106 SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 



behind seems for ever doomed to desolation : vain 

 fear ! the rain descends once more upon the dry and 

 thirsty soil, and from that very hour which seemed 

 the date of cureless ruin, Nature puts forth her won- 

 drous power with increased effort, and again her 

 green and flower-embroidered mantle decks the 

 earth with a new beauty ! 



The soil of the extensive plain over which we 

 journeyed this day, was light and sandy in character, 

 but the large amount of vegetable matter which it 

 contains, and the effect of the late rains, which had 

 penetrated some 24 or 30 inches into it, made us 

 perhaps somewhat overvalue its real merits. This 

 plain rose gradually before us until it reached an 

 elevation of 180 feet above the level of the sea, and 

 was covered with a long, thin grass, through which 

 the startled kangaroo made off every now and then 

 at a killing pace. 



The face of the country was well but not too closely 

 covered with specimens of the red and white gum, 

 and paper bark tree, and several others. The tim- 

 ber was but small, the diameter of the largest, a 

 red gum, 18 inches. 



Ever and anon the sparkling brilliant lizards 

 darted down from their resting places among the 

 boughs, so rapid in their fearful escape, that they 

 caught the eye more like a flash of momentary light, 

 than living, moving forms. We flushed in the 

 course of the day a white bird, or at least nearly so, 

 with a black ring round the neck, and a bill crooked 



