rassy islets were scattered here and there, reposing in emerald
verdure on the surface of the stream, which was reverting under the
influence of the tide, towards its source, and now hurried the boat so
rapidly through a narrow channel between the west side of a large island
and a low line of earthy cliffs, as to carry her foul of a submerged tree
and half fill and almost capsize her. In order to ascertain the extent of
the damage, we landed on a small sandy beach, in which was the fresh
print of a native's foot; but we neither heard nor saw him or his
companions, although columns of smoke from their fires stole upwards
through the calm still air on all sides. A fine sheet of water now lay
before us, trending southwards for upwards of two miles, with a width of
about a quarter; and it was with increasing interest and anxiety that we
pulled up it.

APPEARANCE OF THE RIVER.

Passing a line of cliffs, twenty feet high, the banks became green and
grassy, descending with an almost imperceptible slope into the stream,
and blending with their vivid reflections so as to render it difficult to
determine where was the point of contact. It seemed as if we were gliding
through an indefinite expanse of limpid water reposing between two vast
plains, that here rose higher than we had before seen the land on this
part of the continent.

Hurrying on with a still favourable tide, but at a rate much too slow for
our impatience, we passed two other small grassy islets, and a third was
before us. The eastern bank had become steep, overhanging, and clothed
with a mass of luxuriant creepers; whilst on the opposite side was a low
woody patch, partly immersed by the lake-like glassy water of the river,
into which one slender tree dipped its feathery crest, appearing like
another Narcissus, to admire its own beauty in the stream. In front, the
eye could penetrate far down the reach hemmed in as it was by trees that
clustered thick on the water's brink.

NATIVE BURIAL TREE.

To the right was what might be called an open glade; in the midst of it
rose a tree the branches of which were laden with a most singular looking
bundle or roll of pieces of wood. Struck with its appearance, we rested
on our oars to observe it;* but scarcely had we done so, when from a
point higher up, that appeared to divide the river into two branches,
rose a thick volume of smoke that soon filled the air, as if a huge black
cloud had lighted on the earth in that direc