t, but when roasted is like a potato.
Here we have also the india-rubber tree, the cork-tree, and several new
plants. This is the only real range that I have met with since leaving
the Flinders range. I have named it the McDonnell Range, after his
Excellency the Governor-in-Chief of South Australia, as a token of my
gratitude for his kindness to me on many occasions. The east bluff I have
named Brinkley Bluff, after Captain Brinkley, of Adelaide, and the west
one I have named Hanson Bluff, after the Honourable R. Hanson, of
Adelaide. The range is composed of gneiss rock and quartz.

Friday, 13th April, Brinkley Bluff, McDonnell Range. At sunrise I
ascended the bluff, which is the most difficult hill I have ever climbed;
it took me an hour and a half to reach the top. It is very high, and is
composed principally of igneous rock, with a little ironstone, much the
same as the ranges down the country. On reaching the top, I was
disappointed; the view was not so good as I expected, in consequence of
the morning being so very hazy. I have, however, been enabled to decide
what course to take. To the south-west the Waterhouse and James ranges
seem to join. At west-south-west they are hidden by one of the spurs of
the McDonnell range. To the north-west the view is intercepted by another
point of this range, on which is a high peak, which I have named Mount
Hay, after the Honourable Alexander Hay, the Commissioner of Crown Lands.
About five miles to the north are numerous small spurs, beyond which
there is an extensive wooded or scrubby plain; and beyond that, in the
far distance, is another range, broken by a high conical hill, bearing
about west-north-west, to which I will go, after getting through the
range. To the north-east is the end of another range coming from the
south. On this, which I have named Strangway Range, after the Honourable
the Attorney-General, is another high hill. Beyond is a luminous, hazy
appearance, as if it proceeded from a large body of water. A little more
to the east there are three high hills; the middle one, which I should
think is upwards of thirty miles from us, is the highest, and is bluff at
both ends; it seems to be connected with Strangway range. To the east is
a complete mass of ranges, with the same luminous appearance behind them.
I had a terrible job in getting down the bluff; one false step and I
should have been dashed to pieces in the abyss below; I was thankful when
I arrived safely at