at the foot of
Mount Lang, near which the natives had often and recently encamped.

May 15.--We returned to our camp. The natives [These natives are probably
the same as, or are connected with, the tribe that frequent Rockingham
Bay, who have always been noticed for their friendly bearing in
communications with ships visiting that place. Rockingham Bay is situated
due east from the position of Dr. Leichhardt's party.--Note by Capt.
King.] had visited my companions, and behaved very amicably towards them,
making them not only presents of spears and wommalas, but supplying them
with seed-vessels of Nymphaea, and its mealy roasted stems and tubers,
which they were in the habit of pounding into a substance much resembling
mashed potatoes. They took leave of my companions to go to the sea-coast,
pointing to the east and east by south, whither they were going to fetch
shells, particularly the nautilus, of which they make various ornaments.

May 16 and 17.--We moved our camp about twenty miles N.N.W. to latitude
18 degrees 16 minutes 37 seconds, to one of the head brooks of Big
Ant-hill Creek. We travelled the whole distance over the basaltic
table-laud without any impediment. The natives approached our camp, but
retired without any communication.

I had not found any westerly waters on my ride of the 13th, but had seen
a range to the north-west, and that was the goal of a new exploration. As
we had been fortunate enough to find water at the contact of the
primitive and basaltic formation, I wished to follow the same line of
contact as long as it would not carry us much out of our course. We
crossed, in a northerly direction, several granitic ranges which ran out
into the table land, and were separated from each other by very large
swamps, at the time mostly dry, and covered with a short withered swamp
grass, but bearing the marks of frequent inundations. The bed of these
swamps was perfectly level, and formed by an uninterrupted sheet of
basalt. Chains of water-holes between the ranges, which I hoped would
lead me to creeks, were lost in the level of these swamps; indeed, these
granitic ranges were remarkably destitute of watercourses. The coarse
elements of the decomposed rock, principally pegmatite, had formed
uniform slopes, in which even heavy showers of rain were readily
absorbed; but rounded blocks of rock, sometimes curiously piled,
protruded from the granitic sands. Pandanus spiralis fringed the
scattered water-hol