THE INTERIOR OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 175 



r re- 



Zamici^, yeit, tea-trees, Jachmnice, etc. In less than three miles the 

 width of the open water had contracted to 100 yards, and a consider- 

 able peninsula, thickly covered with high grass, was projected by it to 

 the eastward. Hereabouts several large grassy tributaries were added, 

 and a little higher up a dry rocky ledge connecting the two banks ob- 

 liquely, enabled us to cross to the right bank. The land on that side 

 however was found to be so rocky and steep that we soon afterwards 

 recrossed, and finally encamped on one of the above-mentioned tribu- 

 taries, at the first fresh-water hole we had discovered in connection with 

 the river. Grass was here In ample sufficiency for our wants ; and the 

 river itself, which had now dwindled to a very brackish tea-tree brook, 

 five yards across, wound its tortuous way through a well-grassed flat a 

 quarter to half a mile wide. Eed cliffs occasionally broke out on the 

 hill-sides thus far, and the land on either side of the river*s valley had 

 all the flat-topped appearance of the sandstone formation ; but granite 

 or gneiss was the prevailing rock on the lower levels, with occasional 

 veins of quartz through it, to the thickness of a foot. All our spare 

 time was now dii'ccted to the horses' backs and feet, for the former 

 quired constant attention, especially to protect them from the flies, 

 whilst many of their shoes were loose, and some cast altogether. To 

 make good these defects, in the rough country we were in, was most 

 essential, but the practical knowledge of farriery amongst the whole 

 party was small; necessity however proved as usual an excellent as- 

 sistant in overcoming difficulties, and, without laming a single horse, 

 Mr. Gregory soon became an excellent farrier. 



On essaying to follow up the river on the 15th, so many branches 

 here fell in that it was not easy to decide on the principal one; but in 

 such a case I deferred to the native's judgment, and kept to a valley 

 from the N.N.W. At the end of a mile a larger tributary than usual, 

 containing considerable pools of open water, joined from the eastward, 

 and appeared to me to be the main branch ; for that which we followed 

 to the N.N.W. soon diminished in importance, and ascended rapidly 

 in a rough granite bed, between somewhat steep rocky banks. Al- 

 though grass still covered the slopes of the narrow valley which con- 

 tained the river, the latter was so much reduced in size and character that . 

 I deemed it no longer worth following, and at ten miles from its mouth 

 quitted it, for the purpose of making a further examination of the cs- 

 tuarv; for, as that neighbourhood presented indications of coal, I was 



