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This tree, which I afterwards found every where in the neighbourhood of the gulf of Carpentaria, was in blossom from the middle of May to that of June. The poplar-gum, the bloodwood, the melaleuca of Mt. Stewart, the Moreton Bay ash, the little Severn tree, and a second species of the same genus with smooth leaves, were growing on the same soil.
The fine water-hole which I selected for our camp, was not only shaded by stately Coryphas and flooded gums, but the drooping Callistemon, the creek Melaleuca, and the Casuarina, gave to it the character of the rivers and creeks of the Moreton Bay district.
We travelled seven miles in a south-west direction, to lat. 16 degrees 15 minutes 11 seconds, over an entirely flat country, covered with a very open forest of box, of bloodwood, and of the stiff-leaved Melaleuca, with the arborescent Grevillea already mentioned, and with a species of Terminalia with winged fruit.
The picture had been restored by the most ideal of all artists. The blossoms of the melaleuca come in superabundance, pale yellow spikes, odorous to excess. When the trees thus adorn themselves and they do so twice in the year in changeless fashion, in the fulness of the wet season the air is saturated with the odour as of treacle slightly burnt.
The creek which I followed down, almost entirely disappeared; but, five miles farther on, its channel was again observed, as deep as before, and was joined by several water-courses from the Christmas Ranges. The principal channel of the creek was lined with a species of Melaleuca, with slightly foliacious bark.
The only trees growing in this terrible place were a few acacias in the hollows, and some straggling melaleuca, with hakeae and one or two other common shrubs, all of low growth; there was no grass, neither were the few herbs that grew on the hollows such as the horse would eat.
The trend of the creek was nearly from the east-north-east. At six miles the gum-timber disappeared from the creek, and the channel being confined by hills, we were in a kind of glen, with plenty of running water to splash through. A great quantity of tea-tree Melaleuca grew in the creek bed. There we saw another large snake, but not of such dimensions as Nicholls's victim.
The Casuarina, which likes a light sandy soil, disappeared at the same time, and was succeeded by the narrow-leaved Melaleuca. The flooded-gum, however, kept its place, and frequently attained to a great size. About twelve miles from the camp, a small water-hole appeared in the bed of the creek.
Our tents stood on ground high above the reach of flood. The soil was excellent, and the brushes behind us abounded with a new species of melaleuca. The heat of the weather, at this time, was extremely oppressive, and the thermometer was seldom under 100 degrees of Fahr. at noon.
The country on either side is of a red and white sandy soil, timbered with bloodwood, mahogany, melaleuca and black and white tea-tree, coarsely grassed, with heath and scrub running down to the banks in many places.
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