THE VALLEY OF THE MEW. 817 



and its line is marked by a belt of tang-led brush 

 exceeding" in luxuriance anything* of the same des- 

 cription which I had seen elsewhere. The variety 

 of trees in this dense brush is very great^ and many 

 were quite new to me. The Seaforthia palm attained 

 the height of 60 to 80 feet^ and the rattan was very 

 abundant^ and from the recurved prickles catching^ 

 and tearing- tlie clothes^ it was often no easy matter 

 to penetrate the thickets. Among* the plants along* 

 the river the most interesting is an indigenous species 

 of banana or plantain^ probably the same as that 

 found at Endeavour River during* Cook's first voyage. 

 The fruit is of small size with numerous hard seeds 

 and a small quantity of delicious pulp ; cultivation 

 would^ doubtless^ wonderfully improve it. Another 

 remarkable plant found on the g*rassy borders of the 

 jungle and characteristic of rich damp soil is a beau- 

 tiful species of JRosccea (?)^ (one of the Scitaminese or 

 g*inger family)^ about a foot hig'h^ with a solitary 

 leaf and large bracteos^ the lower green and the 

 upper ones pink^ partially concealing* handsome 

 yellow flowers. From its succulent nature I failed 

 in preparing* specimens for the herbarium^ but some 

 roots were preserved and given to the Botanical 

 Garden at Sydney. 



The lower part of the valley is open forest land^ 

 or nearly level and thinly wooded country covered 

 with tall coarse grass. Further up it becomes more 

 beautiful. From the belt of wood, concealing* the 

 windings of the river, grassy sloping meadows extend 



