Wishing to satisfy my mind as to the distance to which the river extended to the northward, Mr.Hume rode with me on the following day, to examine the country in that direction, leaving the men stationary.

We found that the reeds gradually decreased in body, until, at length, they ceased, or gave place to bulrushes.

There were general appearances of inundation, and of the subsidence of waters, but none that led us to suppose that any channel existed beyond the flooded lands.
ALARM FOR THE SAFETY OF THE PROVISION PARTY.
On our return to the camp, we observed dense masses of smoke rising at the head of the marshes, and immediately under Mount Foster.

This excited our alarm for the safety of the party we hoped to find at Mount Harris, and obliged us to make forced marches, to relieve it if threatened by the natives.
On the 22nd, we crossed the plains of the Macquarie, and surprised a numerous tribe on the banks of the river; and the difficulty we found in getting any of them to approach us, their evident timidity, and the circumstance of one of them having on a jacket, tended to increase our apprehensions.

When two or three came to us, they intimated that white men either had been or were under Mount Harris, but we were left in uncertainty and passed a most anxious night.
The body of reeds was still on fire; and the light embers were carried to an amazing distance by the wind, falling like a black-shower around us.