e Surveyor-general, is steep on all sides; but
the other gradually declines from the south, and at length loses itself in
a large plain that extends to the north. It is from four to five miles in
length, and is picturesque in appearance, and lightly wooded. A few
cypresses were growing on Oxley's Table Land; but it had, otherwise, very
little timber upon its summit. Both hills are of sandstone formation, and
there are some hollows upon the last that deserve particular notice. They
have the appearance of having been formed by eddies of water, being deeper
in the centre than at any other part, and contain fragments and slabs of
sandstone of various size and breadth, without a particle of soil or of
sand between them. It is to be observed that the edges of these slabs,
which were perfect parallelograms, were unbroken, and that they were as
clean as if they had only just been turned out of the hand of the mason.
We counted thirteen of these hollows in one spot about twenty-five feet in
diameter, but they are without doubt of periodical formation, since a
single hollow was observed lower than the summit of the hill upon its
south extremity, that had evidently long been exposed to the action of the
atmosphere, and had a general coating of moss over it.

CONTINUE THE JOURNEY; DOWN NEW YEAR'S CREEK.

We left Oxley's Table Land on the morning of the 31st of January, pursuing
a northern course through the brush and across a large plain, moving
parallel to the smaller hill, and keeping it upon our left. The soil upon
this plain differed in character from that on the plains to the eastward,
and was much freer from sand. We stopped to dine at a spot, whence Oxley's
Table Land bore by compass, S. by W., distant about twelve miles.
Continuing our journey, at 2 p.m. we cleared the plain, and entered a
tract covered with the polygonum junceum, on a soil evidently the deposit
of floods. Box-trees were thinly scattered over it, and among the
polygonum, the crested pigeons were numerous. These general appearances,
together with a dip of country to the N.N.W., made us conclude that we
were approaching the creek, and we accordingly intersected it on a N.N.E.
course, at about three miles' distance from where we had dined. It had,
however, undergone so complete a change, and had increased so much in size
and in the height of its banks, that we were at a loss to recognise it.
Still, with all these favourable symptoms, there was not a drop of wat