the rock-crystal as sacred; whether it be that it has been
transmitted from tribe to tribe, or that the native was everywhere
inclined to pick up a shining stone, and to consider it endowed with
peculiar virtues. From the absence of brilliant ores, or precious stones,
in the bags and dillis of the natives, I concluded, that neither precious
stones nor brilliant metallic substances existed in the country where
they lived. Those with whom we came in contact, generally admired our
gold and silver chains and watches very much, but had nothing to show in
return except broken shells from the sea-coast]

Among the new and interesting scrubs and trees which we met with at
almost every step, I shall only mention a small Grevillea, from one to
two feet in height, with pubescent pinnatifid leaves, and a simple or
compound thyrsus of scarlet flowers; Cochlospermum gossypium, the native
cotton tree of Port Essington, whose bright showy yellow blossoms and
large capsules full of silky cotton, attracted our attention; its leaves
are deciduous, and the trees were entirely leafless; a fine species of
Calytrix on the rocks, and two of Loranthus on the drooping tea tree, the
drooping foliage of which one of them imitated, whilst the other belonged
to the group I mentioned as found at the Suttor, with its flowers
inserted on a leafy bract.

Exocarpus latifolius is so different from E. cupressiformis, in its
foliage and aspect, that I did not suspect their near relation, until I
found blossom and fruit: the ripe kernel as well as its yellow succulent
leaf-stalk have a very agreeable taste; a leguminous shrub, about five or
six feet high, with purple blossoms gathered into terminal oblong heads;
this would be an ornament to our gardens. Along the river we discovered a
large tree, about forty or fifty feet in height, with rather singularly
disposed horizontal branches and rich dark green foliage; its leaves were
oblong acute, and frequently a foot long; its flowers formed dense heads,
which grew into a fleshy body marked with the arcoles of every flower. It
is either Sarcocephalus or Zuccarinia, or nearly allied to them. The tree
has never been seen on easterly waters, but it was the invariable
companion of all the larger freshwater rivers round the gulf. A fine
species of Gomphrena was found in the sandy bed of the river. A species
of Terminalia, a fine shady tree, with spreading branches and broad
elliptical leaves, grew along the sandy cr