Exocarpus latifolius is so different from E. cupressiformis, in its foliage and aspect, that I did not suspect their near relation, until I found blossom and fruit:  the ripe kernel as well as its yellow succulent leaf-stalk have a very agreeable taste; a leguminous shrub, about five or six feet high, with purple blossoms gathered into terminal oblong heads; this would be an ornament to our gardens.  Along the river we discovered a large tree, about forty or fifty feet in height, with rather singularly disposed horizontal branches and rich dark green foliage; its leaves were oblong acute, and frequently a foot long; its flowers formed dense heads, which grew into a fleshy body marked with the arcoles of every flower.  It is either Sarcocephalus or Zuccarinia, or nearly allied to them.  The tree has never been seen on easterly waters, but it was the invariable companion of all the larger freshwater rivers round the gulf.  A fine species of Gomphrena was found in the sandy bed of the river.  A species of Terminalia, a fine shady tree, with spreading branches and broad elliptical leaves, grew along the sandy creeks; and another smaller one with Samara fruit preferred the rocky slopes.  Both of these, and a third species growing on the west side of the gulph, which I shall have to mention hereafter, supplied us with fine eatable gum, and a fourth species, with smooth leaves, had an eatable fruit of a purple colour.

The view I obtained from one of the hills near our yesterday’s camp was very characteristic.  The country was broken by low ranges of various extent, formed by exceedingly rocky hills and peaks, which lifted their rugged crests above the open forest that covered their slopes.  Heaps of rocks with clusters of trees, particularly the smooth-leaved fig tree, the rose-coloured Sterculia, Exocarpus latifolius, were scattered over the slopes, or grew on the summits, to which they gave the resemblance of the lifted crest of an irritated cockatoo, particularly when huge fantastic blocks were striking out between the vegetation.  As we travelled along, ranges of hills of this character appeared one after another; to which wallums and wallabies fled for security as we scared them from the river’s side; the rose-breasted cockatoo (Cocatua Eos, Gould.) visited the patches of fresh burnt grass, in large flocks; bustards were numerous on the small flats between basaltic hillocks, where they fed on the ripe fruit of Grewia.

On the evening of the 27th May, we killed one of our bullocks, which had suffered more than any of the others by the journey, in consequence of his having carried our ammunition, which had decreased comparatively little, and the great weight of which had raised large lumps on his ribs, which had formed into ulcers.  We were very disagreeably disappointed in not finding sufficient fat to fry the liver, which was our favourite dish; even the fat of the marrow had disappeared and had left a watery tissue, which, when grilled for some time, turned into a yellow substance, having the taste of the fried yolk of an egg.  We dried our meat on the 28th, 29th, and 30th.  I took a set of lunar sights, and calculated my longitude 143 degrees 30 minutes.