Country between Moreton Bay and Port Essinylon. 89 
All the rivers of Australia have lines of holes and hollows 
parallel to them. These are generally filled by high floods, and 
keep the water much longer than the rivers themselves. Lagoons 
of this description were very numerous along the Staaten, the 
Van Diemen, the Gilbert, and the Caron, and appeared to be the 
constant resorts of the natives. To the north of the Staaten 
towards the sea coast, there is a succession of plains, but the 
grass was generally stiff and wiry. 
If we compare the course of the rivers on the east coast of the 
Gulf of Carpentaria, it will be considered remarkable that the 
Lynd, which rises in the latitude of the head of the Gulf, from 
the table-land of the York Peninsula, should go to the north- 
north-west, and belong to a system of waters which joins the sea 
in latitude 15°, instead of taking a direct course to the westward, 
and of disemboguing in or near the head of the Gulf. A number 
of coast rivers, of probably very short courses, the Nassau, the 
Staaten, the Van Diemen, Gilbert, and Caron, take their origin, 
from the moderately elevated country which bounds the valley of 
the Lynd and Mitchell to the westward. 
5. The fifth division of my route comprises the Plains of 
Promise, so called by Captain Stokes, which extend from the 
Flinders to the Nicholson, and are drained by tributaries of three 
large salt-water rivers or creeks, the most western of which is the 
Albert of Stokes, and the Maet Suyker of the Dutch navigators. 
These plains were covered with a variety of tender grasses and 
herbs, but bare of wood, with the exception of a few straggling 
trees. The narrow valleys of the creeks were, However, filled 
with open scrub, formed by a small tree, which we called rasp¬ 
berry-jam tree, because its fresh-cut wood had the scent of rasp¬ 
berry jam. 
Should a harbour be found at the head of the Gulf of Carpen¬ 
taria, which might allow ships to approach and to moor in safety, 
it would not only open this fine country to colonisation, but would 
allow the produce of the high land of the York Peninsula, to be 
brought down to the Gulf of Carpentaria, as well as to the east 
coast. Cattle and horses could be easily driven from coast to 
