I
Examined The Wood Of All The Arborescent Proteaceae Which I Met With, And
Observed In All Of Them, With The Exception Of Persoonia, The Great
Development Of The Medullary Rays, As It Exists In Several Species Of
Casuarina.
On the 23rd, 24th, and 25th January, the party moved over the country
which I had reconnoitred, to a place about twenty-five miles north-west
from Mount Stewart's Creek, and about thirty-four miles from the
Mackenzie.
In the vicinities of several of the camps, Charley found many
nests of the native bee, full of the sweetest and most aromatic honey we
had ever tasted. The wild Marjoram, which grows abundantly here, and
imparts its fragrance even to the air, seemed to be the principal source
from which the bee obtained its honey. We collected a considerable
quantity of the marjoram, and added it to our tea, with the double
intention, of improving its flavour, and of saving our stock; we also
used it frequently as a condiment in our soup.
To the westward of our camp of the 25th January, was a large hill, which
I called "West Hill;" and, to the north and north-east, several ridges
confined the large valley of our creek and its tributaries. From a
sandstone peak to the north-east, which I descended with Mr. Roper, I
again saw the range of peaks which I had first observed from Mount
Stewart in a W.N.W. direction; and the country to the north and
north-east was evidently very mountainous: the valleys descending in a
northerly direction. We rode along the ridges on a W.N.W. and west
course, and came into the valley of another creek, which we crossed; and,
passing several other ridges, which appear to be connected with West
Hill, descended to a fine creek, in which we found a reedy water-hole of
considerable size. The character of all these creeks is the same.
Extensive flats of rotten ground, but beautifully clothed with tufts of
grass, openly timbered with Moreton Bay ash and flooded-gum, ascend into
gentle grassy slopes of silver-leaved Ironbark and bloodwood, and then
rise into sandstone ridges with Acacia thickets and shrubby plants
peculiar to the sandstone formation. An Acacia with very large falcate,
glaucous phyllodia, and the Euphorbiaceous Severn-tree, were very
plentiful; and Crinum grew in thousands on the sandy flats. After a very
hot day, the night was bright and dewy: a light breeze was felt at 8
o'clock, which cooled the air.
Jan. 26. - I removed my camp to the reedy water-hole of yesterday, about
five miles in the direction of west or west by north from our last
encampment. Here I planted the last peach-stones, with which Mr. Newman,
the present superintendent of the Botanic Garden in Hobart Town, had
kindly provided me. It is, however, to be feared that the fires, which
annually over-run the whole country, and particularly here, where the
grass is rich and deep even to the water's edge, will not allow them to
grow.
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