t we
could not repel.

We soon erected a little hut of bark, then kindled a fire and cooked our
supper, consisting of tea and two white pigeons which we had shot; and by
the time our repast was finished it was nearly dark. My companions laid
down to sleep: I remained up for a short time to think alone in the
wilderness, and then followed their example.

ASCENT OF A GLEN.

December 18.

At break of day we were again upon our route, which lay up the valley we
had slept in; but, as each of us carried ten days' provisions and a day's
water, besides our arms, the progress we made in a tropical climate, when
thus laden, was necessarily slow and laborious; but the beauty of the
landscape and the solicitude we all felt to see more of this unexplored
land cheered us on.

TABLELAND AT THE SUMMIT.

Having at length reached the tableland which this valley drained we found
ourselves in the midst of a forest, differing widely from anything we had
before seen. The soil beneath our feet was sandy and thickly clothed with
spinifex (a prickly grass) which in spite of our thick trousers slightly
but continually wounded our legs. The trees were lofty and some of them
of considerable circumference; but the trunks of all were charred and
blackened by constant fires: this circumstance, and their slight and
thin, yet strikingly graceful foliage, gave them a most picturesque
appearance.

Every here and there in the wood rose lofty and isolated pinnacles of
sandstone rock, fantastic in form, and frequently overgrown with graceful
creeping and climbing plants which imparted to them a somewhat of mystery
and elegance. In other parts rose the gigantic ant-hills so much spoken
of by former visitors of these shores; and in the distance we saw
occasionally the forms of the timid kangaroos, who stole fearfully away
from the unknown disturbers of their solitude.

ANOTHER VALLEY.

But when we arrived at the extremity of the tableland I felt somewhat
disappointed at beholding a deep narrow ravine at my feet, precisely
resembling in character the one we had left, and beyond this a second
sandstone range, wooded as that on which we stood; in about half an hour
we gained the bottom of the ravine and found that a rapid stream ran
through it, which, being the first we had discovered, I named the
Lushington, after the father of my associate in this expedition, and in
accordance with a determination I had made before starting.

Mustard (one of the