17° THE NORTH-AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. 



excellent Mr. Hill to the upper tributaries of the Brisbane and Bruck, 

 thence over to the remarkable isolated mountains called the " Glass- 

 houses " by the settlers. At the latter place we found chiefly Port 

 Jackson plants, even TelratJieca amongst them ; a new Westringia re- 

 ceiving the name W. grandifolia ; but along the little running stream- 

 lets of the Brisbane Eiver we had a fine harvest of noble plants, many 

 of them already noticed before by Mr. Hill, who, with a most laudable 

 zeal, has devoted himself to the examination of the splendid forest- 

 vegetation that surrounds him at Moreton Bay. Amongst the plants 



/* 1 * * ft «~. * 



kites excelsa, Southwellia quadri/ida, 



follicles 



Mr 



points out, a parasite on Platycerium grande), and a climbing Peperomia, 

 deserve the greatest admiration. 



During the latter period of our journey, the plants increased to such 

 a number for the collection, that I was unable to describe from fresh 

 specimens at all; but during the earlier part of this section of the ex- 

 pedition, I found, particularly on Sundays, time for writing detailed 

 descriptions of the more interesting plants, which, as regards the gay 



_^ f* TT • T * i * -* - 



Mitrasacme 



the easily forgotten habitual characters of Eucalypti, was, I think, of 

 some importance. Up to this time I have finished upwards of five 

 hundred botanical descriptions. 



I regret to add that many of the specimens, after being carried for 

 such a distance by our packhorses, have suffered materially, above all 

 by breakage ; and when the rainy season set in, at our approach to the 

 east coast, I lost many specimens, or damaged them in drying, a pro- 

 cess which, after our long daily stages, was, in the humid evening air, 

 not easily accomplished, particularly as we could not load our poor 

 pack-animals in such a climate with large heavy tents, at the outset 

 from the Victoria River. Moreover we hoped to obtain new supplies 

 at the Albert River, so that I was unable to take more than half a 

 ream of light paper for securing specimens. In consequence of our not 

 meeting the schooner at the Gulf, I was, during the latter part of our 

 expedition, seriously impeded in my operations for want of material to 

 dry my plants ; still I am glad to state that 1 lost no species entirely ; 

 and it is due to Mr. Gregory's wise arrangements that I succeeded in 

 bringing my collections safely home. 



