July 4.—­We travelled seven miles in a south-west direction, to lat. 16 degrees 15 minutes 11 seconds, over an entirely flat country, covered with a very open forest of box, of bloodwood, and of the stiff-leaved Melaleuca, with the arborescent Grevillea already mentioned, and with a species of Terminalia with winged fruit.  In the more sandy tracts of bloodwood forest, grew the Nonda, the Pandanus, and the apple-gum.  The shallow creek was surrounded by a scrub of various myrtaceous trees, particularly Melaleucas.  The creek afterwards divided into water-holes, fringed with Stravadium, which, however, lower down gave way to dense belts of Polygonum.  The water was evidently slightly brackish; the first actual sign of the vicinity of the sea.  A young emu was killed with the assistance of Spring; and a sheldrake was shot by Brown.  Native companions were very numerous, and were heard after sunset, all round our camp.  The stomach of the emu was full of a small plant resembling chickweed, which grew round the water-holes.

The smoke of the natives’ fires was seen to the south and south-west.

July 5.—­We travelled over full twenty miles of country, although the distance from camp to camp, in a straight line, did not exceed fourteen, in a south by west direction; the latitude of our new camp was 16 degrees 27 minutes 26 seconds.  After passing several miles of tea-tree forest, intermixed with box, and alternating with belts of grassy forest land, with bloodwood and Nonda, we entered upon a series of plains increasing in size, and extending to the westward as far as the eye could reach, and separated from each other by narrow strips of forest; they were well-grassed, but the grasses were stiff.  Tea-tree hollows extended along the outskirts of the plains.  In one of them, we saw Salicornia for the first time, which led us to believe that the salt water was close at hand.  Having crossed the plains, we came to broad sheets of sand, overgrown with low shrubby tea-trees, and a species of Hakea, which always grows in the vicinity of salt water.  The sands were encrusted with salt, and here and there strewed with heaps of Cytherea shells.  Beyond the sands, we saw a dense green line of mangrove trees extending along a salt water creek, which we headed, and in which Brown speared the first salt water mullet.  We then came to a fine salt water river, whose banks were covered with an open well grassed forest; interrupted only by flat scrubby sandy creeks, into which the tide entered through narrow channels, and which are probably entirely inundated by the spring tides.  Not finding any fresh water along the river I went up one of the creeks, and found fresh water-holes, not in its bed, but parallel to it, scarcely a mile from the river.  When crossing the plains, the whole horizon appeared to be studded with smoke from the various fires of the natives; and when we approached the river, we noticed many well beaten footpaths of the natives, who are found generally in greater numbers and stronger tribes near the sea coast, where the supply of food is always more abundant and certain.