36 EXPLORATION OF THE MURCHISON, LYONS, AND [Nov. 8, 1858. 



its summit. This hill has an altitude of 1G88 feet above the sea, 

 and is formed by the eruption of a coarse dark-coloured crystalline 

 trap through a base of amorphous sandstone, the direction of the 

 range of which it forms a part being nearly north and south. 

 Skirting round the north end of this range we struck east over a 

 stony plain, thinly grassed, amongst open wattles, and at 5 miles 

 again came upon the Murchison some time after dark. The pools 

 here were somewhat larger than for many miles below, being from 

 60 to 80 yards wide and ^ a mile in length, the water in them 

 becoming decidedly brackish; samphire, atriplex, and other sal- 

 suglnous plants being abundant on the banks. 



27th April. — We only advanced 9 miles, owing to Mr. Moore and 

 Dugel having to return for one of the water-breakers, which had 

 been torn oif the pack-saddle the previous night in a thicket. 

 Towards our bivouac, which was in latitude 26° 23' 38", the country 

 near the river improved much, the channel of the river becoming 

 very shallow ; the water had spread over the flats for more than i a 

 mile on either side, large flooded gum trees growing abundantly, 

 with a fine sward of grass beneath, the soil being a rich brown clay 

 loam. Gallinule and cockatoos were in large flocks feeding on the 

 grass seeds, which were now nearly ripe. 



2Sth April. — To latitude 28^^ 07' the river continued to come from 

 north by east through an extensive plain, bounded on the west by a 

 low range of trap and granite hills, at an average distance of 6 or 

 7 miles, while to the eastward only a few distant peaks were visible, 

 flooded gum growing plentifully for more than a mile back from the 

 river, on flats of tolerably good pasture. Eeceding somewhat farther 

 from the river the country opens out into extensive plains, yielding 

 but little grass ; atriplex bush and thinly scattered stunted acacia 

 and melaleuca trees forming almost the entire vegetation. 



2^th Apnl. — A few miles nearly north brought us to where a con- 

 siderable tributary joins the Murchison from the north, the river 

 trending first north-east, then east, and finally, towards the after- 

 noon, it came from the southward of east, our bivouac being only 

 7 miles north of the previous night, while we had made nearly 18 

 miles of easting. The bed of the river had gradually become more 

 rocky as we ascended ; gneiss, with quartz dykes, passing through 

 it and yielding a large quantity of salt, rendered the running water 

 of the river scarcely drinkable : the only fresh water was found in 

 the back channels filled by the late inundations. The ranges which 

 ran parallel with the river to the westward terminated some miles 

 to the north of the bend. Another range apparently granitic and 

 broken up into detached peaks, commencing a little to the eastward 



