May 15.—­We returned to our camp.  The natives [These natives are probably the same as, or are connected with, the tribe that frequent Rockingham Bay, who have always been noticed for their friendly bearing in communications with ships visiting that place.  Rockingham Bay is situated due east from the position of Dr. Leichhardt’s party.—­Note by Capt.  King.] had visited my companions, and behaved very amicably towards them, making them not only presents of spears and wommalas, but supplying them with seed-vessels of Nymphaea, and its mealy roasted stems and tubers, which they were in the habit of pounding into a substance much resembling mashed potatoes.  They took leave of my companions to go to the sea-coast, pointing to the east and east by south, whither they were going to fetch shells, particularly the nautilus, of which they make various ornaments.

May 16 and 17.—­We moved our camp about twenty miles N.N.W. to latitude 18 degrees 16 minutes 37 seconds, to one of the head brooks of Big Ant-hill Creek.  We travelled the whole distance over the basaltic table-laud without any impediment.  The natives approached our camp, but retired without any communication.

I had not found any westerly waters on my ride of the 13th, but had seen a range to the north-west, and that was the goal of a new exploration.  As we had been fortunate enough to find water at the contact of the primitive and basaltic formation, I wished to follow the same line of contact as long as it would not carry us much out of our course.  We crossed, in a northerly direction, several granitic ranges which ran out into the table land, and were separated from each other by very large swamps, at the time mostly dry, and covered with a short withered swamp grass, but bearing the marks of frequent inundations.  The bed of these swamps was perfectly level, and formed by an uninterrupted sheet of basalt.  Chains of water-holes between the ranges, which I hoped would lead me to creeks, were lost in the level of these swamps; indeed, these granitic ranges were remarkably destitute of watercourses.  The coarse elements of the decomposed rock, principally pegmatite, had formed uniform slopes, in which even heavy showers of rain were readily absorbed; but rounded blocks of rock, sometimes curiously piled, protruded from the granitic sands.  Pandanus spiralis fringed the scattered water-holes; and Grevillea chrysodendron, (R.  Br.) formed a wreath, of pale silver-colour, round the swamps, but grew on sandy soil.  White cranes, the ibis, geese, native companions, and plovers, were very numerous; and the large ant-hills scattered through the forest at the foot of the hills, looked like so many wigwams.