496 GREGORY'S NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. [June 22, 1857. 



42. Peak Downs, as seen from the western range, extended N.W. 

 and S.E. for about 60 miles, with a breadth exceeding 30 miles, 

 consisting of gently undulating plains of rich black soil, well grassed. 

 These plains are separated by belts of thick scrub ; the prevailing 

 rock, basalt and limestone. The absence of the surface water will, 

 however, prove a serious drawback to this otherwise fine tract of 

 country. 



43. This scarcity of water obliged the party to skirt the S. W. limit 

 of the open country, and much brigalow scrub was encountered. 



44. On the 15th November reached the left bank of the " Mac- 

 kenzie" River, about 15 miles above its junction with "Comet" 

 River. 



45. Being nearly on the latitude of Port Curtis, I steered an 

 easterly course through a succession of dense scrubs, and on the 

 22nd November reached Messrs. Fitz and Connor's station on the 

 Dawson River, where we experienced a most hospitable reception. 



46. It now only remained for me to connect the route of the expe- 

 dition with some known point on the surveys of the district, and I 

 proceeded to Mr. Hay's station, near which the Crown lands com- 

 missioner of the district was encamped ; but as the duties of this 

 department have little reference to the geographical features of the 

 country, the position of the stations could not be ascertained. Mr. 

 Wiseman, however, afforded me all the information in his power, 

 and I consequently proceeded fifty miles by the road to Gladstone 

 to obtain bearings to Mount Larcom and other hills near Port 

 Curtis. The party travelled by the road through the Burnett Dis- 

 trict, and reached Brisbane on the 16th December, 1856. 



47. Extreme monotony characterises the physical features of the 

 whole country travelled by the Expedition from the Victoria to the 

 140th meridian, the interior appearing to consist of a table land of 

 sandstone formation, averaging 800 feet above the sea level, along 

 the edge of which small rivers take their rise, and traverse the short 

 space which intervenes between the table land and the ocean. 



48. This table land appears to form the continuation of the interior 

 desert which exists to the south of the Victoria, the geological 

 structure being the same, though from its greater proximity to the 

 coast, on the line traversed, causing a less arid climate, the soil 

 supports a greater amount of vegetation, and, consequently, it did 

 not exhibit those remarkable ridges of drifting sand which cha- 

 racterise the more inland portions. 



49. It was this inhospitable region, destitute of the requisites for 

 the support of the party, which compelled the expedition to deviate 

 so much towards the coast, and by following the northern slope take 



