COASTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
429 
“ From the summit of the ridge,” says Mr. Cun- 
ningham, “ immediately above Careening Bay, 
the country continues in a series of barren, stony 
hills of ordinary elevation, divided by small 
valleys equally steril and rugged; clothed, ne- 
vertheless, with small trees of a stunted growth, 
and of species common to the bay of our en- 
campment; nor was there remarked the least 
change in the habit or state of fructification of 
the several plants, throughout the whole space of 
an estimated distance of six miles south of the 
tents. 
“ The summits of the hills are, for the most 
part, very rocky and bare of soil ; and that of the 
valleys, or lower lands, appeared very shallow, 
of a reddish colour, and of a very poor, hungry 
nature. The rocks, with which the ground is very 
generally covered, are of the same sort of sand- 
stone as is found upon the hills above the en- 
campment ; but among them we observed a good 
deal of quartz, remarkable for its purity, of which 
some specimens were observed in a crystallized 
state. 
“ In the season that succeeds that of the rains, 
the hills are covered with a lofty, reedy grass, 
whose dead stalks now form a matted stubble 
among the trees, as was remarked on some 
1820 . 
Oct. 8. 
