
450 ReEcorDS oF THE S.A, MUSEUM 
with a mound of limestones, like a cairn, which we conjectured to have been 
placed there by the natives above the bodies of their dead, to protect them 
from the wild dogs, After a tedious march of six or seven miles through 
swamps and forests of she-oaks, we gained the sandhills of the seashore. , ..”’ 
(S.E, corner of Rivoli Bay, west of Rendlesbam, p. 162). (May 4). '‘Started at 
daybreak for Mount Gambier, .., We travelled along between parallel ridges 
of sandhills scattered with ghe-oaks, forming beautiful vistas covered with 
grass. As we progressed the sandhills grew larger, becoming mountains in 
aspect; and amidst their intervening dells beautiful magic scenes presented 
themselves, displaying scenery of a character quite different from anything 
I ever before witnessed, From the summit of these sandhills we overlooked 
Rivoli Bay, with the rocky pomt of Cape Buffon at its southern extremity. 
Around several native wells we saw lying quantities of limpets and large 
haliotis shells; which latter the natives use for carrying water.”’ 
(On to Woakwine, near Mayurra, p, 162), ‘Leaving the sandhills, we skirted 
the shores of a considerable lake, which we called Lake Frome, in compliment 
to the Sutveyor-General, We afterwards crossed more swamps and flats 
(* Lake’? Canunda) and again met with the biscuit tufa. M+. Muirbead and 
the Bluff bore south-east of us; and, on ascending a wooded range, we dis- 
covered the peak of Mt. Gambier [is this possible from here?], distant about 
forty miles, with several large lakes to the south-west.’’ [Lake Bonney]. 
(Flata 8.5. of Millicent, east side of Woakwine Range, p, 162), ‘We were now 
in a beantiful and verdant country, where fine young grass was springing 
after the late rains.’’ 
In addition to the above notes from Angas, the following extracts from Ward 
and Proud provide further interesting observations on this country as it was over 
sixty yearsago. Ward: 
(p47), Re east side of Woakwine. ‘The country, whatever its valug might 
otherwise have been, presented only a dreary waste of water for some months 
of the year....” 
(p. 55), ‘As long as those rich black flats were flooded long enough in the year 
to keep surveyors aud buyers at a respectful distance, all was well. There 
was plenty of grass on the ridges in winter, and on the flats in summer, and 
water always,’’ 
(p. 58), ‘On the hollows where water has stood permanently vegetation has been 
coarse, cousisting almost entirely of rushes and reeds, the cattle have been 
unable to do more than pick over the tops when green. There has thus been 
in such places a vast deposit of decaying vegetation accumulating year by 
year,... The roots of the rushes alone constitute a large proportion of the 
deposit. ...7" 
(p. 59). ‘In faet, on all the swamp bottoms, as distinguished from the flats, even 
where the water has been got rid of, cultivtion will be impossible for the 
present. Lltimately they will become the richest spots, and in the meantime 
they will afford rare grazing areas, as finer grasses replace the coarse vege- 
tation they have hitherto borne, 
(Coote! Swamp at. Narrow Neck, p. 59), “* ..,. there is a depth of 10 or 11 feet. 
of vegetable depesit before you reach the caleareous bottom, and there, too, 
