114 HORN RXPKDITION — NARRATIVE. 



Wuiidering up tlio gorgo wo soon r.inio upon tho palm troow tlio total niinil)or 

 of which (lop.s not oxceed if it equals one hundred — that is exeluding young seed- 

 lings. There is no sand or soil in the gorge the l)ed of which is completely tilled 

 with water during tlie short time tliat a flood comes down, and the toi-i'ont, judging 

 liy the heaps of debris piled up against the trunks of the palms, must come down 

 with considerahle force and volume. 



The rocks are worn quite smooth and amongst them are pools of water tln-ee 

 or four feet deep often surrounded l)y rushes. At each side of the gorge and more 

 especially on the northern under tlie shade of tlie rocks is a growth of scrub ahove 

 wliich the palms stand out. They are confined as may be seen from th(^ illustration 

 whicli represents a view along tho Palm Creek looking west, to this nortliern side 

 except a few wliich are growing right in the bed of the creek. Very young ones only 

 a foot or two in height are numerous in the small clefts amongst the smooth rocks, 

 l>ut there are very few lialf-grown trees which seem to show that the great majority 

 of tlie young ones get torn out during flood time and so the colony does not increase 

 in numbers and may perhaps as the older trees die off be actually diminishing. It 

 might have been expected that the floods would have washed tho hard fruits away 

 to otlier parts of the river where they would have germinated. Probably the few 

 trees along tho main river liavc Ijcen thus transported, but they are very few in 

 number, so that it appears as if this method of spreading the species were of little 

 avail and that like many other species the Palm exists only in a very restricted 

 area. The reason why the Palm seeds do not germinate freely when carried, as 

 they must be, down into the main Pinko is possibly due to the fact that the drying 

 up waters along the latter are frequently brackish in nature and so perhaps the 

 \it.ality of the seeds may be impaircnl. Whilst plenty of very young seedlings wore 

 to be found along the Palm Creek scarcely (me was seen along the main channel of 

 the Finke. 



Along tlie gorge young Cycads {^Encephalartos Macdfliuiclli) were also found, 

 but tlie adult plants, apart frf)m those on the clilT sides already referred to, were 

 few in number and were principally seen along the clitls bounding one or two side 

 streams which entered tho main gorge. 



The tallest Palm was fully eighty feet in licight and one or two of them liad 

 curious cork-screw trunks. It appeared to bo rather like sacrilege to touch the 

 trees, but as we were anxious to And out if tho leaf sheaths harboured any special 

 forms of life, one, about sixty feet in height, was cut down. After carefully remov- 

 ing every leaf the only animals found were a solitary cockroach a,nd a bug : there 

 was no trace of anything like a iiiuUusc or a plariariau worm sheltering under the 



