168 THE NORTH-AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. 



not sorry for the deviation, for I ascertained here that the Nonda of 

 Dr. Leichhardt is a new Chrysobalanaceous tree, and I got here also in 

 reach of the only Gnetaceous plant hitherto found in Australia. The 

 tract of country on the south-east side of the Gulf of Carpentaria is 

 densely covered with an open scrub of a Melaleuca* which seems to 

 pass, in better ground, gradually into Melaleucadendron. 



Crossing the dividing range between the waters of the Gulf of Car- 

 pentaria and those of the east coast, at the driest season, and hurried 

 along for want of water, I was tantalized in being unable to examine 

 thoroughly its vegetation; and unquestionably in these mountains 

 at a later day, a productive field will yet be found for the operations of 

 a botanist. Xanthorrhcea, perhaps X Australia, was here seen for the 

 first time; a curious Jacksonia, a splendid Pimelea, with long, red 

 spikes, some Dodonaas, two BauMnias, distinct from the north and 

 north-western species, a Boronia, a Grevillea ; and I snatched several 

 others up when the porphyritic and granitic rocks came in contact with 

 the sandstone. 



* 



The Burdikin furnished a large, flowering, pentaphyllous Triclwsan- 

 thes, a second species of Luffa, two Meliaceous trees, with eatable fruits, 

 an arborescent Abrus ?, Hakea purpurea, a Csesalpineous genus near to 

 Cassia, with long, septate pods, and the lower stamens enlarged at the 

 middle into a big, globular gland. But I missed, after all search, the 

 Lagenaria, mentioned here by the immortal discoverer of this import- 

 ant river, although we saw the calabashes with the aborigines. Nor 

 was I lucky enough to find here Osmunda, Sciadophyllum, or, on the 

 Carpentarian Gulf, the Eugenia, with large fruits, discovered by my 

 poor countryman. A narrow streamlet meanders through the broad, 

 sandy bed of the Burdikin River, throughout the year, a charming 

 sight to the wanderers of the desert, where we had so many a thirsty 

 day. The vegetation shows here for the greater part but little variety, 

 for the country along the River is an undulating pasture-land ; but from 

 the lower part of this River extends, in large tracts to the southward, 

 that complexity of bushes and thickets, called by the settlers " Brigalow 

 Scrub." Bad to traverse as it was for our packhorses, equally delightful 

 were these spots to me as a botanist. 



BrachycJriton Delabechei, B. populneum, and the Blatanus-like spe- 

 cies from the north coast, occurred here ; Acacias of various kinds, two 



* The " Broad-leaved Tea-tree " of Dr. Leichhardt. 



