On the opposite side were patches of open forest ground, but they did not extend to any distance.  After skirting the river about three miles, we crossed it in a shallow place, the bed of it being composed of blocks of water-worn granite.  The impediment offered by these blocks rendered it very difficult for our horses to pass, although the water was only from one to three feet deep.  Several of the horses fell in crossing this river; the one carrying my specimens fell three times, and my specimens and seeds received much damage, if they were not entirely spoiled.

The river here runs from the north-west.  We crossed it and entered the scrub, but not being able to get through it before dark, we tied our horses to trees, and slept by them all night.

July 27.

We were cutting through scrub nearly all day, and having recrossed the river, cut our way to the top of a high hill, which we could not avoid.  We found a patch of open ground 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,