ry, which has a very uniform
character. There were ridges and low ranges to the westward, one of which
stretched from N. by W. far to the westward. The hill on which I stood
was composed of limestone rock; it was flat-topped, with steep slopes at
each end.

In lat. about 21 degrees 6 minutes, we crossed a large creek, densely
lined with dropping tea trees, coming from the westward. It was here we
first met with Careya arborea (Roxb.), a small tree from fifteen to
twenty feet high, with elliptical leaves of soft texture, four inches
long, and two in breadth; its fruit was about two inches long, contained
many seeds, and resembled that of the Guava. Its leaves, however, had
neither the vernation nor the pellucid dots of Myrtaceous trees. At the
junction of the creek, a great number of small Corypha palms were
growing, and my companions observed the dead stems of some very high
ones, whose tops had been cut off by the natives, probably to obtain the
young shoot. We passed hills of baked sandstone, before reaching the
creek, and afterwards crossed a fine sandy flat, with poplar-gum. The
river has a broad bed, at times dividing into several channels, lined
with stately Melaleucas and flooded-gum, and again uniting into one deep
channel, with long reaches of water surrounded by Polygonums, and
overgrown with blue Nymphaeas, Damasoniums, and Utricularias, and
inhabited by large flights of ducks. Rock occasionally enters into the
bed of the river. The collateral lines of water-holes are rarely
interrupted, and the ridges appear to be open on both sides of the river.

March 26.--We travelled along the river to lat. 20 degrees 53 minutes 42
seconds. Its course is almost due north. Yesterday, being out duck
shooting, we came suddenly upon a camp of natives, who were not a little
frightened by the report of our guns: they followed our tracks, however,
with wailing cries, and afterwards all of them sat down on the rocky
banks of the river, when we returned to our camp. To-day we passed the
place of their encampment with our whole train, and it was remarkable
that they neither heard nor saw us until we were close to them, though we
had seen them from a great distance. All the young ones ran away.
Dismounting from my horse, I walked up to an old man who had remained,
and who was soon after rejoined by another man. We had a long
unintelligible conversation, for neither Brown nor Charley could make out
a single word of their language.