HALIFAX BAY. 253 



to S. W., offering facilities for getting over the range 

 before spoken of as 3,G00 feet high, and bounding 

 the shore of Halifax Bay. We were, however, glad 

 of this opportunity of examining a portion of the 

 continent, that had always excited the attention of 

 those who passed, by its fertile aspect. 



A party landed in the south corner of Halifax 

 Bay, on a long flat sandy beach, which at high water 

 is completely covered. Crossing some small sand 

 dunes, bound together by a sort of spinifex, we got 

 into a luxuriant growth of grass, rich and soft, with 

 a springing sort of feel to the feet. A few wallaby 

 were started in this, but we obtained none ; and 

 seeing a group of rich looking eucalypti and tea- 

 trees, some of us bent our steps thitherwards, and 

 found a small stream of fresh water, which filtered 

 itself through the sand towards the beach. There 

 was no time to trace it ; but for some distance in- 

 land we could follow its course with the eye, from 

 the luxuriant vegetation it nourished. The soil 

 was light and sandy, covered with dense creepers, 

 and innumerable quantities of the Angustifolia in 

 splendid flower, many of the clusters occupying a 

 space of three feet in diameter, with a propor- 

 tionate stem of about five feet from the earth. 

 The hum of insects, and sudden disturbance of rich 

 coloured parrots, screaming and fluttering through 

 the branches, and the strong, short, rapid flight of 

 the dove, with its melancholy cooing, transported 



