st; it is flat on the top, is
well grassed and openly timbered; but, to the northward, it becomes
scrubby, and also changes its geological character. After having crossed
the range--without any great difficulty, with the exception of some steep
places--we came on gullies going down to the north-west; and, from the
rocky head of one of them, the whole country to the west and northwest
burst upon us. There was a fine valley, a flat country, plains, isolated
long-stretched hills, and distant ranges; the highest points of the
latter bearing 77 degrees E. and 76 degrees W.; and, as I hoped to reach
them by Christmas time, I called them "Christmas Ranges." Not being able
to discover a good slope on which our bullocks could travel, I descended
at once into the gully, and followed it in all its windings; knowing well
from experience that it is easier to find a passage up a mountain range
than down it. The gully had all the characters of those of the Boyd; the
same sandstone rock, the same abruptness, and the same vegetation;
excepting, perhaps, a new Grevillea, with pinnatifid leaves and
yellowish-white woolly flowers, which we found here. There was no water,
except in some small holes full of gum leaves, which had rendered it
unfit for use. After proceeding with great difficulty about three miles,
we found that the gullies opened into a broad flat valley; in which
fields of fat-hen, the Croton shrub, the native Tobacco, Erythrina, fine
specimens of flooded-gum, Tristania, and the Moreton Bay ash, were
growing in great abundance. Farther down, however, the Bricklow scrub
covered the whole valley; the water-course disappeared almost entirely;
and we were completely disappointed in our hopes of finding a fine
country. Small plains opened on both sides of the valley, surrounded by
Bricklow scrub, and with patches of Bricklow scattered over them, in
which the Bottle-tree frequently made its portly appearance. A large
flight of Wonga Wonga pigeons were feeding on the seeds of various
species of Acacia; we shot two of them. No water was to be found in an
extent of fifteen miles. The noisy call of the laughing Jackass (Dacclo
gigantea) made me frequently ride back and examine more minutely those
spots marked by a darker foliage; but the presence of this bird is no
certain indication of water, though he likes the neighbourhood of shady
creeks. I could not help thinking that a considerable creek must come
from the north-west side of Mount