e a single lofty pillar,
standing in front of a dry cascade, formed the centre of an amphitheatre
of sandstone. There was some water in a little natural basin at the base
of the cliffs. I determined therefore to halt here for breakfast and,
leaving the men at the foot of the cascade to prepare some tea, I
clambered to its summit, and found myself on another tableland similar to
that which I had just left, and covered in the same manner with natural
columns.

SANDSTONE CAVERNS.

Some distance from the top of the cascade I discovered a cavern, or
rather huge hole in the water-course, into which, thinking it might
contain fossil bones, I descended as far as the first ledge, and I then
perceived that the water pouring through this cavern in the rainy season
was cutting off another rock of sandstone similar to the remarkable
pillar in front of the cascade. The water in the basin below must have
filtered out from this cavern. On a further examination I found that a
precisely similar series of operations was going on throughout the whole
amphitheatre of cliffs which bounded the tableland we had been traversing
during the morning.

In the rainy season (March 7th) I again passed this spot and found the
watercourse full of water, which was also falling abundantly from the
cascade. From this circumstance I inferred that the subterraneous outlets
for the water were all filled, consequently the large body which these
caverns would contain must have been then endeavouring to force its way
through the fissures in the porous sandstone rocks.

CONTINUATION OF ROUTE. HALT IN A VALLEY.

After breakfast we continued on our route through a sandstone country
precisely resembling the one which I have now described, and in the
course of the day, having completed fifteen miles in a straight line, we
halted for the night in a fertile valley affording plenty of fresh water,
and so densely wooded with the dwarf pandanus and other prickly trees
that we could scarcely make our way through the underwood. In this valley
we saw several sorts of cranes, principally Ardea antigone, and Ardea
scolopacia, and I shot one of the former kind and laid it by, intending
to eat it in the morning. We could not find any holes in the rocks large
enough to protect us from the rain, which fell throughout the night,
accompanied by thunder and lightning.

December 20.

Just as we turned out this morning a large kangaroo came close to us to
drink at a waterhole;