Star.
London, England, 1829-09-25 00:00:00

NEW SOUTH WALES.

We extract the following extract front a letter, written
by Mr. Cunningham, dated Sydn'y, April 28, 181:0,
which throws an important light on the geography of the
central parts of New Holland:
" Captain Sturt and his party of discovery (says Mr Cuni.itt-
ham) penetrated two degrees of longitude to the westward of the
point where Mr. Oxley, 1818, turned hack in the swamps ot the
blacquarrie. He found the same country parched with drought,
which in 1818 was a perfect sea, as tar as could be discovered.
" The Macquarrie bad ceased to be a river, and there was
trace of its bed on those vast levels over which its waters are s.,
extensively distributed in floods. Passing on to longitude 145 E.
iu the parallel of 30 deg. lat. Captain Sturt was surprised to fall 611
with a river, about half a mile wide, and flowing towards the
south-west, its waters being as salt as strong brine. Finding a hule
ape:his/I water, at some distance from the bank, he encamped hi,
people at it ; and then, with a companion, rode down the river,
about four miles. Finding no water to drink, and that the rifier
had become much salter, they returned to the party, and got back
to Mount-11-writ, a hill on Macquarrie. Thence they proceeded till
they came to the Castlereagh of Oxley, which they traced cis it,
confluence with the Salt River, about fifty miles frgm the point at
which Mr. Oxley had first seen lt. A low depressed country,
destitute of food for his horse* and bullocks, and without fresh
water, obliged him to make a hasty retreat eastward to hi4hei
ground ; and having lost all his dogs by heat and extreme eahms-
don, he hurried on fast Bathurst, and reached Sydney two day.
after, having been out since the month ot November.

"The result of his expedition is simply this :—That below Mount
Harris the country is totally uninhabitable, and that for tw•o rea-
sons—first, in dry seasons, like the present, there was no water oo
which civilised man could subsist for six months, without endat:.
gering bowel complaints, cutaneous diseases, and other maladies.
Secondly, in a season of protracted rain, such as I have witnessed
in our colony, and which :11r. Oxley met with on the Macquarrie
in 1618, the whole is extensively inundated.
" The ' Salt River (discovered last January) is rather a large
stream, formed of the Castlereagh, Macquarrie (when it exists),
Mr. Oxley's Field, which drains Liverpool Plains, his Peel, and
my Gwydir and Duntaresque, each YOO yards wide, discovered
in 1827. These unite and constitute what is now proposed to
be denominated the Darling! It is from half a mile to three-
quarters in width, and bounded by steep red banks. The circum-
stance of its being salt is explained in this way : constituted of the
several streams above enumerated, it flows down a declivity of
country to about 500 feet above the level of the sea. There
(in longitude 145 degrees east) it passes through an inhospitable
region. the soil of which is saturated with mineral salt—brit.e
springs having very frequently been seen boiling up a foot above
the surface. In consequence—notwithstanding its considerable
breadth—its waters are, at this dry season, so perfectly charged
with salt as to render throe totally useless to drink. What be-
comes of this river, which is really the general drain of the coun-
try, remains doubtful. I have had a long conversation with Caps..
&urt, the result of which has been to induce me to give it as my.'
opinion that, although it tended south-west towards the south
coast, it eventually takes a decided bend to the north-west, and
then (to carry on my theory of our interior) flows across the .
country to the north-west side, where (in latitude 17 degrees) it •
is poured into the ocean."