296 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE 



gallons I have mentioned : parts, however, that 1 examined, 

 had an admixture of the debris of the sandstone rocks that are 

 found in decomposing masses at the base of the distant 

 boundary hills. 



*' The prevailing vegetation that clothes these fertile plains, 

 and where exuberance of growth was obvious to all, were of 

 the following species : — 



Ajuga australis, Ranunculus lappaceus, 



Plantago Stntthionis, Imperata arundinacea, 



Xeranthemmn hracteaium^ Chloris sp., 

 Centaurea occidentalism Danthonia gigantea, 



Scorzonera sp.^ Indigofera sp., and the proof 



Galium aparine, of a permanent marsh, 



Dianella ensifolia. Lobelia inundata, 



Dalea sp., Mimulus gracilis, 



Podolepis rugata, Xjrratiola latifolia, 



Itumex dumosus, Cyperus sp., 



Campanula gracilis, Arundo Phragmitis. 



"Although I determined (trigonometrically,) the heights of 

 several of the leading features of the boundary hills, of which 

 no one exceeded eight hundred feet above the common plane 

 of the circumjacent country, I had nevertheless to regret I 

 could not ascertain the approximate elevation (not having a 

 barometer,) of these great plains above the surface of the 

 ocean ; however, taking the actual barometrical admeasure- 

 ment of the downs of Bathurst as a datum, and then using the 

 results of the attentive observations of Mr Oxley, of the fall 

 of the country to Wellington Valley, at four hundred feet 

 below the settlement, and my own of the gradual rise again 

 of the land to Pandora's Pass, through the mountain range 

 that divides Liverpool Plains from Hunter's River, I feel 

 confident in the assertion, that the height of these extensive 

 levels will, when actually measured, prove to be 2400 or 2500 

 feet above the sea." 



The three last months of the year 1825 were spent in the 

 vicinity of Wellington Valley, where a circuit of about one 

 hundred and fifty miles on each side of the Macquarie River, 



