228 THE PORT DARWIN DISTRICT 



forests, but usually in groves of a few miles extent in 

 length and breadth. Frequently it is impossible to force 

 a way through these groves, and even through the scrub. 

 It would take several days to cut a passage a mile long. 

 The traveller must therefore take a very circuitous route 

 to avoid these frequently recurring obstacles. Some of 

 the marshes are exceedingly dangerous, abounding in 

 quicksands and quagmires, in which, once embogged, the 

 traveller would find himself fatally trapped. Escape would 

 be impossible, so thoroughly rotten is the ground. 



This country abounds with game, consisting of 

 kangaroos, wallaby, emus, bustards, ducks, geese, and 

 small animals and birds unnumbered. It is the best 

 supplied district in this respect that I have ever seen in 

 all Australia. The blacks also are numerous and danger- 

 ous. They have seldom an inclination to communicate 

 with the white wanderers amongst them, and require no 

 provocation to commence an attack. 



The rivers and streams have short courses in this 

 district, but many of them are deep and have water in 

 their beds at all times. The banks are not so steep as 

 those of the streams in the Swan River-Champion Bay 

 district, and they are usually covered with thick beds of 

 reeds, or a kind of grass, which is often nearly twenty feet 

 high. There is also a goodly belt of trees along the 

 courses of many of the rivers, and in these the largest 

 flocks of cockatoos I have ever seen congregate, completely 

 covering the trees for a distance of several hundred yards, 

 and presenting a scene as extraordinary as it is beautiful. 

 When these birds rise in a body, the noise of their scream- 

 ing is deafening, and can be heard when the birds are so 

 far off that they cannot be seen. When wheeling about 

 in the air, with the bright sunshine reflecting on their 

 snowy plumage, they present a truly magnificent sight. 



My journey commenced on the 19th September, I 

 having spent several days previously rambling about the 

 country in the vicinity of Palmerston. Much of the land 

 formerly under cultivation had been abandoned at this 

 time ; and I saw several ruined coffee plantations, with 



