41 
from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. 
the tide extends, the river is from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred yards broad, deep, with steep banks, lined with dense 
hedges of pandanus, of the drooping tea-tree, and several other 
brush trees, amongst which was a jasmine, which was in blossom, 
and rendered the air fragrant with the perfume of its flowers. 
Vines hung from tree to tree ; and a fine leguminous climber 
(Kennedya?) with green flowers, big pods, big brown seeds, grew 
in great abundance. These seeds, crushed and boiled, formed a 
tolerable satisfying food. It appeared that the black fellows did 
crush it on stones, which were in all the camps along the river. 
This strip of brush was, however, very narrow, and cannot be 
compared with the river brushes of Moreton Bay, which I have 
not met in an equal extent during my whole expedition. A 
big creek came in from the southward, in latitude 14 deg. 
48 min., and a branch as big as the main branch came from the 
northward. 
The country along the river is openly timbered, and particu¬ 
larly its upper part, which opens into fine plains, would be well 
adapted for pastoral purposes. There are, however, many rocky 
ranges, bluff isolated hills and mountains, which frequently 
approach the river, and render the travelling along its banks 
difficult. The rock which composes these ranges is a fritted sand¬ 
stone and indurated clay, regularly and horizontally stratified. 
In latitude 14 deg. 39 min. the plains commence, the river splits 
into a great number of channels, almost all with a running stream¬ 
let, every one lined with pandanus and tea-tree. I suppose that 
the main branch turns off to the south-west and west-south-west, 
as even the branch which I followed turns considerably to the 
south-west. 
The banks of the river are inhabited by numerous black fellows. 
We had friendly intercourse with them at its lower part. At the 
Plains, Charley and Brown, my black fellows, asserted to have 
seen four of them coming up to our camp, at nightfall, in order 
to attack us. They however ran away, when they saw that 
we were prepared to receive them, even without the discharge 
of a gun. 
After leaving this branch of the Roper, as its source is in lati- 
