Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia Part 13

June 19.--We travelled about eight miles N. 50 degrees W. lat. 16 degrees 22 minutes 16 seconds and again encamped at a very deep lagoon, covered near its edges with Villarsias, but without Nymphaeas. The soil of the flat round the lagoon, was very stiff and suitable for making bricks. The country along the Mitch.e.l.l was an immense uninterrupted flat with a very clayey soil, on which the following plants were frequent: viz. Grevillea, Cerotaphylla, and Mimosoides, a Melaleuca with broad lanceolate leaves, Spathodea and a Balfouria, R. Br.

Whilst walking down by the lagoon, I found a great quant.i.ty of ripe Grewia seeds, and, on eating many of them, it struck me, that their slightly acidulous taste, if imparted to water, would make a very good drink; I therefore gathered as many as I could, and boiled them for about an hour; the beverage which they produced was at all events the best we had tasted on our expedition: and my companions were busy the whole afternoon in gathering and boiling the seeds.

Charley and Brown, who had gone to the river, returned at a late hour, when they told us that they had seen the tracks of a large animal on the sands of the river, which they judged to be about the size of a big dog, trailing a long tail like a snake. Charley said, that when Brown fired his gun, a deep noise like the bellowing of a bull was heard; which frightened both so much that they immediately decamped. This was the first time that we became aware of the existence of the crocodile in the waters of the gulf.

June 20.--We travelled about ten miles north-west, and avoided the gullies by keeping at a distance from the river. Plains covered with high dry gra.s.s alternated with an open forest; in which we observed Spathodea, Bauhinia, a Balfouria, groves of Cochlospermum gossypium, and several other trees, which I had seen in the scrubs of Comet River; among which was the arborescent Ca.s.sia with long pods. A Bauhinia, different from the two species I had previously seen, was covered with red blossoms, which, where the tree abounded, gave quite a purple hue to the country. The stringy-bark, the bloodwood, the apple-gum, the box, and the flooded-gum, grew along the bergue of the river.

We pa.s.sed some fine lagoons at the latter end of the stage. The banks of the river were so steep, that the access to its water was difficult; its stream, deep and apparently slow, occupied about half the bed, which was perhaps one hundred and eighty, or two hundred yards broad. The soil was very sandy, and three deep channels parallel to the river were overgrown with high stiff gra.s.s. A pretty yellow Ipomoea formed dense festoons between the trees that fringed the waters. The unripe seeds of Cochlospermum, when crushed, gave a fine yellow colour, shaded into an orange hue.

Large flocks of Peristera histrionica (the Harlequin pigeon) were lying on the patches of burnt gra.s.s on the plains, they feed on the brown seeds of a gra.s.s, which annoyed us very much by getting into our stockings, trowsers, and blankets. The rose-breasted c.o.c.katoo, Mr. Gilbert's Platycercus of Darling Downs, and the Bets.h.i.+regah (Melopsittacus undulatus, GOULD.) were very numerous, and it is probable that the plains round the gulf are their princ.i.p.al home, whence they migrate to the southward. The white and black c.o.c.katoos were also very numerous.

John Murphy caught four perches, one of which weighed two pounds. The purple ant of the east coast has disappeared, and a similar one with brick-coloured head and thorax, but by no means so voracious, has taken its place.

The flooded-gum and the bloodwood were in blossom: this usually takes place, at Moreton Bay, in November and December. This different state of vegetation to the northward and southward, may perhaps account for the periodical migration of several kinds of birds.

June 21.--A shower of rain fell, but cleared up at midnight. We travelled nine miles north-west to lat. 16 degrees 9 minutes 41 seconds, over a country very much like that of the two preceding stages, and past several fine lagoons, richly adorned by the large showy flowers of a white Nymphaea, the seed-vessels of which some families of natives were busily gathering: after having blossomed on the surface of the water, the seed-vessel grows larger and heavier, and sinks slowly to the bottom, where it rots until its seeds become free, and are either eaten by fishes and waterfowl, or form new plants. The natives had consequently to dive for the ripe seed-vessels; and we observed them constantly disappearing and reappearing on the surface of the water. They did not see us until we were close to them, when they hurried out of the water, s.n.a.t.c.hed up some weapons and ran off, leaving their harvest of Nymphaea seeds behind.

