There was not a single
break in its sombre hue, nor was there the slightest rise on the visible
horizon; both to the eastward and westward we caught glimpses of the
Murray glittering amidst the dark foliage beneath us, but it made no
change in the character of the landscape.
We kept on the open ground, just cutting the heads of the gullies, and
advanced eight miles before we found a convenient spot at which to drive
the cattle down to water, and feed in the flats below, and into which it
appeared impracticable to get our drays. I halted, therefore, on the
crest of the hills, and sent Flood and three other men to watch the
animals, and to head them back if they attempted to wander. In the
afternoon we went down to the river, and on crossing the flat came upon
the dray tracks of some overland party, the leader of which had taken his
drays down the hills, notwithstanding the apparent difficulty of the
attempt. But what is there of daring or enterprise that these bold and
high-spirited adventurers will shrink from?
I had hoped that the more elevated ground we here occupied, would have
been warmer than the flats on which we had hitherto pitched our tents,
but in this I was disappointed. The night was just as cold as if we had
been in the valley of the Murray. At sunrise the thermometer stood at 27
degrees, and we had thick ice in our pails.
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