k, but night set in whilst we were still between the leafy walls.

Daylight came at last, and we pushed onward. An hour took us into a
beautiful black-soil plain of great extent, without a stick of timber,
and well watered, not only by the Macalister, which meandered through
its centre, but by several large lagoons, overgrown with the lovely
white lotus, and crowded with waterfowl. The existence of such a
planter's paradise was totally unsuspected, and we all gazed
spell-bound on this splendid tract of country, possessing every
requisite for successful cultivation, and a water road for the produce.
Dunmore was a true prophet when he exclaimed--

"Before a year is past this will be settled upon."

A fine sugar plantation now stands on "Bellenden Plains," with superb
cane growing in unwonted luxuriance, and horses and cattle have taken
the place of the kangaroos, that we on this first visit found grazing
there in troops. In the distance could be seen the coast range behind
Cardwell, which seemed to recede inland as it trended towards our
position, and sweeping round, approached the sea again farther north,
forming a natural boundary to a vast space of available country. A
silver line shone out on the mountains, and with our glasses we could
make out that it must be a waterfall of very large dimensions. We at
once agreed that it must be the source of the very river we were on,
the Macalister, but, as the sequel will show, we found so many streams,
that most probably we were mistaken in our judgment. We resolved to
make this charming spot our head-quarters for the present, as we had
everything to be desired--water, game, etc.--close at hand, and, from
the absence of timber, no blacks would be able to steal upon us
unperceived.

Leaving the pilot and one man in charge of the boat, we trudged along
through the high grass, which reached to our middles, and was dripping
with moisture from a shower that had fallen during the night; and,
after a tedious walk, reached the edge of the scrub. It was thicker
than anything we had encountered before, the density of the foliage
totally excluding the sun, and giving rise to a dank humid odour that
struck a chill to the heart directly you entered. We wound along the
path, or rather track, that the blacks had made, with the greatest
difficulty. It was all very well for the troopers, who had stripped,
but our clothes hitched up on a thorn at every other step. One of our
most p