Brown had visited another lagoon, where he had seen an old man and two gins; the former endeavoured to frighten him by setting the gra.s.s on fire, but, when he saw that Brown still approached, he retired into the forest. We took a net full of seeds, and I left them a large piece of iron as payment. On returning to the camp, we boiled the seeds, after removing the capsule; but as some of the numerous part.i.tions had remained, the water was rendered slightly bitter. This experiment having failed, the boiled seeds were then (Unclear:)tied with a little fat, which rendered them very palatable and remarkably satisfying. The best way of cooking them was that adopted by the natives, who roast the whole seed-vessel. I then made another trial to obtain the starch from the bitter potatoes, in which I succeeded; but the soup for eight people, made with the starch of sixteen potatoes, was rather thin.

We were encamped at a small creek, scarcely a mile from the river, from which John Murphy and Brown brought the leaves of the first palm trees we had seen on the waters of the gulf. They belonged to the genus Corypha; some of them were very thick and high.

The mornings and evenings were very beautiful, and are surpa.s.sed by no climate that I have ever lived in. It was delightful to watch the fading and changing tints of the western sky after sunset, and to contemplate, in the refres.h.i.+ng coolness of advancing night, the stars as they successively appeared, and entered on their nightly course. The state of our health showed how congenial the climate was to the human const.i.tution; for, without the comforts which the civilized man thinks essentially necessary to life; without flour, without salt and miserably clothed, we were yet all in health; although at times suffering much from weakness and fatigue. At night we stretched ourselves on the ground, almost as naked as the natives, and though most of my companions still used their tents, it was amply proved afterwards that the want of this luxury was attended with no ill consequences.

We heard some subdued cooees, not very far from our camp, which I thought might originate from natives returning late from their excursions, and whose attention had been attracted by our fires. I discharged a gun to make them aware of our presence; after which we heard no more of them.

June 22.--We travelled about twelve miles N. W. 6 degrees W. to lat. 16 degrees 3 minutes 11 seconds, and encamped at a swamp or sedgy lagoon, without any apparent outlet; near which a great number of eagles, kites, and crows were feasting on the remains of a black Ibis. We pa.s.sed a very long lagoon, and, in the latter part of our stage, the country had much improved, both in the increased extent of its forest land, and in the density and richness of its gra.s.s.

June. 23.--We travelled eight or nine miles in a W. N. W. direction to lat.i.tude 16 degrees 0 minutes 26 seconds, over many Bauhinia plains with the Bauhinias in full blossom. The stiff soil of these plains was here and there marked by very regular pentagonal, hexagonal, and heptagonal cracks, and, as these cracks retain the moisture of occasional rains better than the intervening s.p.a.ce, they were fringed with young gra.s.s, which showed these mathematical figures very distinctly. We pa.s.sed a great number of dry swamps or swampy water-holes; sometimes however containing a little water. They were surrounded by the Mangrove myrtle (Stravadium), which was mentioned as growing at the lower Lynd. The bottom of the dry swamps was covered with a couch gra.s.s, which, like all the other gra.s.ses, was partly withered.

Bustards were numerous, and the Harlequin pigeon was seen in large flocks. Wallabies abounded both in the high gra.s.s of the broken country near the river, and in the brush. Mr. Roper shot one, the hind quarters of which weighed 15 1/2 lbs.: it was of a light grey colour, and was like those we had seen at Separation Creek. Charley and Brown got seventeen ducks, on one of the sedgy lagoons.

I visited the bed of the river: its banks were covered with a rather open vine brush. Palm trees became numerous, and grew forty or fifty feet high, with a thick trunk swelling in the middle, and tapering upwards and downwards. Sarcocephalus, the cl.u.s.tered fig-tree, and the drooping tea-tree, were also present as usual. The bed of the river, an immense sheet of sand, was full a mile and a half broad, but the stream itself did not exceed thirty yards in width.

During the night we had again a few drops of rain.

June 24.--We continued our journey about nine miles west by north to lat.i.tude 15 degrees 59 minutes 30 seconds, over a rather broken country alternating with Bauhinia plains and a well-gra.s.sed forest. The banks of a large lagoon, on which several palm trees grew, were covered with heaps of mussel-sh.e.l.ls. Swarms of sheldrakes were perching in the trees, and, as we approached, they rose with a loud noise, flying up and down the lagoon, and circling in the air around us. A chain of water-holes, fringed with Mangrove myrtle, changed, farther to the westward, into a creek, which had no connection with the river, but was probably one of the heads of the Na.s.sau. We crossed it, and encamped on a water-hole covered with Nymphaeas, about a mile from the river, whose brushy banks would have prevented us from approaching it, had we wished to do so.

