174 Kennedy's expedition. 



these three days we travelled over undulating- open 

 land^ wooded pretty thickly with string-y-bark, box^ 

 and npple-g'um^ interspersed with occasional sandy 

 flats^ producing- a broad-leafed llcJalcirca, and a 

 pretty species of Grevillea, with pinnatifid^ silvery 

 leaves. Neither the Melaleuca nor the Grevillea 

 g-rew more than twenty feet hig-h. On the flats we 

 found a g'reat number of ant-hillsj remarkable for 

 their heig'ht and size ; they were of various forms^ 

 chiefly conical^ and some of them rose ten feet hig-h. 

 From the appearance of the ant-hills I should take 

 the sub-soil to be a reddish clay. 



Aug. 2Srd. — We camped by the side of a creek 

 running- to the westward^ with rather a broad bed; 

 and steep banks of strong* clay. There was no 

 water in the creeks except in holes. 



A tribe of natives, from eio-hteen to tAventv in 

 number, were seen coming- down the creek, each 

 canying* a larg-e bundle of spears. Three of our 

 party left the camp and went towards them, carr}^- 

 ing" in their hands g-reen boug-hs, and making- signs 

 to the blacks to lay down their spears and come to 

 us. After making- sig-nals to them for some minutes, 

 three or four of them laid down their spears and 

 approached us. I went back to the camp and 

 fetched a few fish-hooks, and a tin plate ^marked 

 with Mr. Kennedy's initials ; having- presented 

 them with these they went away and appeared 

 quite friendly. Shortly after we had camped, 

 Goddard and .lackey went out for the purpose of 



