Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/224

( 199 ) gum-trees. The country here becomes very mountainous: in the vallies or rather chasms between the mountains, small runs of water trickle through an almost impenetrable jungle of prickly shrubs, bound together by creeping plants. After passing eight of these deep chasms in six miles, which was accomplished with infinite difficulty in four hours, we found the country grow still more impenetrable, vast fields of shrub as prickly as furze arresting our progress every moment. Several of our people who carried the water, being unable to bear the fatigue any longer, we were obliged to give up our intention; and after a short rest, we shaped our course to the S.W. in order to approach the sea, where the country becomes open and less hilly. In this direction we