Though the easterly winds still prevailed, a slight north-west breeze was very distinctly felt, from about 11 o'clock a.m.

June 25.--We travelled about ten miles N.N.W. to lat.i.tude 15 degrees 51 minutes 26 seconds, but did not follow the river, which made large windings to the northward. It was very broad where Brown saw it last, and, by his account, the brush was almost entirely composed of palm trees. He saw a little boat with a fine Cymbium sh.e.l.l floating on the water. Our road led us over a well gra.s.sed forest land, and several creeks, which, although rising near the river, appeared to have no communication with it. Some plains of considerable size were between the river and our line of march; they were well gra.s.sed, but full of melon-holes, and rose slightly towards the river, forming a remarkable water-shed, perhaps, between the Na.s.sau and the Mitch.e.l.l. As we approached the river, we entered into a flat covered with stunted box, and intersected by numerous irregular water-courses. The box was succeeded by a Phyllanthus scrub, through which we pushed, and then came to a broad creek, filled with fine water, but not running, although high water-marks on the drooping tea-trees proved that it was occasionally flooded. We did not understand, nor could we ascertain, in what relation this singular country and the creek stood to the river, of which nothing was to be seen from the right bank of the creek.

The scrub, and the high gra.s.s along the creek, were swarming with white flanked wallabies, three of which Brown and Charley succeeded in shooting; and these, with a common grey kangaroo caught by Spring, and five ducks shot by Brown, provided our larder with a fine supply of game.

When I first came on the Lynd, I supposed that it flowed either independently to the head of the gulf, or that it was the tributary of a river which collected the waters of the York Peninsula, and carried them in a south-west or south-south-west course to the head of the gulf of Carpentaria. Such a course would have corresponded to that of the Burdekin at the eastern side, and the supposition was tolerably warranted by the peculiar conformation of the gulf. I expected, therefore, at every stage down the Lynd, at every bend to the westward, that it would keep that course. But, having pa.s.sed the lat.i.tude of the head of the gulf, as well as those of the Van Diemen and the Staaten rivers, the Lynd still flowed to the north-west; and then, when it joined the Mitch.e.l.l, I imagined that the new river would prove to be the Na.s.sau; but, when it pa.s.sed the lat.i.tude of that river, I conjectured that it would join the sea at the large embouchure in the old charts, in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 5 minutes--the "Water Plaets" of the Dutch navigators. To follow it farther, therefore, would have been merely to satisfy my curiosity, and an unpardonable waste of time. Besides, the number of my bullocks was decreasing, and prudence urged the necessity of proceeding, without any farther delay, towards the goal of my journey. I determined therefore to leave the Mitch.e.l.l at this place, and to approach the sea-coast--so near at least, as not to risk an easy progress--and to pa.s.s round the bottom of the gulf.

June 26.--We travelled, accordingly, about seven miles almost due west, the lat.i.tude of our new camp being 15 degrees 52 minutes 38 seconds. On our way we pa.s.sed some very fine long water-holes; some of which were surrounded with reeds, and others covered with the white species of Nymphaea; groves of Panda.n.u.s spiralis occupied their banks. Some fine plains, full of melon-holes, but well gra.s.sed, separated from each other by belts of forest-land, in which the Panda.n.u.s was also very frequent, were crossed during the day.

June 27.--We travelled eight miles W.S.W. over a succession of plains separated by belts of forest, consisting of bloodwood, box, apple-gum, and rusty-gum. Some plains were scattered over with Bauhinias. The holes along the plains are probably filled with water during the rainy season; dead sh.e.l.ls of Paludina were extremely numerous, and we found even the s.h.i.+eld of a turtle in one of them. At the end of the stage, we skirted some dense scrub, and encamped at one of the lagoons parallel to a dry creek, which must belong to the Na.s.sau, as its lat.i.tude was 15 degrees 55 minutes 8 seconds. The lagoon was covered with small white Nymphaeas, Damasoniums, and yellow Utricularias; and on its banks were heaps of mussel-sh.e.l.ls. The smoke of natives' fires were seen on the plains, in every direction; but we saw no natives. Brown approached very near to a flock of Harlequin pigeons, and shot twenty-two of them. A young grey kangaroo was also taken.

