the expedition as a volunteer; that to the north-north-west, Mount Forster, after Lieutenant Forster, of the Navy; and the lofty range before mentioned to the eastward was distinguished by the name of Arbuthnot’s Range, after the Right Hon. C. Arbuthnot, of His Majesty’s Treasury.  The two first mentioned hills are entirely of granite, from one and a half to two miles long, by half a mile to one mile wide:  their formation must be considered a most singular geological phenomenon, detached as they are by an immense space from all mountainous ranges, and rising from the midst of a soft alluvial soil.  Small pieces of granite were in several places thrown into heaps, as if by human means; and their whole surfaces were covered with similar pieces, detached from the solid mass to which they had once belonged.  If I might hazard a conjecture, I should attribute to them a volcanic origin:  I think, on examination, their constituent parts will be found to have undergone the action of fire, by which they have been fused together.  To those conversant in the structure of the earth, and with the means used by nature to accomplish her purposes, these singular hills may offer a subject for curious inquiry.  The natives appear numerous in these regions of apparent desolation:  we fell in with several parties in the course of the day, in the whole probably not less than forty, and many fires were seen to the north.  Being a mile or two ahead of our party in a thick brush, I came suddenly upon three men; two ran off with the greatest speed; the third, who was older and a little lame, first threw his firestick at me, and next (seeing me still advance) a waddie, but with such agitation, that though not more than a dozen paces distant, he missed both me and my horse.  I returned to my party, and in company with them surprised the native camp; we found there eight women and twelve children, just on the point of departing with their infants in their cloaks on their backs:  on seeing us, they seized each other by the hand, formed a circle, and threw themselves on the ground, with their heads and faces covered.  Unwilling to add to their evident terror, we only remained a few minutes, during which time the children frequently peeped at us from beneath their clothes; indeed, they seemed more surprised than alarmed:  the mothers kept uttering a low and mournful cry, as if entreating mercy.  In the camp were several spears, or rather lances, as they were much too ponderous to be thrown by the arm; these were jagged:  there were also some elamongs (shields), clubs, chisels, and several workbags filled with every thing necessary for the toilet of a native belle; namely, paint and feathers, necklaces of teeth, and nets for the head, with thread formed of the sinews of the opossum’s tail for making their cloaks.  The men belonging to the camp were heard shouting at no great distance:  their affection for their families was not, however, sufficiently powerful to induce them to attempt their rescue from the hands