286 SCIENTIFIC EXCURSIONS IN NEW HOLLAND, 
too hasty a conclusion thence to argue that this animal has 
ever inhabited New Holland in a living state. Rather, I 
should suppose, that the basaltic system has materially aided 
in heaving this continent above the waters; and it appears 
likely that the bones may have been deposited there while 
the continent was still in a submerged state, wafted thither 
from India or the large islands between that Peninsula and 
New Holland. 
The Darling Downs are 1450 feet above the level of the 
- sea; and the nights feel very chilly even during September 
and October. 'The slope down towards Moreton Bay is 
very rapid and similar to that of New England to Macquarrie 
Harbour. Immediately on entering the basin of the Bris- 
bane River, vegetation assumes a more vigorous aspect, and 
the trees grow higher and at wider intervals. The sides of 
the mountains, the banks of the streams and rivers, are clad 
with almost impervious brushwood. 
From Moreton Bay, in a northerly direction, Bunya- 
Bunya, my present sphere of action, lies sixty miles distant. 
This place is so named from the quantity of Araucaria* 
or Bunya Bunya, which grows here in the mountain brushes. 
From this spot a quarter of an hour takes me to the virgin 
forest or to one of the creek bushes, flowing from the Bunya 
mountains, which latter separate the valley of the Brisbane 
from that of Wide Bay River. The direction of these 
mountains is east and west; they join the coast range and 
ramify considerably towards the south, and upon their sides 
spring many streams, tributary to the Brisbane. Dixon's 
map is most erroneous, as regards the part north of Moreton 
Bay. 'The rockis of various kinds, especially syenite and 
granite; quartz seems entirely absent to the east of the 
chain and at Mount Brisbane, where Hornblende and Field- 
spar prevail or prophyritie Hornblende. There is still 
another Fieldspar rock, often seen in the rivulets of these 
mountains, and probably belonging to the epoch of the Glass- 
houses, a name given to five fantastically formed solitary 
* Araucaria Bidwilli, Hook, See vol, 2, p. 498, Tabs. 18 and 19 for à 
description and figure of this remarkable coniferous plant. - 
