The immediate
vicinity of the river was free from timber or brush in various places;
and these tracts have hitherto received the particular denomination of
PLAINS, which might with equal propriety be extended to the whole
country. The bases of the hills and ranges were invariably a barren red
sand, affording nourishment to a few miserable cypresses and eucalypti
dumosa; between which, and filling up all the intermediate spaces, grows
a variety of acacia and dwarf shrubs, rendering those parts nearly a
thicket. Within one hundred yards of the bank of the river, and there
alone, were seen the only timber trees we had met with in the country;
if huge unshapen eucalypti, which would not afford a straight plank ten
feet long, may be so denominated.
June 25, - Proceeded down the river, and at three o'clock halted for the
night, having performed about eleven miles; the country barren, even to
the very verge of the stream, which continues to run nearly west. We
were obliged to keep at a small distance from the river, owing to large
lagoons, partly full of water, which would have otherwise interrupted
our course, or rather our multitude of courses; for I never saw a stream
with such opposite windings, and no one reach was a quarter of a mile
long, so that it may be said to resemble a collar of SS. The opposite
plains were named Butterworth Plains.
Several new plants were the result of to-day's research, among them a
new species of amaryllis, upon which the botanists prided themselves
much; for in this country few were supposed to be in existence.
June 26 - The morning cold and frosty. At nine o'clock we proceeded down
the river, which inclined to the south of west for ten miles; when at
three o'clock we stopped for the evening. We passed through a country to
the full as barren as any we had yet seen. There were occasional clear
spaces, but for the greater part thick cypress bushes, acacia, and other
low shrubs, rendered it difficult for the horses to pass. On the plain,
the acacia pendula again made a very fine appearance.
The timber on the intermediate banks of the stream became scarcer and
smaller; and from the marks on the trees in the swamps, it sometimes
overflows them to the depth of two feet; but they have now apparently
been long dry, the little water remaining in the hollows or holes being
a milky white.
The abundance of white cockatoos and crows, which is constantly about
the banks of the river, is astonishing; the other smaller birds appear
to be also common to the east coast.
