FORD OF WALLANBURRA.

The passage between it and the river was not very safe for the carts, so that we made a detour on leaving the camp, and did not again see the Peel until we arrived near the ford of Wallanburra, distant from Perimbungay 4 1/4 miles.  The bed of the river was here broad and gravelly; and the banks on each side were low, qualities most essential to a good ford, but by no means common on the Peel.  Two emus, the first we had seen on this journey, were drinking on the opposite side, as we approached the ford, but they ran away on seeing the party.  The current was strong, though the water did not reach above the axles of the carts, and by half-past seven A.M. everything was safe on the other side of the Peel.  On quitting the immediate banks of the river, we passed through a forest of the tree resembling pine (Callitris) with bushes of the Acacia pendula interspersed.  There was also a tree new to us, having a small round leaf.

PLAINS OF MULLUBA.

After proceeding six miles, we reached the borders of an extensive open tract, named Mulluba.  It could scarcely bear the usual designation of plain (the term applied in New South Wales to almost all land free from trees) for the undulations were as great as those which occur between London and Hampstead, and, indeed, the whole territory bore a remarkable resemblance to an enclosed and cultivated country.  The ridges, of the kind already described, I observed in directions, both with the slopes, and across them, exactly resembling furrows in fallow land.  Trees grew in rows, as if connected with field enclosures, and parts, where bushes or grass had been recently burnt, looked red or black, thus contributing to the appearance of cultivation.  The soil was, indeed, well worthy of being cultivated, for it consisted of a rich black mould, so loose and deep that it yawned in cracks, as if for want of feet to tread it down.  It appeared very probable however that in wet weather such parts of the country might be too soft for the passage of carts.  I then supposed the ridge on our left might be that called Hardwick’s range, by Oxley; its general direction being about 20 degrees westward of north.  We at length reached the remarkable opening in that range, which I had observed from Perimbungay, and passing through it, over a narrow flat, we arrived at a low woody country westward of these ranges.  Having now travelled sixteen miles, I was anxious to encamp here, but we could not, at first, find any watercourse; and one small, dry channel appeared to be the only line of drainage in wet weather from the extensive open country of Mulluba.  It struck me at the time that much might be done to remedy the natural disadvantages, whether of a superfluity of water lodging on the plains in rainy seasons, or of too great a scarcity of moisture in dry weather.  Channels might be cut in the lines of natural drainage, which would serve to draw off the water from the plains, and concentrate and preserve a sufficient supply for use in times of drought, when it would not be obtained elsewhere.