Nov. 30.—­The lower part of the creek on which we were encamped was covered with a thicket of Pandanus; but its upper part was surrounded by groves of the Livistona palm.  As our horses had been driven far from the camp by the grey horse-fly and by a large brown fly with green eyes, which annoyed us particularly before sunset, and shortly after sunrise, we had to wait a long time for them, and employed ourselves, in the meanwhile, with cutting and eating the tops of Livistona.  Many were in blossom, others were in fruit; the latter is an oblong little stone fruit of very bitter taste.  Only the lowest part of the young shoots is eatable, the remainder being too bitter.  I think they affected the bowels even more than the shoots of the Corypha palm.

We made a short Sunday stage through a fine forest, in which Livistona became more and more frequent.  We crossed several creeks going to the westward; the country became more hilly, and we followed a large creek with a good supply of rainwater, until it turned too much to the westward, when we encamped.  The clear night enabled me to make my latitude, by an observation of Castor, to be 12 degrees 21 minutes 49 seconds.  We had accomplished about five miles to the northward.

We saw two emus, and Charley was fortunate enough to shoot one of them; it was the fattest we had met with round the gulf.  During the clear, dewy night, flocks of geese and ducks passed from the west to the north-east, and I anticipated that the next stage would bring us again to large swamps.  The bed of the creek on which we encamped was composed of granitic rock.

CHAPTER XV

Joy at meeting natives speaking some English—­they are very
friendly—­Allamurr—­discernment of native Sincerity—­east alligator
river—­clouds of dust mistaken for smoke—­impatience to reach the end of
the journey—­natives still more intelligent—­Nyuall—­buffaloes; source
from which they sprung—­native guides engaged; but they Desert us—­mount
Morris bay—­raffles bay—­leave the packhorse and bullock behind—­Bill
white—­arrive at Port Essington—­voyage to Sydney.

Dec. 1.—­We travelled about eleven or twelve miles to the northward, for the greater part through forest land, large tracts of which were occupied solely by Livistona.  A species of Acacia and stringy-bark saplings formed a thick underwood.  The open lawns were adorned by various plants, amongst which we noticed a species of Drosera, with white and red blossoms? a Mitrasacme; a narrow-leaved Ruellia, the white primrose, the red prostrate malvaceous plant, a low shrubby Pleurandra, and an orchideous plant—­one of the few representatives of this family in the Australian tropics; the most interesting, however, was a prostrate Grevillea, with oblong smooth leaves, and with thyrsi of fine scarlet flowers; which I consider to be Grevillea Goodii, R. Br.