ount I was now most uneasy; for his horse,
it appeared, had escaped him, and was found with the others at watering
time.

I did not return to the camp until after sunset, more fatigued than I
recollect ever having been before. I was, however, rejoiced on being
informed that the object of my anxiety was safe in his tent; that he
had caught sight of the hill the evening before, and that he had
reached the camp shortly after I left it. He had been absent three
nights and two days, and had not tasted water or food of any kind
during that time.

To my enquiries he replied, that, being on horseback, he thought he
could have overtaken a kangaroo, which passed him whilst waiting at the
creek for the cattle, and that in the attempt, he lost himself. It
would appear that he crossed the creek in the dark, and his horse
escaped from him on the first night. He complained more of thirst than
of hunger, although he had drunk at the watering-place to such an
excess, on his return, as to make him vomit; but, though not a little
exhausted, he had escaped better than I should have expected.

COUNTRY AROUND NEW YEAR'S RANGE.

New Year's Range consists of a principal group of five hills, the
loftiest of which does not measure 300 feet in height. It has lateral
ridges, extending to the N.N.W. on the one hand, and bending in to the
creek on the other. The former have a few cypresses, sterculia, and
iron bark upon them; the latter are generally covered with brush, under
box; the brush for the most part consisting of two distinct species of
stenochylus, and a new acacia. The whole range is of quartz formation,
small fragments of which are profusely scattered over the ridges, and
are abundantly incrusted with oxide of iron. The soil in the
neighbourhood of New Year's Range is a red loam, with a slight mixture
of sand. An open forest country lies between it and the creek, and it
is not at all deficient in pasture.

NEW YEAR'S CREEK.

That a change of soil takes place to the westward of the creek, is
obvious, from the change of vegetation, the most remarkable feature of
which is the sudden check given to the further extension of the acacia
pendula, which is not to be found beyond it, it being succeeded by
another acacia of the same species and habits; neither do the plants of
the chenopedia class exist in the immediate vicinity of the range.

I place these hills, as far as my observations will allow, in east lon.
146 degrees 32 minutes 15