overlanders there.

“On the 23rd I reached the junction of the Ana branch with the Murray, discovered by Eyre, and then turned northwards.  Running this Ana branch up, I crossed it where the water ceased, and went to the Darling, striking it about fifteen miles above its junction with the Murray.  The unlooked-for course of the Darling however kept me longer on its banks than I had anticipated; but you can form no idea of the luxuriant verdure of its flats.  They far surpass those of the Murray, both in quantity and quality of soil; and extended for many miles at a stretch along the river side.  We have run up it at a very favourable season, and seen the commencement of its floods; for, two days after we reached it, and found it with scarcely any water in its bed, we observed a fresh in it, indicated by a stronger current.  The next morning to our surprise the waters were half-bank high.  They had risen six feet during the night, and were carrying everything before them; now they are full sixteen feet above their level, and a most beautiful river it is.  Over this said mysterious river, as Major Mitchell calls it, the trees drooped like willows, or grew in dark clusters at each turn; the sloping banks were of a vivid green, the flats lightly timbered, and the aspect of the whole neighbourhood cheerful.

“I had hoped that we should have been able to approach the ranges pretty closely along the line of Laidley’s Ponds; but fancy our disappointment when we arrived on its banks to find that instead of a mountain stream it was a paltry creek, connecting a lake, now dry, with the river, and that its banks were quite bare.  I was therefore obliged to fall back upon the Darling, and have been unable to stir for the last four days by reason of heavy rain.

“On Tuesday I despatched Mr. Poole to the ranges, which are forty miles distant from us, to ascertain if there is water or feed under them; but I have no hope of good tidings, and believe I shall ultimately be obliged to establish myself on the Darling.