174 Kennedy's expedition. 



these three days we travelled over undulating- open 

 land; wooded pretty thickly with string-y-bark, box, 

 and apple-gTini; interspersed with occasional sandy 

 flats, producing- a broad-leafed Meluleuca, and a 

 pretty species of Grevillea, with pinnatifid, silvery 

 leaves. Neither the Melaleuca nor the Grevillea 

 gTew more than twenty feet hig-h. On the flats we 

 found a g-reat number of ant-hills, remarkable for 

 their heig-ht and size j they were of various forms, 

 chiefly conical, and some of them rose ten feet high. 

 From the appearance of the ant-hills I should take 

 the sub-soil to be a reddish clay. 



Aug. 23rd. — We camped by the side of a creek 

 running to the westward, with rather a broad bed, 

 and steep banks of strong clay. There was no 

 water in the creeks except in holes. 



A tribe of natives, from eighteen to twenty in 

 number, were seen coming down the creek, each 

 carrying a large bundle of spears. Three of om' 

 party left the camp and went towards them, carry- 

 ing in theii' hands green boughs, and making signs 

 to the blacks to lay down their spears and come to 

 us. After making sig'nals to them for some minutes, 

 three or four of them laid down their spears and 

 approached us. I went back to the camp and 

 fetched a few fish-hooks, and a tin plate marked 

 with Mr. Kennedy's initials ; having presented 

 them with these they went away and appeared 

 quite friendly. Shortly after we had camped, 

 Goddard and Jackey went out for the purpose of 



