Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/60

 with the common fern, the tree-ferns, and low dwarf palms, the timber being mahogany and turpentine. At the subsidence of this lateral range we came upon a gravelly brook, which the natives called Deletalmia. We traced it down through the brush to its junction with a fine stream, to which I gave the native name "Odalberree." This stream is a tributary to the Bellengen. In the brushes here I saw the finest cedar and rosewood trees I had yet noticed; I also saw several creeping plants, climbing among the trees, which were quite new to me. We were here caught in another heavy thunder shower, which soon drenched us to the skin. On leaving this stream we began ascending a steep, brushy range, the forest trees having a dense underwood of the gigantic fern; this was the only lateral range which seemed accessible to climb up, with horses, to gain the crest of the next main range. At length we gained the summit of a high, grassy cone, which, however, was only an angle in the outline of the lateral ridge. As it had now ceased raining, we halted on this green cone, and refreshed ourselves and our horses, which we found a great source of inconvenience in this mountainous country; for the last twenty miles we had been constantly on foot, one side of the ranges being too steep to ride up, and the other too steep to ride down, whilst the blacks had to divide the pack-horse's load among them. It was only among the crests of the main ridges, and now and then in the brushy