Length from the nose to the tail 3 5
Circumference round the shoulders 2 6
Fin to fin over the back 1 5
Circumference near the anus 1 9
Breadth of the tail 1 1 1/2
Circumference of the mouth opened 1 6
Depth of the swallow 1 foot.
Most of the other fish taken this evening weighed from fifteen to thirty
pounds each, and were of the same kind as the above.
May 7. - A fine clear frosty morning. The horses having been much
fatigued by the two last days' journey, I determined to halt to-day
instead of Saturday, as the grass was good, which is more than could be
said of it for some days past. Observed the latitude to be 33. 22. 59. S.
May 8. - Proceeded down the river. Our general course was westerly, and
the country, though equally level with any we had passed, improved in
the quality of the soil, which, during the greater part of to-day's
route, was a good vegetable mould, the land thickly covered with small
acacia and dwarf trees. On the south side of the river it was apparently
the same; and the whole we passed over bore evident marks of being
subject to inundations.
The banks of the river were, I think, much lower, not exceeding fifteen
or twenty feet high, and they were rather clearer of timber than before.
The casuarina, which used to line the banks, was now seldom seen, the
acacia pendula seeming to take its place.