33 
from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. 
(when Gilbert was killed ;) the second time they were very noisy, 
but withdrew at the approach of a horseman, and were not seen 
again; the third time, at the Yappar, they were very friendly, 
and it was evident that they had seen either Malays or white men 
before us. 
I called the whole country between the Mitchell and the Van 
Diemen the “ Nonda Country,” from a fine shady tree with a 
yellow eatable fruit, which we enjoyed very much. It grew in the 
stretches of open forest laud with the blood-wood and the panda¬ 
nus. I had seen it first at the upper Lynd. It disappeared at 
the Van Diemen, and we never met it again. 
Between the Yappar, longitude 140 deg. 45 min., approx., and 
the Nicholson, longitude 138 deg. 55 min., which latter river I 
crossed in latitude 17 deg. 57 min., passed three big salt-water 
rivers, one fine running creek, which I called “ Beames’ Brook,” 
and several chains of fresh-water lagoons. The country west of 
the Yappar is undulating and hilly forest land, frequently scrubby, 
for an extent of about twenty miles. Here it opens in immense 
plains, some of them three miles broad, ten miles long and longer. 
The plains stretch along the banks of the rivers, and are separated 
by creeks, lined by thickets of a small tree, which we called 
raspberry-jam tree, from the scent of its wood. These creeks had 
fine water-holes, but they were all for the greater part dry. We 
found our water principally in grassy lagoons, surrounded by 
polygonum; but the country is in general badly watered, though 
the number of black fellows, the smoke of whose fires we saw all 
around us in crossing the plains, showed that a nearer acquaint¬ 
ance of the country would probably lead to the discovery of a 
sufficient supply of water. 
Beames’Brook, which I crossed in latitude 17 deg. 57 min., 
was about twenty yards broad where I first met it. A rich ver¬ 
dant brush of pandanus and the palm-tree, and several other trees, 
lined it. Its water was fresh, but affected by the tide. At the 
crossing place (about eight miles lower down) it was three yards 
broad, very deep in some places, shallow in others, a full flowing 
little stream, with magnificent oak trees and palms, and pandanus 
VOL. III. NO. i. 
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