248 



the oval fruit, of which I partook, is produced in great 

 quantities, and affords a grateful flavour. 



On reaching the confluence of the Bremer, the change in 

 the character of the country is very apparent. On each side 

 it is of the richest description, thinly w^ooded, and with 

 abundance of water. The left bank is formed of flats gently 

 sloping towards the Bremer, as well as towards a stream 

 called Six Mile Creek, which takes its source in the moun- 

 tains of Flinders' Peak. These flats are of the richest black 

 loam, and covered with an extraordinary species o^Angophora^ 

 and an unpublished kind of XanthorrhcBay which attains the 

 height of twenty feet, averaging not more than fifteen trees 

 to an acre. Over this tract we proceeded until we came to 

 the limestone formation at the navigable source of the 

 Bremer, a spot that will at no distant period be the principal 

 key to the internal commerce of this interesting portion oi 

 Australia. 



The River Bremer, at its confluence with the Brisbane, 

 may be estimated at forty yards wide, an extent which it 

 carries to within a mile of the limestone station. It is "^vi- 



_ ^ 



gable for seventeen miles above its junction vritli the Bris- 

 bane, for vessels drawing six feet water ; and as far as the 

 limestone, which is fifteen miles, for small sloops or schooners. 

 Numerous beds of coal, lying in veins of considerable thick- 

 ness, are adjacent to the lime : they jut out from the banks of 

 the streams, and fall into the Bremer within a few yards of 

 its tide mark. The lime 

 masses, intermingled with nodules of silex and chalk : on 



e 



the 



surface it presents ridges of detached portions, several oi 

 which are covered with hexahedral crystals, and in many 

 instances it is observed to form a remarkable conglomerate 

 with quartz and silex, while great quantities of chalcedony 

 and carnelian, broken into small fragments, lie scattered on 



the surface. 



The summits of the lime ridges are studded with various 

 species of Ficus, and many individuals of a genus belonging to 

 the MeliacecB. From Brisbane Town to the Limestone Sta- 

 tion, is estimated at 24 miles by land, and 50 miles by water- 



I 



I 



f 



i 



■ .^ - F- T_ 



