90 Lectures on the Geology, Botany, fyc., of the 
coast, and they would even fatten, as water and feed are every 
where abundant. 
6. The sixth part of my journey between the Nicholson and 
the Roper was as remarkable for the number of large salt-water 
rivers, as for the density of its tea-tree scrubs, and for the extent 
of its stringy-bark forest. 
Here we came again to hills and ranges; and pebbles of granite 
and porphyry made it evident that the great arc of high land, 
which sweeps round the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria, again 
approached the sea-coast. The Van Alphen, the Abel Tasman, 
the Robinson, the Macarthur, and the Limnenbight Rivers, 
formed broad channels of water, and offered to us a magnificent 
sight, when, after long and harassing stages through a dense 
scrubby monotonous forest, we came suddenly upon them. 
Captain Stokes, when exploring the head of the gulf, was struck 
with the comparatively low temperature in this latitude. Though 
the want of a thermometer prevented me from making any exact 
observations, I was still able to collect a number of facts which 
tend to corroborate Captain Stokes’s statements. In travelling 
along the east coast of the gulf, we had generally light easterly 
and south-easterly airs during the day, but a strong cold wind 
from the south-west and south by west set in at night, from which 
we suffered the more, as we avoided keeping a large fire, which 
would have prevented us from watching the approach of hostile 
natives. 
At the head of the gulf the night winds came more and more 
from the southward, and changed to the south-east, and even 
east-south-east, as we advanced along the west coast. During 
the day we had a very regular sea-breeze from the northward, 
which was particularly strong near the large rivers, the valley of 
which seemed to condense and to accelerate its current. The 
stronger the sea-breeze was during the day, the heavier was the 
dew during the night, which was easily accounted for by the 
action of the cold southerly land breeze on the warmer moisture 
with which the sea air was charged. 
A phenomenon, which I observed several times, shows clearly 
