We had at length been able to turn westward, keeping the river trees in view when, the rain continuing, we began to experience the effects of moisture on the felloes of the wheels. The heat and contraction had lately obliged us to tighten and wedge them to such a degree that now, when the ground had become wet, the expansion of the whole broke the tirering of the wheel. Having no forge we could only attempt the necessary repairs with a common fire, and for this purpose I left three men with Mr. White; and I resumed the journey with the rest of the party. The rain continuing, the soft ground so clogged the wheels that the draught was very distressing to the bullocks. We pursued a westerly direction for five miles over ground thinly wooded, with patches of open plain. Changing our course to 60 degrees west of north, we traversed a very extensive tract of clear ground until, after crossing four miles and a half of it, we reached a bend of the river, and at three P.M. encamped on an open spot a quarter of a mile from it. At five o'clock the other cart came up, having been substantially repaired, by taking off the ring, shortening the felloes, closing them on the spokes, and then replacing the ring again by drilling two holes through it.
January 11.
Pursuing a westerly course I found the river on my right at five miles. At a mile further it crossed my intended line of route, and obliged me to turn south-south-west, in which direction we intercepted the junction of the dry river, named Kareen, which we crossed on the 8th instant. The bed above the junction was narrow but deep, and the permanent character of its banks gave to this channel the appearance of a considerable tributary, which it probably may be at some seasons, although then dry. In a section of the bank near the junction, I observed a bed of calcareous tuff. The passage of this channel was easiest for the carts at the spot where it joined that of the Gwydir. We travelled, after crossing, along the north-western skirts of extensive open plains, and thus reached, at five miles further, another line of trees, enclosing a chain of ponds, on which we encamped, after a journey of twelve miles.
TORTUOUS COURSE OF THE GWYDIR.
January 12.
I continued the westerly course through woods until at three miles we fell in with the river, and on turning to the left in order to avoid its immediate banks, a large lagoon also obstructed our progress. The tortuous course of the river was such that it was only by pursuing a direction parallel to the general course we could hope to make sufficient progress. But in exploring the general course only of rivers the traveller must still grope his way occasionally; for here, after turning the lagoon, we again encountered the river taking such a bend southward that we were compelled to travel towards the east, and even northward of east, to avoid the furrowed ground on its immediate bank.
LINES OF IRRIGATION ACROSS THE PLAINS.
At length we reached an open tract across which we travelled in a south-west direction about eight miles, when we arrived at one of those watercourses or chains of ponds which always have the appearance of being on the highest parts of the plains. As the general course of this, as far as it could be seen, was nearly east and west, I thought it might be the same as the channel which I had named Wheel Ponds on the 7th instant; but the range of these chains of ponds, not being confined by any hills of note, I could not be certain as to the identity, or whether such channels did not separate into different branches on that level country. The ponds they contained, even during the dry season, and the permanent character of their banks, each lined with a single row of trees throughout a meandering course over naked plains, bespoke a providential arrangement for the support of life in these melancholy wastes, which, indeed, redeemed them from the character of deserts. We encamped on this chain of ponds, having first crossed the channel, that we might have no impediment before us, in the morning; experience having taught us that the cattle could overcome a difficulty of this kind better when warmed to their work than at first starting from their feeding-place.
HEAVY RAIN--UNABLE TO PROCEED.
Some very heavy thundershowers fell, but the sky became clear in the evening so that we ascertained the latitude to be 29 degrees 39 minutes 49 seconds South. We also obtained the bearing of Mount Riddell, and other points of the Nundewar range, making our latitude 146 degrees 37 minutes 30 seconds East.