CH. VIII.] DIFFERENCE OF PLAINS. 315 



enveloped in a soft pulp, and the whole has an agreeable 

 perfume. We also found some' specimens of the flower, rather 

 faded.* We reached our old encampment of May 18, by 

 three o'clock. 



Aug. 19. — When all were ready to start, it was discovered 

 that one bullock was missing ; the two men who had been in 

 charge of the cattle all night, were sent in search of it, while 

 the party proceeded towards our former camp of May 17. 

 As our route, between these camps, traversed the great bend, 

 where the course of the Bogan changes from north to west- 

 north-west, I was enabled to cut oflf four miles, by travelling 

 N. 145° E. a part of the way. We crossed some undulating 

 ground, with an open forest upon it, in which we killed two 

 large kangaroos. We supposed, on account of this success, 

 that we had outwitted the blacks by our cross course ; for 

 we had reason to suspect that they proceeded a-head of us 

 along our old track, and drove off the emu and kangaroo, as 

 we seldom saw either. We, however, surprised two natives 

 cutting away at an opossum's hole in a tree at some dis- 

 tance to our left ; and on seeing us, they made off with great 

 speed towards the northern bend of the river, and our 

 former route. On reaching our old encampment, we dis- 

 covered new beauty in the plains on the Bogan, when 

 compared with those on the banks of the Darling. There 

 we dreaded plains, the surface being soft and uneven. 

 Here, on the contrary, they delighted the eye with their 

 great levelness, while the firmer surface was no less agree- 

 able to the foot. The grass also had been so cleanly burnt 

 off, that the surface resembled a floor, and although such a 

 piece of perfect level country, extending for miles, was by no 

 means a common feature, it was, perhaps, more striking to 



* My friend Dr. Lindley considers this one of the most interesting plants 

 brought home by me, and has described it as follows : — 



Capparis Mitchellii, (Liudl. MSS.) ; stipulis spinosis, foliis obovatis supra gla- 

 bris, pedunculis floi-is solitariis clavatis foliis brevioribus, fructii sphaerico tomcn- 

 toso. A fine specimen of Capparis related to C. Scmdwichiana. 



