The bed of the river appeared to continue for some distance through a deep gully formed by precipitous hills.

In the wet season this is doubtless a very considerable stream; and then perhaps the water is fresh as low as the upper part of the first reach.

At this time the holes in the rocks were filled with fresh water but the tide flowed up as far as it was navigable for our boat.

The trees on the tops and sides of the hills had lately been burned: in the shady parts however near the water, the shore was lined with several plants which had escaped destruction; among them was a species of nutmeg (Myristica insipida, Brown), a tree of twenty-five feet high (Maba laurina, Brown), and on the top of the hills and shelving places halfway down were observed several coniferous trees that resembled the Callitris ventenat, or Australian cypress, which grows in the interior of the colony at Port Jackson: they were at this season in fruit.
A steep peaked hill near our landing-place was named Donkin's Hill after the inventor of the preserved meats; upon a canister of which our party dined.

This invention is now so generally known that its merits do not require to be recorded here; we had lately used a case that was preserved in 1814 which was equally good with some that had been packed up in 1818.
This was the first time it had been employed upon our boat excursions and the result fully answered every expectation, as it prevented that excessive and distressing thirst from which, in all other previous expeditions, we had suffered very much.
On our return we landed at the spring.