This testimony, one would have thought, was much too vague to justify the expression of any decided opinion as to the capabilities of the country.  Mr. Moore judged entirely from a distant view with the naked eye:  he could not discern the nature of the trees, does not assert positively that the land was grassy, is unable to speak with certainty as to the existence of sufficient water, and ventures only to draw the conditional conclusion that this district MAY turn out to be the finest the colony can possess.

Mr. Bynoe, who accompanied me in my excursion over this part of the continent, writes as follows respecting it:  “There can be but one opinion of the country in the vicinity of the supposed Port Grey, namely, that it is comparatively sterile.  All the soil passed over, during our two days’ journey, was of a sandy nature; and the gumtrees, particularly in the open country, were stunted and gnarled.  Isolated clumps, however, of a taller, straighter, and smoother character, were met with in the dried watercourses.  Near Wizard Peak, the warran, or native yam seemed to grow in great abundance, and to some considerable depth.  There the soil could be pretty well judged of; and the deeper the holes had been dug by the natives to obtain the root, the more pure was the sand; it was only the surface soil that held decayed vegetable matter.  Twice during the trip, near the bases of cliffs, I saw a few acres of alluvial deposit, two very circumscribed beds, which were lost in the bottom of a watercourse, sliding, as it were, gradually under the sand.  Near Moresby’s Range, where the soil became freely mixed with ironstone and pebbles, the vegetation was more stunted, consisting principally of a prickly bush, mingled with coarse brown grass.  During the whole time of our ramble, we saw only three kangaroos, and five emus; and in some parts of the tall scrub were wallaby tracks.”)

Descending, we found the party left below in the dry bed of a watercourse had failed in their endeavour to procure water by digging; we, therefore, as we supposed, had no resource but to return, exhausted as we were, to the brackish water-pools we had seen in the Chapman or Greenough.

NATIVE WELL AND BURIAL PLACE.

Happily, however, our dog discovered a deep hole under a drooping gum, which proved to be a native well, and after clearing and digging deeper, afforded our thirst relief.  The soil through which this well was sunk was a light alluvial deposit, based on sand six feet below the surface.  Numerous native paths and deep holes, from which the warran root had been extracted, encircle this spot; some neighbouring huts of a superior structure gave us snug quarters for the night; Wizard Peak bearing South 50 seconds East about a mile distant.