56 
OPOSSUMS CAUGHT. 
to ride at all. At night we had abundance of fire- 
wood, and a few of the long narrow yams were also 
found at this encampment, the first vegetable food 
we had yet procured. Grass trees had been abun- 
dant on our line of route to-day, and for the first 
time we met with the Xamia. In the evening, the 
kangaroo fly (a small brown fly) became very 
troublesome, annoying us in great numbers, and 
warning us that rain was about to fall. At night 
it came in frequent though moderate showers. We 
got very much wetted, but our fire was good, and 
we did not suffer so much from the cold as the damp, 
which affected me with cramp in the limbs, and 
rheumatism. 
May 29. — After breakfasting upon a spoonful of 
flour a-piece, mixed with a little water and boiled 
into a paste, we again proceeded. At ten miles we 
came to a small salt water stream, running seawards ; 
in passing up it to look for a crossing place, Wylie 
caught two opossums, in the tops of some tea-trees, 
which grew on the banks. As I hoped more might 
be procured, and perhaps fresh water, by tracing it 
higher up, I took the first opportunity of crossing 
to the opposite side, and there encamped ; Wylie 
now went out to search for opossums, and I traced 
the stream upwards. In my route I passed several 
very rich patches of land in the valleys, and on the 
slopes of the hills enclosing the watercourse. These 
were very grassy and verdant, but I could find no 
fresh water, nor did I observe any timber except the 
