road, with very indistinct
nerves, and producing a small purple fruit, of very agreeable taste. I
had seen this tree formerly at the Gwyder, and in the rosewood scrubs
about Moreton Bay, and I also found it far up to the northward, in the
moderately open Vitex and Bricklow scrubs.

Several small lizards (Tiliqua), probably only varieties of the same
species, amused us with the quickness of their motions when hunting for
insects on the sunny slopes near the water-holes, and on the bark of the
fallen trees; some were striped, others spotted, and there were some of a
simple brownish iridescent colour. Our latitude was 24 degrees 6 minutes
36 seconds.

Jan. 4.--Brown accompanied me on my usual errand, to find, if possible, a
larger supply of water, on which we might fall back, if the creek did not
soon change its character. The scrub came close to the banks of the
creek, but was occasionally interrupted by basaltic ridges with open
forest, stretching to the westward. These ridges were on all sides
surrounded with scrub, which did not flourish where the basaltic
formation prevailed. Broad but shallow channels, deepening from time to
time into large water-holes, follow in a parallel direction the many
windings of the creek, with which they have occasionally a small
communication. They seem to be the receptacles of the water falling
within the scrub during the rainy season: their banks are sometimes very
high and broken, and the bed is of a stiff clay, like that of the scrub,
and is scattered over with pebbles of quartz and conglomerate. Whilst
these Melaleuca channels keep at a distance varying from one to three
miles from the creek, winding between the slight elevations of a
generally flat country--long shallow hollows and a series of lagoons
exist near the creek, from which they are separated by a berg, and are
bounded on the other side by a slight rise of the ground. The hollows are
generally without trees, but are covered with a stiff stargrass; and they
frequently spread out into melon flats, covered with true Box. It is
difficult to travel along the creek, especially with pack bullocks, as
the scrub frequently comes close up to its banks; but the hollows, during
the dry season, are like roads. In the channels within the scrub I found
a large supply of water, in holes surrounded by sedges and a broad-leaved
Polygonum, amongst which grew a species of Abutilon; the neighbouring dry
channel was one beautiful carpet of verd