VEGETADLE PRODUCTIONS. 115 



time to have filled it from the bases of the high 

 land on either side, it must have had a breadth 

 above Reach Hopeless of from three to five miles, 

 and this still increased when I last traced its pre- 

 sumed course beyond Mount Regret. 



The extreme altitude of Sea Range is from 7 to 

 800 feet, and of the hills last seen, near Mount Re- 

 gret, from 4 to 500. The distinctive formation 

 common to both consists in their level summits, 

 within twenty feet of which a precipitous wall of 

 rock, of a reddish hue, runs along the hill side. 

 The upper portion of the valley through which the 

 river passes varies in its nature from treeless, stony 

 plains to rich alluvial flats, lightly timbered with a 

 white-stemmed gum. The banks are steep and 

 high, thickly clothed with the acacia, drooping 

 eucalyptus, and tall reeds. The various lake-like 

 reaches had, of course, no perceptible stream, but 

 their banks, no less than the dry patches in the bed 

 of the river, satisfied us that the Victoria had re- 

 cently been, and in all probability would soon again 

 become, a large and rapid river. 



Among the most curious vegetable productions 

 along its banks are the silk cotton-tree and the gouty- 

 stem tree. The latter has been already mentioned 

 by Captains King and Grey, and here attains a great 

 size : it bears a very fragrant white flower, not unlike 

 the jasmine ; the fruit is used by the natives, and 

 found to be a very nutritious article of food, some- 

 thing similar to a cocoa-nut. Not having previously 



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