66 CHARACTER OF COUNTRY. 



assembled at the edge of the swamp. They strongly 

 pressed us to go in that direction, but we thought 

 it more prudent to return to the boat. As the tide 

 was now coming up, we proceeded up the creek, 

 which, however, was now too narrow to permit us 

 to use our oars, so we poled along for about half 

 a mile, till, coming on another small grassy flat, 

 we determined to stop and encamp for the night. 

 While the men were getting the things out of the 

 boat, we walked along a small native track, through 

 a belt of mangroves, beyond which we came out on 

 an extension of the same plain we had been on be- 

 fore. Following on this for about half a mile, we 

 completely headed the small creek we had come up 

 by, and found it ended in a small skirt of man- 

 groves, surrounded by an open, grassy country. In 

 the same line with the creek, however, we found a 

 tract of marshy ground, 200 or 300 yards wide, 

 full of water holes, some fresh and some brackish, 

 with a bank of sand on each side of it ; and forming, 

 I have no doubt, a kind of watercourse after heavy 

 rains. Two or three miles north-west of us rose some 

 low hills, with grassy slopes and clumps of trees, 

 and very good grass land seemed to stretch into the 

 interior as far as we could see. As, however, it was 

 getting dark, we hastened back to the boat, having 

 seen no signs, either of kangaroos or more natives. 

 Our little grassy spot was not more than 100 yards 

 wide, surrounded on all sides by thick mangroves ; 

 and the sun had no sooner set and we sat down to 



