laburus
growing around the waterholes, some of them as large as a moderate
size gum tree.

Earthy Flat.--The feed in the vicinity of Camp 63 is
unexceptionable, both for horses and camels but the herbage on the
creek generally down to this point is of a very inferior quality;
the grasses are very coarse, and bear a very small proportion to
the other plants. By far the chief portion of the herbage consists
of chrysanthemums and marshmallows; the former, to judge from their
dried-up powdery state, can contain very little nourishment,
although some of the horses and camels eat them with great relish;
the latter, I need hardly mention, are at this time of the year
merely withered sticks. A few small salsolaceous plants are to be
found on some of the flats, but they are scarcely worth mentioning.
In some places where the bed of the creek is shallow and dry, there
is an abundance of good grass and rushes of several kinds. The
polygonum bushes are also fresh and good, in such places.

Stony Rises.--The stony rises are generally bare and barren; but
some of those on the north side of the creek carry a fair crop of
light grass.

Sand Hills.--Wherever there are sand banks or ridges the feed is
almost invariably good; the salt bush is healthy and abundant, and
there are a variety of plants on which cattle would do well. For
camels, these hills are particularly well adapted, for there is
scarcely a plant grows on them that they will not eat, with the
exception of porcupine grass; but there is very little of that
until one gets many miles back from the creek.

Character of Ground.--I have mentioned three distinct kinds of
ground--the earthy plains, the stony rises, and the sand ridges.
The latter, which is by far the most agreeable whether for
travelling on, for feed, or in respect to the freedom from flies,
ants, musquitoes, and rats, is simply a series of hills composed of
blown sand of a red colour, very fine, and so compactly set that
the foot does not sink in it much. In some places the ridges have
a uniform direction, in others the hills are scattered about
without any regularity; the average direction of the ridges is
north-north-east and south-south-west. In the valleys between the
hills, are shallow clay plains, in which the water rapidly
collects, even after slight showers; but when full they seldom
exceed five or six inches in depth, so that in summer they are soon
dry again.

Stony Rises.--The stony ground, in c