SCIENTIFIC EXCURSIONS IN NEW HOLLAND. 283 
excellent harvest of rare plants ; but for want of books I have 
not yet correctly determined them. 
Liverpool Plains, one hundred and fifty miles from 
Glendon, were my next destination, and I soon after climbed 
the summit of the Liverpool Range, and had the pleasure of 
seeing the basin of the Hunter and Goulburn Rivers below 
me to the east; and immense plains, stretching far west- 
ward. The Liverpool range forms an immense basaltic 
ring round the basin of the Hunter, which latter is filled 
with sand-stone, pudding-stone, and conglomerate, incumbent 
on a bed of coal. Towards the coast, may be seen several 
basaltic dykes ; their course is from south-east to north- 
west; and it is easy to trace their connection with the 
Liverpool Range, and to find the centre for the antediluvian 
igneous actions in the Pacific Ocean. Near the Paterson 
rise mountains, containing some calcareous formation, among 
which I was assured that Trilobites and Orthoceratites have 
been found. I was not so fortunate as to see any, though 
I discovered several impressions of shells in calcareous sand- 
stone near the foot of Mount Royal. I have not yet ex- 
plored the basin of the Goulburn River, which is bounded on 
the west by granitic mountains ; but I hope to do so on my 
return from Moreton Bay. 
The Liverpool plains afford much novelty and interest to 
the Botanist. When I first traversed this singular district, 
an immense number of Composite were in flower ; and I made 
a small collection, limited by the want of plant papers, all 
I bad being some newspapers which the Messrs. Scott kindly 
gave me. It seems likely that these plains were originally 
the bed of a lake, or a chain of smalllakes, in which rose 
many islands, generally formed of sand-stone and clothed 
with a forest composed of various species of Eucalyptus. 
The Callitris is common and much employed for building 
bush huts. I passed the Mokka, the Peel, and two other 
rivers on my way, to settle awhile at the source of the 
Gwydir. Allthese so-called rivers are now but ponds in 
their nearly dried beds, and may be crossed almost dry shod. 
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