Ill 
And then tlie sunliglit came with all the varied glories of the dawn, 
and clouds became "red, yellow, or ethereally pale," and radiant 
rainbows spanned with their curving splendours the many-hued abyss; 
and for a few short moments we stood the centre of a hundred 
sunsets, lost in the magnificence of all the splendid shapes and 
colours of the wondrous Grod-created dome which overarches this 
mysterious earth. Those who hereafter ascend these two mountains 
will say with me that no human language can possibly exaggerate, or 
give more than a shadow of an idea of the scenes visible there in 
rain and sunshine, storm and calm. 
"We left the summit about 9 o'clock, and descended rapidly to 
Palmerston's camp at 3,000 feet. Both ascending and descending, 
above the 2,000 feet level, we saw tracks of the mappee, or tree- 
climbing kangaroo, but had no time to search for the animal. He 
goes right on to the summit. Frequently we heard the call of Meston's 
bower bird, and saw bowers of all sizes up to 7 feet in height. There 
were very few birds on the mountain, the silence was oppressive, and 
heightened by the sombre mosses which covered the rocks and draped 
the trunks and branches of the trees. At 2,700 feet we left the course 
of our ascent, and turned down a very steep spur towards the south- 
east, Tabba declaring this to be a short cut to Teechappa. Anyone 
who ever comes down that spur will remember it for a long time. We 
arrived at Teechappa with the last expiring daylight, and camped there 
in a Chinese store, leaving next morning for Harvey's Creek, making 
the whole journey of eighteen miles in torrents of rain. Before de- 
parting from Teechappa I presented Yabba with flour, sugar, tobacco, 
matches, and two red handkerchiefs as a gift from the Government of 
this great colony, and a reward for his services. He went away too 
happy to speak, never before having possessed such an accumulation 
of wealth. He promised to collect a lot of land shells (Koorajoon) 
for me, and bring them into Teechappa. Alas ! A few days later we 
learned that this genial savage, whom I had watched at the camp fire, 
was one of the worst of the Bussell Eiver murderers, and killed two 
of the unfortunate diggers with his own hands. Tabba is at present 
supposed to be collecting seashells on the golden shore. 
No. Y. 
Heavy rain fell all through the night of the 24th, the date of our 
return to Harvey's Creek, and continued over next day. All remained 
in camp on the 25th, except myself and Jimmy, who pulled two miles 
up the E/Ussell, landed on the east hide, and ascended the coast range 
to a height of 1,200 feet along a steep granite creek, forming a suc- 
cession of beautiful cascades with alternate deep clear pools, cut clean 
from the solid rock. Grigantic and magnificent ferns, with leaves 15 
feet to 20 feet in length, grow all along the basin of this lovely stream. 
Here I found a new plant, which Mr. Bailey has named Chavica 
Mestoni, or Queensland Long Pepper, a large climber adhering to the 
trees by adventitious roots. This plant is allied to the long pepper of 
commerce. Seven years ago on that same creek, at a height of about 
800 feet, accompanied by John Nairne, we found a ripe fruit resem- 
bling a large elongated strawberry, possessing a delightful flavour and 
delicious taste unsurpassed by any fruit known to man. Both of us 
