our desire for water. It was a beautiful night, and even the dew was wanting, which had been such a hindrance to drying our meat during the previous nights. During my watch, I seated myself on one of the prominences of the steep banks, and watched the loud splashings of numerous large fish which momentarily disturbed the tranquillity of the mirror-like surface of the water. Brown had found a bar across the river, and, on examination it proved perfectly dry during low water, and allowed us to cross, after having brought our bullocks and horses down the steep banks, which, however, was not effected without great difficulty. We had most fortunately hit the very spot where such a crossing was possible. Brown saw a great number of fine fish in the river, which he called "Taylors." The natives had been here frequently: the grass had been recently burnt, and fish bones indicated this as one of their habitual camping places. We could not, however, discover where they quenched their thirst. I sent Charley forward in a north-west direction to look for water. When we came out into the plains which stretched along both sides of the river as far as the eye could reach, we saw smoke very near us on the right. I went towards it, until I found that it rose on the opposite side of the river we had just crossed; Brown, however, detected a pool of slightly brackish water in a deep creek at a short distance from its junction with the river. It was too boggy for our cattle to approach, but it allowed us to quench our own thirst. We now re-entered the plains, and followed the track of Charley, who soon returned with the pleasing intelligence that he had found some fine water-holes. These were in the bed of a creek, surrounded by a band of forest composed of box, raspberry-jam trees, and the broad-leaved Terminalia, the fruit of which was eaten by the black cockatoo. The slopes of the water-holes were steep and boggy, and one of our bullocks was so exhausted that he slipped on the steep banks, rolled into the water, and got so severely bogged, that we were compelled to kill him, after trying everything in our power to extricate him. On the 12th August we cut him up. The night, however, was very foggy with heavy dew, which prevented the meat from drying. The miserably exhausted state of the animal had rendered the meat very flabby and moist, and it not only dried badly, but was liable to taint and to get fly-blown. August 13.--We had a fine sea-breeze from the northward, which dried the outside of the meat well enough, but not the inside, so that it became in many parts so putrid that I had to throw them away, although we saved a good deal by splitting the puffed pieces, and exposing the inside to the air.