Proceeding accordingly about south-west, we crossed at less than a mile from our camp the dry bed of a circular lake.  The ground on the eastern shore was full of wombat holes which had been made in a stratum of compact tuff about a foot in thickness.  The tuff was irregularly cavernous and it was loose, calcareous, or friable in the lower part where the wombats had made their burrows.  On the opposite margin of this dry lake the surface was covered with concretions of indurated marl; and the burrows of the wombat were even more numerous there than in the other bank; the stratum of compact tuff occurring also and being three feet in thickness.

RED LAKE.

At 2 1/4 miles we came upon the shores of Red lake which I so named from the colour of a weed growing upon its margin.  The lake was nearly a mile in length and half a mile broad; the water was so slightly brackish that reeds grew upon the borders which were frequented by many swans and ducks.  A very symmetrical bank overlooked the eastern shore, the ground on the westward being low and wooded with the ordinary trees of the country.  We next crossed a flat of dry white sand on which banksia grew thickly; and then we reached some low white sandhills on which were stunted ironbark trees (eucalypti).  In the higher part of those hills we crossed a small dry hollow or lake which had also its bank on the eastern side.

SMALL LAKES OF FRESH WATER.

At the end of 5 1/2 miles we passed two small lakes of fresh water about half a mile to the right and, soon after, another about the same distance to the left.  On completing seven miles we crossed a low ridge of white sand on which grew stunted trees of stringybark and black-butted gumtrees (both belonging to the genus eucalyptus).  Beyond this we crossed a country in which wet, reedy swamps of fresh water, white sandhills, and fine flats of good forest land occurred alternately.  Towards the end of our day’s journey, the barren sandhills seemed to prevail, but at length we descended from them rather suddenly to a smooth firm plain, clothed with the finest grass and on the edge of this we pitched our tents for the night.

July 26.

We proceeded through a thick fog and found the plain studded with clumps of casuarinae.  About a mile from the camp we came upon an extensive swamp or lake, full of grass and rushes.  Turning this by the left we crossed some more good country, and then reached the banks of an extensive lagoon, also full of green rushes and water.  The western bank was high and consisted of rich grassy land, very open; a small stream of water fell into the lake on the north-west side, and another on the south-east.  It was surrounded by lofty gum trees and had a wood on the south and east.  We met with sandhills and stunted timber beyond.  They enclosed a long grassy flat covered with water, stretching away to the south-east.  We next entered on a fine flat of forest land bounded by a low ridge with Callitris pyramidalis, or pine trees.