254 



these rude nations to touch any of the articles thus placed ; 

 a degree of honesty which, it is to be feared, we might look 

 for in vain among their white neighbours. On examining 

 this depot, we found a Kangaroo-Net, 50 feet long and 5^ feet 

 wide, formed of the most excellent twine, as fine as any 

 fabricated in Europe, but much stronger, and woven in a 

 manner that would do credit to a professed net maker ; — a 

 fishing-net of a beautifully fine mesh, and dyed black, form- 

 ing, when in the water, an inverted cone about 7 feet deep ; — 

 a Dilly, or luggage-bag, such as the females carry, made of 

 the leaves of a species of Xanthorrhcea, and strong enough to 

 bear any weight; — two Eillmans, or shields, of the wood of 

 Urtica Gigas, or the Tree Nettle, as light as cork ; two chissels 

 edged with flint; and an iron wedge, evidently stolen from 

 Brisbane Town. 



Juli/ 27th, — The morning proved clear and pleasant ; ther- 

 mometer indicating 47o. We set off at the usual time, and 

 travelled over a good and level country, of which some parts 

 are swampy, and others varied by hills of small elevation, 

 and covered with forests of Casuarina, Jacksonia or Dog- 

 wood, and fine Gum Trees. At two miles and a half from 

 our encampment we crossed a large creek, whose swampy 

 banks harboured many kangaroos. From this point we 

 were again compelled to deviate in a westerly direction, 

 having, at the distance of another mile, crossed a second 

 creek which falls into the Logan, and whose banks are re- 

 markably fertile, and, half a mile farther on, a third creek, 

 of which the sides are clothed with such dense forests of 

 Araucaria, and Yellow Wood, that we found it impracticable to 

 force the cattle through, so that we were obliged to ascend 

 the hills where this stream takes its source. At noon the 

 latitude proved to be 27° 52" South. Here we observed one 

 of those remarkable battle circles, which seem peculiar to the 

 natives of this part of New Holland. It consisted of an 

 enclosure 33 yards in circumference, edged by a path 3 feet 

 broad and 10 inches deep, from which another path of 

 similar dimensions diverges in a direct line, frequently for 

 half a mile in length. The history of the circumstance 



