Numerous Fine Streams, Running Northerly, Watered A Rich And Beautiful Country, Through Which We Passed Until The 7th Of September, When We Crossed The Meridian Of Sydney, As Also The Most Elevated Known Land In New South Wales, Being, Then In Latitude 31.

S. We were afterwards considerably embarrassed and impeded by very lofty mountains. On the 20th of September, we gained

The summit of the most elevated mountain in this extensive range, and from it we were gratified with a view of the ocean, at a distance of fifty miles; the country beneath us being formed into an immense triangular valley, the base of which extended along the coast from the Three Brothers on the south, to the high land north of Smoky Cape. We had the farther gratification to find that we were near the source of a large stream running to the sea. On descending the mountain, we followed the course of this river, increased by many accessions, until the 8th of October, when we arrived on the beach near the entrance of the port which received it; having passed over, since the 18th of July, a tract of country near five hundred miles in extent from west to east.

This inlet is situated in lat. 31. 25. 45. S., and long. 162. 53. 54. E., and had been previously noticed by Captain Flinders, but from the distance at which he was necessarily obliged to keep from the coast, he did not discover that it had a navigable entrance; of course our most anxious attention was directed to this important point; and although the want of a boat rendered the examination as to the depth of water in the channel incomplete, yet there appeared to be at low water at least three fathoms, with a safe though narrow entrance between the sand-rollers on either hand. Having ascertained thus far, and that by its means the fine country on the banks, and in the neighbourhood of the river, might be of future service to the colony, I took the liberty to name it Port Macquarie, in honour of your excellency, as the original promoter of the expedition.

On the 12th of October, we quitted Port Macquarie on our course for Sydney; and although no charts can be more accurate in their outline and principal points than those of Captain Flinders, we soon experienced how little the best marine charts can he depended upon, to show all the inlets and openings upon an extensive line of coast. The distance his ship was generally at, from that portion of the coast we had to travel over, did not allow him to perceive openings, which, though doubtless of little consequence to shipping, yet presented the most serious difficulties to travellers by land; and of which, if they had been laid down in the chart, I should have hesitated to have attempted the passage without assistance from the sea-ward: as it is, we are indebted for our preservation, and that of the horses, to the providential discovery of a small boat on the beach, which the men with the most cheerful alacrity carried upwards of ninety miles on their shoulders, thereby enabling us to overcome obstacles, otherwise insurmountable.

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