The
Plains In The Neighbourhood Of Our Intended Camp Were Richly Grassed; And
A Species Of Hypoxis And The Native Borage (Trichodesma Zeylanica, R.
Br.) Adorned Them With Their Bright Yellow And Blue Blossoms.
Farther on,
however, the grass had been burnt, and was not yet recovered.
As the day
advanced, and the black soil became heated by the almost vertical sun,
the heat from above and from below became almost insupportable.
Three peaks of this range were particularly striking; two of them seemed
to be connected by a lower ridge, in a direction from S.E. to N.W. The
south-eastern I called "Roper's Peak," after my companion, who afterwards
ascended it with Murphy and Brown, and the north-western, "Scott's Peak,"
after Helenus Scott, Esq., of Glendon, Hunter's River, who had kindly
assisted me in my expedition. In a W. by S. direction from these, and
distant four or five miles, is another peak, to which I gave the name of
"Macarthur's Peak," after Mr. William Macarthur, of Cambden. All these
peaks are composed of Domite; and Roper's and Scott's Peaks are
surrounded by a sandstone formation, covered with a dense low scrub.
I passed between Roper's Peak and Macarthur's Peak, to the northward, and
came in sight of another very remarkable cone, which I afterwards called
Calvert's Peak, after my fellow-traveller, in consequence of his having
suffered severely in its neighbourhood, as I shall soon have to mention.
I traced a creek at the east side of Macarthur's Peak to its head, and
went down another on its west side to a large plain, which seemed to be
limited to the westward by openly-timbered ridges. As we advanced into
the plain, a most remarkable and interesting view of a great number of
peaks and domes opened to the N.N.W. and N.W. There seemed no end of
apparently isolated conical mountains, which, as they resemble very much
the chain of extinct volcanos in Auvergne, might easily be mistaken for
such; but, after changing the aspect a little, they assumed the
appearance of immense tents, with very short ridge-poles. To the most
remarkable of them, which had the appearance of an immense cupola, I gave
the name of Gilbert's Dome, after my companion. Far to the N.N.W. a blue
peak was seen rising behind a long range of mountains, and from the
latter a valley seemed to descend to the W.N.W. A round hill, of a
reddish colour, to the south or south-west of Macarthur's Peak, was
called Mount Lowe, after R. Lowe, Esq. of Sydney. The general direction
of these mountains seems to be from N. 60 degrees W. to S. 60 degrees E.,
and, if we compare them with the line of the coast in the neighbourhood
of Broadsound and Shoalwater bay, bearing due east, it will be found that
they are parallel to its direction. All the creeks which we examined, and
which fell to the south-west, were entirely dry.
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