We passed a camp of natives, who vere very much alarmed at the report of a gun, which Mr. Gilbert happened to fire when very near them; this he did in his anxiety to procure a pair of Geophaps plumifera, for his collection.  These pretty little pigeons had been first observed by Brown in the course of our yesterday’s stage, who shot two of them, but they were too much mutilated to make good specimens.  We frequently saw them afterwards, but never more than two, four, or six together, running with great rapidity and with elevated crest over the ground, and preferring the shady rocks along the sandy bed of the river.  I tried several methods to render the potatoes, which we had found in the camps of the natives, eatable; but neither roasting nor boiling destroyed their sickening bitterness.  At last, I pounded and washed them, and procured their starch, which was entirely tasteless, but thickened rapidly in hot water, like arrow-root; and was very agreeable to eat, wanting only the addition of sugar to make it delicious; at least so we fancied.

June 8.—­We travelled about nine miles west-north-west.  The country was in general open, with soft ground on the more extensive flats; although sandstone ranges approached the river in many places.  Four good-sized creeks entered the river from the southward.  The sandstone, or psammite, was composed of large grains of quartz mixed with clay of a whitish red or yellow colour; it frequently formed steep cliffs and craggy rugged little peaks.

The stringy-bark grew to a fine size on the hills, and would yield, together with Ironbark and the drooping tea-tree, the necessary timber for building.  A new species of Melaleuca and also of Boronia were found, when entering upon the sandstone formation.

The wind for the last few days has been westerly; cumuli forming during the day, dissolved towards sunset; the days were very hot, the nights mild and dry.  It was evident that we had descended considerably into the basin of the gulf.

June 9.—­We travelled about ten miles north-west.  Box-tree flats, of more or less extent, were intercepted by abrupt barren craggy hills composed of sandstone, which seemed to rest on layers of argillaceous rock.  The latter was generally observed at the foot of the hills and in the bed of the river; it had in most places been worn by the action of water.  The stringy-bark became even numerous on the flats, in consequence of the more sandy nature of the soil:  but the hills were scrubby, and Mr. Gilbert reported that he had even seen the Bricklow.  The grass of the Isaacs grew from twelve to fifteen feet high, in the hollows near the river, which was, as usual, fringed with Sarcocephalus; a species of Terminalia; the drooping tea-tree; and with an Acacia which perfumed the air with the fragrant odours of its flowers.  We gathered some blossoms of the drooping tea-tree, which were full of honey, and, when soaked, imparted a very agreeable sweetness to the water.  We frequently observed great quantities of washed blossoms of this tree in the deserted camps of the natives; showing that they were as fond of the honey in the blossoms of the tea-tree, as the natives of the east coast are of that of the several species of Banksia.