und on the hill, with grass for our horses
and sheep. The trees growing on the hill were casuarinas, and acacias,
with a few box-trees. Here we camped and tethered our horses, for fear
they should fall down the steep bank of the river. At the foot of the
hill, on the opposite side of this river, the rocks were of great height,
and almost perpendicular. The river runs through a range of hills coming
from the eastward, joining a very high range, over which our journey now
lay. This range is composed of a dark-coloured granite, very hard; near
the water was a vein of talc schist, running north-west and south-east.
On the top of the hill we found large pebbles of quartz.

July 28.

This morning, having loosed our horses from the tether, one of them fell
down from the hill upon a ledge of hard rock at the edge of the river, a
descent of thirty feet; he was so much injured by the fall that he died
during the day. We came down the hill through the scrub towards the
mountains, and camped but a short distance from where we rested the
previous evening. We were now at the foot of the range.

July 29.

Mr. Kennedy proceeded to explore the range, to ascertain the best spot to
cross it, it being covered with thick scrub. It runs from the southward
and turns eastward. I dug up a piece of ground here near the edge of the
scrub, and sowed seeds of cabbage, turnip, rock and water melons,
parsley, leek, pomegranate, cotton, and apple pips.

I here found a beautiful orchideous plant, with the habit of Bletia
tankervilliae, flowering in the same manner, with flower-stems about
three feet high, and from twelve to twenty flowers on each stem. The
sepals were much larger than those of Bletia, and of a rich purple
colour; the column yellow, with a spur at the base of the flower about
three-fourths of an inch long. I packed some of its thick fleshy roots in
a tin case. I also here obtained specimens of a beautiful Hovea, with
long lanceolate leaves, a much finer shrub than H. celsii. Also a species
of Hibiscus, with rough palmate leaves, large bright sulphur-coloured
flowers, with a rich purple spot at the base of each petal, the stamens
and stigma bright red, the blossoms when fully expanded eight inches in
circumference; the plant has a very erect habit. Also another Hibiscus,
with obcordate tomentose leaves, and pink flowers; both these last were
very handsome shrubs. The trees on the open ground were casuarinas and
flooded-gums, with a