On The 2nd Of July I Proceeded In The Boat Down The River, And In The Course Of The Day Went Near Thirty Miles In A North-North-West Course, For Ten Of Which There Had Been, Strictly Speaking, No Land, As The Flood Made The Surrounding Country A Perfect Sea:

The banks of the river were heavily timbered, and many large spaces within our view, covered with the common reed, were also encircled by large trees.

On the third, the main channel of the river was much contracted but very deep, the banks being under water from a foot to eighteen inches; the stream continued for about twenty miles on the same course as yesterday, when we lost sight of land and trees, the channel of the river winding through reeds, among which the water was about three feet deep, the current having the same direction as the river. It continued in this manner for near four miles more, when, without any previous change in the breadth, depth, and rapidity of the stream, and when I was sanguine in my expectations of soon entering the long-sought-for lake, it all at once eluded our farther pursuit, by spreading at all points from north-west to north-east over the plain of reeds which surrounded us; the river decreasing in depth from upwards of twenty feet to less than five feet, and flowing over a bottom of tenacious blue mud; and the current still running with nearly the same rapidity, as when the water was confined within the banks of the river.

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