The kites were so bold that one of them s.n.a.t.c.hed the skinned specimen of a new species of honey-sucker out of Mr. Gilbert's tin case; and, when we were eating our meals, they perched around us on the branches of overhanging trees, and pounced down even upon our plates, although held in our hands, to rob us of our dinners;--not quite so bad, perhaps, as the Harpies in the Aeneid, but sufficiently so to be a very great nuisance to us.

Yesterday and to-day we experienced a cold dry southerly wind, which lasted till about 11 o'clock A. M., when it veered to the south-west, but at night returned again, and rendered the air very cold, and dry, which was very evident from the total absence of dew. The forenoon was very clear; c.u.muli and cirrho-c.u.muli gathered during the afternoon. The sky of the sunset was beautifully coloured. After sunset, the clouds cleared off, but, as the night advanced, gradually collected again.

A circ.u.mstance occurred to-day which gave me much concern, as it showed that the natives of this part were not so amicably disposed towards us as those we had hitherto met:--whilst Charley and Brown were in search of game in the vicinity of our camp, they observed a native sneaking up to our bullocks, evidently with the intention of driving them towards a party of his black companions, who with poised spears were waiting to receive them. Upon detecting this manoeuvre, Charley and his companion hurried forward to prevent their being driven away, when the native gave the alarm, and all took to their heels, with the exception of a lame fellow, who endeavoured to persuade his friends to stand fight. Charley, however, fired his gun, which had the intended effect of frightening them; for they deserted their camp, which was three hundred yards from ours, in a great hurry, leaving, among other articles, a small net full of potatoes, which Charley afterwards picked up. The gins had previously retired; a proof that mischief was intended.

June 28.--We crossed the creek, near which we had encamped, and travelled about nine miles wost, over most beautifully varied country of plains, of forest land, and chains of lagoons. We crossed a large creek or river, which I believed to be the main branch of the Na.s.sau. It was well supplied with water-holes, but there was no stream. Loose clayey sandstone cropped out in its bed, and also in the gullies which joined it. A small myrtle tree with smooth bark, and a leafless tree resembling the Casuarina, grew plentifully on its banks. We saw smoke rising-in every direction, which showed how thickly the country was inhabited. Near the lagoons we frequently noticed bare spots of a circular form, about twelve or fifteen feet in diameter, round each of which was a belt of ten, twelve, or more fire places, separated from each other by only a few feet. It seems that the natives usually sit within the circle of fires; but it is difficult to know whether it belonged to a family, or whether each fire had an independent proprietor. Along the Lynd and Mitch.e.l.l, the natives made their fires generally in heaps of stones, which served as ovens for cooking their victuals. Bones of kangaroos and wallabies, and heaps of mussel-sh.e.l.ls, were commonly seen in their camps; but fish bones were very rarely observed. It was very different, however, when we travelled round the head, and along the western side, of the gulf; for fish seemed there to form the princ.i.p.al food of the natives.

At the end of our stage, we came to a chain of shallow lagoons, which were slightly connected by a hollow. Many of them were dry; and fearing that, if we proceeded much farther, we should not find water, I encamped on one of them, containing a shallow pool; it was surrounded by a narrow belt of small tea trees, with stiff broad lanceolate leaves. As the water occupied only the lower part of this basin, I deposited our luggage in the upper part. Mr. Roper and Mr. Calvert made their tent within the belt of trees, with its opening towards the packs; whilst Mr. Gilbert and Murphy constructed theirs amongst the little trees, with its entrance from the camp. Mr. Phillips's was, as usual, far from the others, and at the opposite side of the water. Our fire place was made outside of the trees, on the banks. Brown had shot six Leptotarsis Eytoni, (whistling ducks) and four teals, which gave us a good dinner; during which, the princ.i.p.al topic of conversation was our probable distance from the sea coast, as it was here that we first found broken sea sh.e.l.ls, of the genus Cytherea. After dinner, Messrs. Roper and Calvert retired to their tent, and Mr. Gilbert, John, and Brown, were platting palm leaves to make a hat, and I stood musing near their fire place, looking at their work, and occasionally joining in their conversation. Mr. Gilbert was congratulating himself upon having succeeded in learning to plat; and, when he had nearly completed a yard, he retired with John to their tent.

