After having made a sketch of this head (see the accompanying plate) I returned to the party and, as I had not been able to find a path which would lead us across the sandstone ridge, we continued our course round it, retracing our steps until we reached the stream which had been crossed this morning, and then moved westward, keeping along its southern bank until we had turned the sandstone range and reached another stream running from the south, which we traced up in the direction of its source, travelling through a series of basaltic valleys of so luxuriant a character that those of the party who were not very tall travelled, as they themselves expressed it, between two high green walls, over which they could not see; and these green walls were composed of rich grass which the ponies ate with avidity.  On a subsequent occasion when we visited this valley we had to call to one another in order to ascertain our relative positions when only a few yards apart; and yet the vegetation was neither rank nor coarse, but as fine a grass as I have ever seen.

REFLECTIONS.

We halted for the night in one of these lovely valleys; a clear stream bubbled along within about fifty yards of us and, about a mile beyond, two darkly-wooded basaltic hills raised their heads, and between these and the stream our ponies were feeding in grass higher than themselves.  I sat in the fading light, looking at the beautiful scenery around me, which now for the first time gladdened the eyes of Europeans; and I wondered that so fair a land should only be the abode of savage men; and then I thought of the curious paintings we had this day seen, of the timid character of the natives, of their anomalous position in so fertile a country, and wondered how long these things were to be.  With so wide a field of conjecture before me, thought naturally thronged on thought, and the night was far advanced ere I laid down to seek repose from the fatigues of the day.

DEEP STREAM.

March 27.

The ponies having been routed out of their long and excellent feed, amongst which indeed it was no easy matter to find them, we moved on.  I could not but reflect how different our position and the condition of the ponies would have been had we known as much of the country at first starting as we did at present; but these reflections were now useless.  With the exception of one small rocky valley, the whole of our morning’s journey was through a rich and fertile country until we reached a deep stream, thirty or forty yards wide and apparently navigable for large boats up to this point; it ran away to the westward, but with a current scarcely perceptible.

DIFFICULT APPROACH TO IT.