and Balfouria? an apocynaceous tree.  And again we passed over box and apple-gum flats, which, by their rich verdure, refreshed the eye tired with the uniform yellow colour of the dry grass, in which the whole country was clothed.  We saw the bush fires of the natives every where around us; and many large tracts which had been recently burnt.  The sun was getting very low, and my patients were very tired, and yet no water was to be seen.  Cumuli, which had been gradually collecting from one o’clock in the afternoon, cast their shadows over the forest, and deceived the eye into the belief that the desired creek was before us.  At last, however, to our infinite satisfaction, we entered into a scrub, formed of low stunted irregularly branched tea-trees, where we found a shallow water-course, which gradually enlarged into deep holes, which were dry, with the exception of one which contained just a sufficient supply of muddy water to form a stepping-stone for the next stage.  Our latitude was 17 degrees 19 minutes 36 seconds.

July 14.—­We travelled about eleven miles S.S.W. to latitude 17 degrees 28 minutes 11 seconds, over an immense box-flat, interrupted only by some plains and by two tea-tree creeks; the tea-trees were stunted and scrubby like those of our last stage.  At the second creek we passed an old camping place of the natives, where we observed a hedge of dry branches, and, parallel to it, and probably to the leeward, was a row of fire places.  It seemed that the natives sat and lay between the fires and the row of branches.  There were, besides, three huts of the form of a bee-hive, closely thatched with straw and tea-tree bark.  Their only opening was so small, that a man could scarcely creep through it; they were four or five feet high, and from eight to ten feet in diameter. [A hut of this description, but of smaller dimensions, is described by Capt.  King, at the North Goulburn Island.—­King’s Voyage, vol.  I. p. 72.] One of the huts was storied, like those I noticed on the banks of the Lynd.  It would appear that the natives make use of these tents during the wet and cold season, but encamp in the open air in fine weather.

A brown wallabi and a bustard were shot, which enabled us to save some of our meat.  We encamped at a fine long water-hole, in the bed of a scrubby creek.

July 15.—­Mr. Roper’s illness increased so much that he could not even move his legs, and we were obliged to carry him from one place to another; I therefore, stopt here two days, to allow him to recover a little.

July 17.—­We travelled about ten miles south 55 degrees west over an almost uninterrupted box and Melaleuca flat, free from melon-holes and grassy swamps, but full of holes, into which our horses and bullocks sank at every step, which sadly incommoded our wounded companions.