Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/38

 conformation. Its entrance was in the middle of the grassy sloping hollow, the waters of which entered the mouth of the cave. The first chamber was tolerably lofty, and illuminated by a small aperture overhead, resembling a skylight, so hidden by grass outside, that if any one of us had chanced to pass that way, before entering the cave, he would have probably fallen through it. At the extremity of the first chamber, was a narrow perpendicular hole, resembling the vent of a chimney. On descending this à la ramoneur, we passed through a narrow lofty passage, fantastically adorned with stalactites, until our further progress was arrested by a perpendicular cleft, too small to get through. On breaking through the stalagmitic crust, forming the floor of the most remote passage, I found one bone evidently belonging to a recent animal, as the nature of the rock (mountain limestone) was not such as to lead me to expect the discovery of any ancient organic remains.

Tracing the MacLeay upwards, from Dongai Creek, we pass a great number of squatting stations, belonging mostly to retired officers. The country they occupy as cattle runs is abundantly watered, independently of the river, by a vast number of permanent chains of small ponds, and water-courses; the grass is good, but the country available for grazing extends but a very few miles back from the river, especially on the north side, as the ranges soon become lofty and serrated, rising one beyond