This was about 7 o'clock; and I stretched myself upon the ground as usual, at a little distance from the fire, and fell into a dose, from which I was suddenly roused by a loud noise, and a call for help from Calvert and Roper. Natives had suddenly attacked us. They had doubtless watched our movements during the afternoon, and marked the position of the different tents; and, as soon as it was dark, sneaked upon us, and threw a shower of spears at the tents of Calvert, Roper, and Gilbert, and a few at that of Phillips, and also one or two towards the fire. Charley and Brown called for caps, which I hastened to find, and, as soon as they were provided, they discharged their guns into the crowd of the natives, who instantly fled, leaving Roper and Calvert pierced with several spears, and severely beaten by their waddies. Several of these spears were barbed, and could not be extracted without difficulty. I had to force one through the arm of Roper, to break off the barb; and to cut another out of the groin of Mr. Calvert. John Murphy had succeeded in getting out of the tent, and concealing himself behind a tree, whence he fired at the natives, and severely wounded one of them, before Brown had discharged his gun. Not seeing Mr. Gilbert, I asked for him, when Charley told me that our unfortunate companion was no more! He had come out of his tent with his gun, shot, and powder, and handed them to him, when he instantly dropped down dead. Upon receiving this afflicting intelligence, I hastened to the spot, and found Charley's account too true. He was lying on the ground at a little distance from our fire, and, upon examining him, I soon found, to my sorrow, that every sign of life had disappeared. The body was, however, still warm, and I opened the veins of both arms, as well as the temporal artery, but in vain; the stream of life had stopped, and he was numbered with the dead.

As soon as we recovered from the panic into which we were thrown by this fatal event, every precaution was taken to prevent another surprise; we watched through the night, and extinguished our fires to conceal our individual position from the natives.

A strong wind blew from the southward, which made the night air distressingly cold; it seemed as if the wind blew through our bodies.

Under all the circ.u.mstances that had happened, we pa.s.sed an anxious night, in a state of most painful suspense as to the fate of our still surviving companions. Mr. Roper had received two or three spear wounds in the scalp of his head; one spear had pa.s.sed through his left arm, another into his cheek below the jugal bone, and penetrated the orbit, and injured the optic nerve, and another in his loins, besides a heavy blow on the shoulder. Mr. Calvert had received several severe blows from a waddi; one on the nose which had crushed the nasal bones; one on the elbow, and another on the back of his hand; besides which, a barbed spear had entered his groin; and another into his knee. As may be readily imagined, both suffered great pain, and were scarcely able to move. The spear that terminated poor Gilbert's existence, had entered the chest, between the clavicle and the neck; but made so small a wound, that, for some time, I was unable to detect it. From the direction of the wound, he had probably received the spear when stooping to leave his tent.

The dawning of the next morning, the 29th, was gladly welcomed, and I proceeded to examine and dress the wounds of my companions, more carefully than I had been able to do in the darkness of the night.

Very early in the morning we heard the cooees of the natiyes, who seemed wailing, as if one of their number was either killed or severely wounded: for we found stains of blood on their tracks. They disappeared, however, very soon, for, on reconnoitring about the place, I saw nothing of them.

I interred the body of our ill-fated companion in the afternoon, and read the funeral service of the English Church over him. A large fire was afterwards made over the grave, to prevent the natives from detecting and disinterring the body. Our cattle and horses fortunately had not been molested.

The cold wind from the southward continued the whole day; at night it fell calm, and continued so until the morning of the 30th June, when a strong easterly wind set in, which afterwards veered round to the north and north-west.

Calvert and Roper recovered wonderfully, considering the severe injuries they had received; and the wounds, which I feared as being the most dangerous, promised with care and patience to do well. As it was hazardous to remain long at the place, for the natives might return in greater numbers, and repeat their attack, as well on ourselves as the cattle, I determined to proceed, or at least to try if my wounded companions could endure to be removed on horseback. In a case like this, where the lives of the whole party were concerned, it was out of the question to attend only to the individual feelings and wishes of the patients; I felt for their position to the fullest extent that it was possible for one to feel towards his fellow creatures so situated; but I had equal claims on my attention. I had to look exclusively to the state of their wounds, and to the consequences of the daily journey on their const.i.tutions; to judge if we could proceed or ought to stop; and I had reason to expect, or at least was sanguine enough to hope, that although the temporary feelings of acute pain might make them discontented with my arrangements, sober reflection at the end of our journey would induce them to do me justice.

