were few in numbers our abrupt appearance would have too much terrified them to leave any chance of an interview; and we accordingly did not disturb them, but contented ourselves with watching their movements for a while. The spectacle was an interesting one. Both men and women were engaged in delving for their food, whilst a little beyond a few more were burning the bush, and looking out for game and snakes. It does not often fall to the lot of the white man to behold the wild people of the earth, engaged in their daily avocations, completely unconscious that the gaze of a superior class of beings is upon them. We have seen savages exhibited to us professedly in all the simplicity of the woods; but how can the children of nature retain their freedom of action and manners under the curious gaze of a civilized multitude? We may depend upon it that we gather nothing but erroneous ideas from such a display. If we would understand, truly, what our savage brethren are like, we must penetrate into the woods and the wilds where they are to be found; we must mingle with them in the exercise of their domestic avocations; we must see them as they are, in all their excusable degradation; and not invested with a fictitious dignity, or a theatrical simplicity; we must observe them, also, unawares, and see how they conduct themselves under the ordinary influences that beset them.

It was with great reluctance that I departed without making our presence known; but I could

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not refrain from leaving, at the place where we landed, the perplexing legacy of a few presents. With what curious anxiety must these people have traced our footmarks, from which alone they could gather evidence that we belonged to a different race!

After making two miles in a south and nearly three in a west direction, with but few interruptions from windings, we opened a splendid sheet of water, trending S. W. S. A mile back I had found, in a crooked reach, some native huts, built of sticks and neatly plastered over, with doors so narrow that none of our broad-shouldered fellows could enter.

At this place we saw the last whistling ducks on our way up; further on, other species, to be hereafter mentioned, were found. A large alligator also afforded us sport, although we did not secure him.

The country was gradually becoming perceptibly higher, and the scenery extremely picturesque. Tall palm-trees and bamboos were now to be seen among the rich foliage on the lower slope of the banks, that rose here to an elevation of fifty feet, and were much intersected with water-courses. Onwards we hurried; the influence of the tide being scarcely felt, and the river preserving its S. W. S. direction, with a width of two hundred yards, and a depth of two fathoms and a half. At the end of three miles no change was perceptible, and we began to congratulate ourselves on, at last, having found a stream that would carry the boats far towards the point it

was always the height of my ambition to reach, the centre of the continent.

To this part of the Albert that had given rise to such expectations we gave the name of Hope Reach. A little higher up we landed on the right bank to cook a meal and examine the country. I shall here attempt, with the aid of Lieut. Gore's sketch,* to give the reader some idea of the beauty of the scene that now presented itself to our anxious gaze.

It was in truth as glorious a prospect as could greet the eye. A magnificent sheet of water lay before us in one unbroken expanse, resembling a smooth translucent lake. Its gentle repose harmonized exquisitely with the slender motionless boughs of the drooping gums, palms, and acacias, that clustered on the banks, and dipped their feathery foliage in the limpid stream, that like a polished mirror bore, within its bosom, the image of the graceful vegetation by which it was bordered. The report of our guns, as they dealt destruction among the quails that here abounded, rolled for the first time along the waters of the Albert, breaking in on the hush of stillness that appeared to reign over all like the presence of a spirit. The country that stretched away from either bank was an extensive plain, covered with long coarse grass, above which was occasionally seen the head of a kangaroo, listening, with its acute ear, for our approach.

* See the view annexed.