S. may
therefore be considered as falling under the above designation and
description of country.
The plains south of the river, and lying from Goulburn's to Macquarie's
Range, were named Strangford Plains; and a remarkable peak south of
Barrow's Hill, Dryander's Head.
We resolved to try if our old friends, the fish, still continued in the
streams; in the course of a short time five fine ones were caught: this
most seasonable refreshment had an excellent effect in raising our
hitherto depressed spirits; and eternal Hope again visited us in the
form of extensive lakes and a better country; and even when her
companion Fear obtruded herself on our minds, the certainty of plenty of
water, and the chance of a fresh meal, dispelled every remaining
anxiety.
It was a matter of considerable curiosity and interest to us, in what
direction the Macquarie River had run; it was clear that it had not
joined the present stream, for in that case it would have been much more
considerable: we were within three or four miles of the latitude of
Bathurst, and it was scarcely probable that it should continue for so
long a course to run parallel to the Lachlan. The whole form, character,
and composition of this part of the country is so extremely singular,
that a conjecture on the subject is hardly hazarded before it is
overturned; every thing seems to run counter to the ordinary course of
nature in other countries.
June 24. - The water is about three feet above the common level, and
although the banks on both sides are certainly occasionally overflowed,
there is no appearance of any fresh or flood having swollen the stream
for a considerable time.
At nine o'clock we set forward down the river; our course lay westerly,
and by three o'clock we had gone nearly twelve miles in that direction;
when we stopped for the night on the banks of the river near the
termination of Macquarie's Range, the north point of which I named Mount
Porteous.
Strangford's Plains lay along our course the whole way; the river being
hidden from our view by a thick border of trees. We observed several
hollows and gulleys, which being connected with the river in times of
flood, receive their waters from it; they were now dry; but the
singularity consisted in the water being conveyed by them over the low
lands instead of their being the channels by which the waters in rainy
seasons might be drained off to the river. During our whole journey, we
have never discovered in what manner any additional supply of water
could be conveyed to it, as the back lands (with the exception of the
ranges) were always lower than the immediate banks of the river itself;
where we stopped, it was about thirty feet wide, and nearly choked up
with fallen trees.
