hose we had already met. I named it Avon water and we encamped on its
left bank.

CROSS ANOTHER STREAM.

July 12.

At two miles and a half from the spot where we had slept we crossed
another stream flowing west-north-west which I named the Small-burn.
Beyond it the ground was good and grassy, but at this season very soft,
so that the draught was most laborious for the cattle. At seven miles we
crossed a wet flat with ponds of water standing on it, and beyond we
entered on a clay soil altogether different from any hitherto passed on
this side the Yarrayne.

ANOTHER.

About eight miles from our camp we reached a fine running brook with
grassy banks, its course being to the north-west. The bed consisted of
red-sand and gravel, and the banks were about fourteen feet high,
presenting fine swelling slopes covered with turf. On this stream, which
I named the Dos casas, I halted, as it was doubtful whether some of the
carts could be brought even so far before night, the ground having proved
soft and rotten to such a degree, especially on the slopes of low hills,
that in some cases the united strength of three teams had been scarcely
sufficient to draw them through. It was night before the last cart
arrived, and two bullocks had been left behind in an exhausted state.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.

July 13.

We had at length discovered a country ready for the immediate reception
of civilised man; and destined perhaps to become eventually a portion of
a great empire. Unencumbered by too much wood, it yet possessed enough
for all purposes; its soil was exuberant and its climate temperate; it
was bounded on three sides by the ocean; and it was traversed by mighty
rivers, and watered by streams innumerable. Of this Eden I was the first
European to explore its mountains and streams, to behold its scenery, to
investigate its geological character and, by my survey, to develop those
natural advantages certain to become, at no distant date, of vast
importance to a new people. The lofty mountain range which I had seen on
the 11th was now before us, but still distant between thirty and forty
miles; and as the cattle required rest I determined on an excursion to
its lofty eastern summit. Such a height was sure to command a view of the
country between these mountains and the sea in the direction of Lady
Julia Percy's Isles; and of that region between the range and those less
connected forest-hills I had seen to the eastward.