The constant attention which they required, and the increased work which fell to the share of our reduced number, had scarcely allowed me time to reflect upon the melancholy accident which had befallen us, and the ill-timed death of our unfortunate companion. All our energies were roused, we found ourselves in danger, and, as was absolutely necessary, we strained every nerve to extricate ourselves from it: but I was well aware, that the more coolly we went to work, the better we should succeed.

CHAPTER X

INDICATIONS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE SEA--NATIVES MUCH MORE NUMEROUS--THE SEA; THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA--THE STAATEN--A NATIVE INTRUDES INTO THE CAMP--THE VAN DIEMEN--THE GILBERT--SINGULAR NATIVE HUTS--CARON RIVER--FRIENDLY NATIVES--THE YAPPAR--MR. CALVERT RECOVERED--MODE OF ENCAMPMENT--SWARMS OF FLIES--ABUNDANCE OF SALT--NATIVES FRIENDLY, AND MORE INTELLIGENT.

July 1.--We left the camp where Mr. Gilbert was killed, and travelled in all about fourteen miles south-west, to lat. 16 degrees 6 minutes. We pa.s.sed an extensive box-tree flat, and, at four miles, reached a chain of water-holes; but, during the next ten miles, we did not meet the slightest indication of water. Box-tree flats of various sizes were separated by long tracts of undulating country, covered with broad-leaved tea-trees, Grevillea ceratophylla, and G. mimosoides, and with the new species of Grevillea, with broad lanceolate leaves. We had to skirt several impa.s.sable thickets and scrubs of tea-tree, in one of which Panda.n.u.s abounded. At last, just as the sun was setting, and we were preparing to encamp in the open forest without water, we came to a creek with fine water-holes covered with Villarsias. Charley shot a native companion; a Fabirou was seen crossing our camp. My wounded companions got on uncommonly well, notwithstanding the long stage, and I now had all reason to hope, that their wounds would not form any impediment to the progress of our journey.

July 2.--We travelled ten miles south-west over a country exactly like that of yesterday; and encamped at a shallow water-hole in a creek, which headed in a tea-tree thicket, a grove of Panda.n.u.s being on its north side, and a small box-flat to the southward. Though the country was then very dry, it is very probably impa.s.sable during the rainy season. The tea-tree thickets seemed liable to a general inundation, and many shallow water-holes and melon-holes were scattered everywhere about the flats.

The flats and elevations of the surface were studded with turreted ant-hills, either forming single sharp cones from three to five feet high, and scarcely a foot broad at their base, or united into a row, or several rows touching each other, and forming piles of most remarkable appearance. The directions of the rows seemed to be the same over large tracts of country, and to depend upon the direction of the prevailing winds. I found Verticordia, a good sized tree, and a Melaleuca with cl.u.s.tered orange blossoms and smooth bark, which I mentioned as growing on the supposed Na.s.sau.

July 3.--We followed the tea-tree creek about four miles lower down, and encamped near some fine rocky water-holes, in which I discovered a yellow Villarsia, resembling in its leaves Villarsia inundata, R. Br.

Our day's journey was a short one in consequence of our having started so late. The delay was caused by Charley having captured an emu, a flock of which he met when fetching the horses. By holding branches before him, he was enabled to approach so close to them, that he shot one dead with a charge of dust shot. It was a welcome prize, and repaid us for the delay.

To our wounded friends the delay itself was a welcome one.

The mussel-sh.e.l.ls of these water-holes appeared to be narrower and comparatively longer than those we had previously seen. Panda.n.u.s was, as usual, very frequent; but a middle sized shady wide spreading tree, resembling the elm in the colour and form of its leaves, attracted our attention, and excited much interest. Its younger branches were rather drooping, its fruit was an oblong yellow plum, an inch long and half an inch in diameter, with a rather rough kernel. When ripe, the pericarp is very mealy and agreeable to eat, and would be wholesome, if it were not so extraordinarily astringent. We called this tree the "Nonda," from its resemblance to a tree so called by the natives in the Moreton Bay district. I found the fruit in the dilli of the natives on the 21st June, and afterwards most abundantly in the stomach of the emu. The tree was very common in the belt of forest along the creek.

The wind, during the last two days, was southerly, south-westerly, and westerly, freshening up during the afternoon. The forenoon was very hot: the night clear, and rather cool towards morning. I observed many shooting stars during the two last nights.