August 13. - We proceeded at our usual hour; and did not halt till near
sunset, but accomplished no more than six miles, in the course of which
the horses were obliged to be unladen, and the men carried the loads
upwards of half a mile before the horses could be got across the
quicksands. They are indeed properly so termed, consisting of two or
three inches of light mould, on about eighteen inches of loose sand, the
whole covering a rocky or stony bottom. On treading on them, water would
fly up several inches; and it was with difficulty men could pass over
them, much less horses. Quicksands of a similar nature prevented our
reaching a small creek running under a high craggy ridge of hills;
we therefore stopped at the edges of them, every body completely
worn out. The appearance of the country passed over was most desolate
and forbidding, but quite open, interspersed with miserable rocky crags,
on which grew the cypress and eucalyptus. On the more level portions
of the country, a new and large species of eucalyptus, and another of
its genus (the iron bark), were the principal if not the only trees.
Many of the rocks were pointed and basaltic, but the general species
was a coarse sandstone. Miserable as the country was in other respects,
it was fruitful in new plants.
August 14. - As it rained hard during the night, and the rain still
continued to fall in thick showers, I thought it advisable to rest.
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