Mr.Lushington had also shot several black cockatoos so that we were supplied with a meal of meat, a luxury we had not enjoyed for a long time.
CROSS A LARGE RIVER.
After breakfast Corporal Auger started alone and returned in about an hour to report that he had found a ford across the river close to us.

I therefore ordered the ponies to be brought up and we at once moved on.
The river where we crossed it in south latitude 15 degrees 49 minutes, east longitude 125 degrees 6 minutes, was about a hundred yards wide.

It was however nowhere more than knee deep as we wound through it, following a circuitous course; but we passed very deep parts on each side, and I could not but admire the perseverance of Auger in having discovered so very intricate a ford as this was.

There were several minor channels to the stream not much wider than an English ditch; they were however very deep and went winding along through groves of the pandanus and lofty reeds, which formed leafy tunnels above them.

It was some time before we got rid of the main stream, and we then found ourselves on a narrow terrace of land which was bounded on the left by rocky cliffs, and on the right by a large tributary of the stream we had just crossed.