- We travelled about four miles north 30 degrees west, over
plains and an open undulating box and raspberry jam tree country, to the
lagoon which my companions had discovered.
They had not exaggerated their
account, neither of the beauty of the country, nor of the size of the
lagoon, nor of the exuberance of animal life on it. It was indeed quite a
novel spectacle to us to see such myriads of ducks and geese rise and fly
up and down the lagoon, as we travelled along. Casuarinas, drooping
tea-trees, the mangrove myrtle (Stravadium) and raspberry-jam trees, grew
either on the flats, or formed open groves along the banks; and
Polygonums covered the water's edge. When we came to the end of the
lagoon, which was bounded on the left by a stony rise of flaggy Psammite,
I observed a green belt of trees scarcely 300 yards to the northward; and
on riding towards it, I found myself on the banks of a large fresh water
river from 500 to 800 yards broad, with not very high banks, densely
covered with salt water Hibiscus (Paritium), with a small rubiaceous tree
(Pavetta?), which filled the air with the jasmine-like fragrance of its
blossoms; with Flagellaria, water Pandanus, and a leguminous climber with
bunches of large green blossoms (Mucuna? - D.C. Pr.). The water was
slightly muddy, as if a fresh had come down the river; and the tide rose
full three feet. It was the river Mr. Roper had seen two days before, and
I named it after him, as I had promised to do.
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