NAERATIVE OF ME. CARRON. 199 



HOW very much withered, and through belts of dwarf 

 bushy Melaleucas and Banksias. We were not far 

 from Princess Charlotte's Bay, Jane's Table Land 

 being in sight. We came to the side of a salt 

 lagoon, very nearly dry ; we found it covered with 

 salt, of which we took about 20 lbs., which was as 

 much as we could carry, but even this was a very 

 seasonable help ; we rubbed about two pounds of it 

 into our meat. We encamped by a small creek, but 

 the water was brackish, and not being able to find 

 any other we were obliged to make use of it. One 

 of our horses was shghtly hurt by the stump of a 

 mangrove tree. All we got from the horse we last 

 killed was sixty-five pounds of meat. 



Oct. 5th and Qtli. — We travelled over sandy soil, 

 but with little grass, meeting frequently with salt 

 lagoons, surrounded by various salsolaceous plants. 

 Near the edge of a salt water creek we found a 

 native camp, composed of about seven or eight huts, 

 curiously and neatly built of a conical form ; all 

 were nearly of the same size, about five and a half 

 feet in diameter at the base, and six and a half feet 

 high. They were made by placing saplings in the 

 ground in a slanting position, which were tied 

 together at the top and woven inside hke wicker 

 work, -with strips of small bamboo canes. The 

 ^\'hole was then covered with palm leaves, over 

 Avhich was a coating of tea-tree bark, very neatly 

 fastened b}^ strips of cane. They were substantially 

 built, and would no doubt keep out the wet effec- 



