Character of the scenery.  Geological phenomena.

The romantic scenery of this narrow glen could not be surpassed.  Its width at bottom was not more than forty or fifty feet, on each side rose cliffs of sandstone between three and four hundred feet high and nearly perpendicular; lofty paper-bark trees grew here and there, and down the middle ran a beautiful stream of clear, cool water, which now gushed along, a murmuring mountain torrent, and anon formed a series of small cascades.  As we ascended higher the width contracted; the paper-bark trees disappeared; and the bottom of the valley became thickly wooded with wild nutmeg and other fragrant trees.  Cockatoos soared, with hoarse screams, above us, many-coloured parakeets darted away, filling the woods with their playful cries, and the large white pigeons which feed on the wild nutmegs cooed loudly to their mates, and battered the boughs with their wings as they flew away.

The spot I chose to halt at for the night was at the foot of a lofty precipice of rocks, from which a spring gushed forth.  Those who had accompanied us from the camp now returned, leaving me and the two soldiers alone and about to penetrate some distance into an utterly unknown country.  We were each provided with ten days’ provisions and, confident in the steadiness and courage of my men, I had not the slightest anxiety—­feeling that as long as we maintained a cool and determined bearing the natives would make no attacks upon us that we could not repel.

We soon erected a little hut of bark, then kindled a fire and cooked our supper, consisting of tea and two white pigeons which we had shot; and by the time our repast was finished it was nearly dark.  My companions laid down to sleep:  I remained up for a short time to think alone in the wilderness, and then followed their example.

Ascent of A glen.

December 18.

At break of day we were again upon our route, which lay up the valley we had slept in; but, as each of us carried ten days’ provisions and a day’s water, besides our arms, the progress we made in a tropical climate, when thus laden, was necessarily slow and laborious; but the beauty of the landscape and the solicitude we all felt to see more of this unexplored land cheered us on.

Tableland at the summit.

Having at length reached the tableland which this valley drained we found ourselves in the midst of a forest, differing widely from anything we had before seen.  The soil beneath our feet was sandy and thickly clothed with spinifex (a prickly grass) which in spite of our thick trousers slightly but continually wounded our legs.  The trees were lofty and some of them of considerable circumference; but the trunks of all were charred and blackened by constant fires:  this circumstance, and their slight and thin, yet strikingly graceful foliage, gave them a most picturesque appearance.