MAMMELOID HILLS.

At length this stream was joined by two others coming through similar grassy valleys from the south; and when we approached two lofty smooth round hills, green to their summits, the united streams flowed in an open dell which our carts rolled through without meeting any impediment.  I ascended the most western of these hills as it was a point which I had observed from various distant stations, and I enjoyed such a charming view eastward from the summit as can but seldom fall to the lot of the explorers of new countries.  The surface presented the forms of pristine beauty clothed in the hues of spring; and the shining verdure of these smooth and symmetrical hills was relieved by the darker hues of the wood with which they were interlaced; which exhibited every variety of tint, from a dark brown in the foreground to a light blue in extreme distance.

LAVA, THE SURFACE ROCK.

The hills consisted entirely of lava and I named them from their peculiar shape the Mammeloid hills, and the station on which I stood Mount Greenock.  In travelling through this Eden no road was necessary, nor any ingenuity in conducting wheel-carriages wherever we chose.  The beautiful little terrestrial orchidaceous plants Caladenia dilatata and Diuris aurea were already in full bloom; and we also found on the plains this day a most curious little bush resembling a heath in foliage, but with solitary polypetalous flowers resembling those of Sollya.* When we had completed fourteen miles we encamped on the edge of an open plain and near a small rivulet, the opposite bank consisting of grassy forest land.

(Footnote.  This has been ascertained to be a new species of the genus Campylanthera of Hooker, or Pronaya of Baron Hugel, of which two species were found by the latter botanist and the late Mr. Frazer at Swan River.  Campylanthera ericoides, Lindley manuscripts; erecta, fruticosa, glabra, foliis oblongo-cuneatis mucronatis margine revolutis, floribus solitariis terminalibus erectis, antheris subrotundis.)

ABORIGINAL IMITATIONS.

September 27.

I was surprised to hear the voice of a Scotchwoman in the camp this morning.  The peculiar accent and rapid utterance could not be mistaken as I thought, and I called to inquire who the stranger was, when I ascertained that it was only Tommy Came-last who was imitating a Scotch female who, as I then learnt, was at Portland Bay and had been very kind to Tommy.  The imitation was ridiculously true through all the modulations of that peculiar accent although, strange to say, without the pronunciation of a single intelligible word.  The talent of the aborigines for imitation seems a peculiar trait in their character.  I was informed that The Widow could also amuse the men occasionally by enacting their leader, taking angles, drawing from nature, etc.