PKOUUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY. 
63 
noon, which proved a great treat, as we had been living 
for some time on salt provisions. Our animals fared worse 
than ourselves, as the bed of the creek was occupied by 
coarse rushes, and but little vegetation was elsewhere to be 
seen. I here killed a beautiful snake, of about four feet 
in length, and of a bright yellow colour : I had not, how- 
ever, the means of preseiwing it. Fraser collected numer- 
ous botanical specimens, and among them two kinds of 
caparis. Indeed a great alteration had taken place in the 
minor shrubs, and few of those now prevalent had been 
observed to the eastward of the marshes. 
From the creek, which both I and Mr. Hume must 
have crossed on our respective journeys, we held a west- 
erly course for about fifteen miles, through a country of 
alternate plain and brush, the latter predominating, and 
in its general character differing but little from that we 
had traversed the day previous. 
The acacia pendula still continued to exist on the plains, 
backed by dark rows of cypresses.* In the brushes, box 
and casuarina, f with several other kinds of eucalypti, pre- 
vailed ; but none of them were sufficiently large to be of use. 
The plains were so extremely level that a meridian altitude 
could have been taken without any material error ; and I 
doubt much whether it would have been possible to have 
traversed them had the season been wet. 
As we were travelling through a forest we surprised a 
hunting party of natives. Mr. Hume and I were consider- 
ably in front of our party at the time, and he only had his 
■* Cupressus callitvis. f Casuarina tortuosa. 
