UPPER PART OF THE RIVKR. 417 



ceptible stream, and the water which a few miles 

 lower down had been muddy, was here quite clear. 

 Small bamboos and other drift were observed in 

 the branches of the trees eiofht or ten feet above 

 the water, shewing the height which the river 

 attains at some seasons of the year. By the hol- 

 lows on many of the plains, water appeared to 

 have lain some time, and doubtless parts of this low 

 land were periodically overflowed. 



On the point dividing the upper branches of the 

 river some coarse sand was washed up, which on 

 examination was found to be of a granitic character, 

 clearly shewing the primary formation of the 

 country through which the Adelaide flowed. The 

 only rocks noticed in the parts traversed by the 

 boats were, as I have before said, of red porous 

 sandstone. The smoke of several large fires was 

 observed up the country, but none of the natives were 

 seen. Towards the upper part of the river 

 they noticed a strange bird, very much like a 

 guinea fowl in size and manner of running along 

 the ground The colour was speckled white and 

 brown. This, doubtless, from Mr. Bynoe's descrip- 

 tion of one he wounded on the coast in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Adelaide, must have been the 

 Leipoa ocellata of Gould, one of the mound or 

 tumuli- building birds, first seen in Western Aus- 

 tralia by Mr. George Moore, and afterwards on the 

 North-west coast, and in South Australia by Captain 

 Grey. Although known to range over a large 



VOL. I. 2 E 



