From Our Present Encampment A Very High And Pointed Hill Was Visible Far To The N.N. W. This From The Lofty Way In Which It Towered Above The Surrounding Hills, I Named Mount Remarkable.

Our latitude at noon was 33 degrees 25 minutes 26 seconds S.

A very beautiful shrub was found this afternoon upon the Rocky river, in full flower: it was a tall slender stalked bush, about six or eight feet high, growing almost in the bed of the river, with leaves like a geranium, and fine delicate lilac flowers about an inch and a half in diameter; here, too, we found the first gum-trees seen upon any of the watercourses for many miles, as all those we had recently crossed, traversed open plains which were quite without either trees or shrubs of any kind.

June 28. - This morning we passed through a country of an inferior description, making a short stage to a watercourse, named by me the "Crystal Brook;" it was a pretty stream emanating from the hills to the north-east, and marked in its whole course through the plains to the northward and westward by lines of gum-trees. The pure bright water ran over a bed of clear pebbles, with a stream nine feet wide, rippling and murmuring like the rivulets of England - a circumstance so unusual in the character of Australian watercourses, that it interested and pleased the whole party far more than a larger river would have done; this characteristic did not, however, long continue, for like all the streams we had lately crossed, the water ceased to flow a short distance beyond our crossing place.

The country below us, like that through which the Rocky river took its course, was open and of an inferior description, but I have no doubt that by tracing the stream upwards, towards its source among the ranges, a good and well watered country would be found; I ascertained the latitude by a meridian altitude at Crystal brook to be 33 degrees 18 minutes 7 seconds S.

The hills on the opposite side of Spencer's Gulf were now plainly visible, and one which appeared to be inland, I took to be the middle Back mountain of Flinders; between our camp and the eastern shores of the gulf, the land was generally low, with a good deal of scrub upon it, and nearer the shores appeared to be swampy, and subject to inundation by the tides.

June 29. - Upon moving from our camp this morning we commenced following under Flinders range. From Crystal brook, the hills rise gradually in elevation as they trend to the northward, still keeping their western slopes almost precipitous to the plains, out of which they appear to rise abruptly. Our course was much embarrassed by the gullies and gorges emanating from the hills, in some of which the crossing place was not very good, and in all the horses got much shaken, so that when we arrived at a large watercourse defined by gum trees, and in which was a round hole of water that had been on a former occasion called by me "The Deep Spring," I halted the party for the night and found that the horses were a good deal fatigued. Fortunately there was excellent food for them, and plenty of water. The place at which we encamped was upon one of the numerous watercourses, proceeding from the gorges of Flinders range. It had a wide gravelly bed, divided into two or three separate channels, but without a drop of water below the base of the hills, excepting where we bivouacked, at this point, there was a considerable extent of rich black alluvial soil, and in the midst of it a mound of jet black earth, surrounded by a few reeds. In the centre of the mound was a circular deep hole containing water, and apparently a spring: the last time I was here, in 1839 it was full to overflowing, but now, though in the depth of winter, I was surprised and chagrined to see the water so much lower than I had known it before. It was covered up too so carefully with bushes and boughs, that it was evident the natives sometimes contemplated its being quite dried up, [Note 3: In October 1842, I again passed this way, in command of a party of Police sent overland to Port Lincoln, to search for Mr. C. C. Dutton: the spring was then dried up completely.] and had taken this means as the best they could adopt for shading and protecting the water. On the other hand the numerous well beaten tracks leading to this solitary pool appeared to indicate that there was no other water in the neighbourhood. We saw kangaroos, pigeons and birds of various descriptions, going to it in considerable number. At night too after dark we found that a party of natives were watching also for an opportunity to participate in so indispensable a necessary, which having secured, they departed, and we saw nothing more of them. I observed the latitude at this camp to be 33 degrees 7 minutes 14 seconds S. and the variation 8 degrees 53 minutes E.

June 30. - Our road to day was much better, and less interrupted by gullies, though we still kept close under Flinders range. We traversed a great extent of plain land which was generally stony, but grassy, and tolerably well adapted for sheep runs. Several watercourses take their rise from this range, with a westerly direction towards the gulf, these were all dry when we crossed them, but their course was indicated by gum trees, and as some of the channels were wide and large, and had strong traces of occasional high floods, I rode for many miles down one of the most promising, but without being able to find a drop of water. At noon our latitude was 32 degrees 59 minutes 8 seconds, S.

Late in the afternoon we reached a watercourse, which I had previously named "Myall Ponds," [Note 4:

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