of native feasts, as their fireplaces, and the last small
heaps of shells were visible on the summit of the hill.* This neck of
land is undoubtedly of the first importance; for, lying as it does
between Port George the Fourth and Hanover Bay, it commands two excellent
harbours, and its soil is moreover highly fertile. I conceive that a
point nearer Camden Bay would be of greater consequence to the mother
country; but, after such a spot, this neck of land is the most important
position on the North-west coast of Australia.

(*Footnote. A similar mass of shells, though of smaller dimensions, is
spoken of by Captain King, at Port Essington: A curious mound,
constructed entirely of shells, rudely heaped together, measuring thirty
feet in diameter, and fourteen feet high, was also noticed near the
beach, and was supposed to be a burying-place of the Indians. King's
Australia volume 1 page 87.)

For some days after our return from this excursion all hands were
occupied in drying the stores, which had suffered a little from the late
rains; in planting barley and potatoes; and in a variety of occupations
of the same nature.

EXCURSION TO COUNTRY ABOUT PRINCE REGENT'S RIVER.

As all the necessary magnetic and astronomical observations were now
completed I seized the opportunity offered by the first favourable day
and started with a party of three in the direction of Prince Regent's
River.

We made the river about Halfway Bay, and then followed its course,
keeping about a mile or two inland. A considerable portion of the land in
the neighbourhood of the river was most excellent, consisting of rich
meadow plains. The general proportion of good country compared with the
bad was still however but small.

GOUTY-STEMMED TREES.

There was a very remarkable feature in the appearance of this part of the
country, caused by the number of gouty stemmed trees (a species of
Capparis ?) These trees grow to a considerable height, and had the
appearance of suffering from some disease, but, from the circumstance of
all of them being affected in the same way, this was undoubtedly their
natural state. I measured one of the largest I here saw, and found that
at eighteen inches above the ground its circumference was about
twenty-eight feet six inches.

The foliage of this tree was slight but graceful, and it was loaded with
a fruit of an elliptical form, as large as a coconut. This fruit was
enclosed in a rind, closely resembling that of th