His attempt was fruitless, one of the boats was soon snagged, and
it became evident that it would be much easier to follow the Namoi on
horseback. Leaving the river, after passing the range he had vainly tried
to cross, Mitchell, on the 9th of January, 1832, came to the river Gwydir
of Cunningham. Turning to the westward the party followed this river down
for eighty miles, when he again returned to his northern course, and came
to the largest river he had yet found. This was called, by the natives,
the KARAULA, and Mitchell descended it until convinced, by its southern
course and the junction of the Gwydir, that he was on the upper part of
Sturt's Darling.
As the junction of the Namoi could not be far distant, Mitchell had thus
laid down the course and direction of these two large rivers, although he
had as yet seen nothing of the object of his search, the Kindur.
He now prepared to move once more to the north, anxious to find a river
that did not belong to the Darling system. As, however, he was on the
point of starting, he was overtaken by his assistant-surveyor, Finch, who
was bringing on additional supplies, with the disastrous news that the
blacks had attacked his camp during a temporary absence, murdered the two
men, robbed the supplies, and dispersed the cattle.
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