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They were all composed of a clayey ironstone, and clothed with patches of scrub, formed principally of Calythrix, and with a more open forest of Cypress pine, white-gum, tea-trees, bloodwood, Livistona palms, Pandanus, with shrubby Terminalias and Coniogetons.
The foot-path went up the creek: lower down, I found broad, deep, but dry water-holes; and, still lower, Salicornia indicated the approach to the salt water. The foot-path conducted us from one Zamia grove to another, which alternated with fine forest composed principally of white-gum, the fresh green foliage of which was extremely pleasing to the eye.
We travelled about nine miles west by north, through an open tea-tree forest skirting the heads of those scrubby creeks which went down to the salt water, the dark mangrove line of which we had seen yesterday. But we crossed four good sized dry creeks, lined with drooping tea-trees and white-gum trees.
We descended from them into the valley of a creek fringed with the white-gum tree, and followed it down for about three miles before we found water. We encamped at a good water-hole, at the foot of the ridges, in latitude 18 degrees 0 minutes 42 seconds. Brown and Charley, who had gone two miles lower down, told me that they had found salt-water, and deposits of very fine salt.
Wishing to ascertain how far the salt water extended, and whether any fresh water lagoons were near us, I took Charley, and followed a foot-path of the natives which led up Cycas Creek, and passed a succession of Cycas groves, of tea-tree forest with bloodwood and white-gum, and some Cypress pine thickets.
The range was openly timbered with white-gum, spotted-gum, Ironbark, rusty-gum, and the cypress-pine near the gullies; and with a little dioecious tree belonging to the Euphorbiaceae, which I first met with at the Severn River, and which was known amongst us under the name of the "Severn Tree:" it had a yellow or red three-capsular fruit, with a thin fleshy pericarp, of an exceedingly bitter taste; the capsules were one-seeded.
Some of the ridges were openly timbered with a rather stunted white-gum tree, and were well grassed; but the grass was wiry and stiff. At the end of our stage, about sixteen miles distant from our last camp, we crossed some rusty-gum forest; and encamped at a fine water-hole in the bed of a rocky creek, shaded by the white drooping gum, which seemed to have taken the place of the flooded gum.
Here one of our two remaining bullocks refused to go any further; and as our meat bags were empty, I decided upon stopping in this favourable spot to kill the bullock. Careya arborea, the broad-leaved Terminalia, Coniogeton arborescens, an umbrageous white-gum tree, and Pandanus, together with the luxuriant young grass, gave to the country a most pleasing aspect.
Our killing camp was about five miles south-west from the Van Diemen; and we travelled in the same direction about eight miles farther, through a most beautiful country, consisting of an open forest timbered with the box-tree, apple-gum, and white-gum; it was well grassed, and abundantly supplied with water.
We travelled about four miles to the N.W. and N.N.W. along the summit of rocky ranges, when a large valley bounded by high ranges to the north and north-west, burst upon us. The flats were well grassed, and lightly timbered with box and white-gum.
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