Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/62

 outline of steep, conical summits. Exactly opposite to us, in a deep cleft, a beautiful cascade dashed down a fall several hundred feet perpendicular, like a long band of silver, glittering in the rays of the declining sun; to the east we could discern the dim outline of the horizon over the Pacific Ocean; and turning to the west, mountains beyond mountains rose in varied contour, whilst snow-white clouds floated in serpentine wreaths among the narrow glens, and dark mountain recesses. We had some trouble in getting down the lateral spur descending into the valley, as it undulated in steep, short, pointed hummocks; it was night before we got half way down, but as the moon was shining brightly, and the blacks had made torches of turpentine bark, I determined to push on to the brink of the river before I halted. We now crossed a small, gravelly brook, and in ascending the steep bank on the other side, one of my horses rolled backwards into the brook; he would have been killed, had not his fell been arrested by some creepers. We next traversed a thicket swarming with fire-flies, and with luxuriant fern reaching to my shoulders as I sat on horseback; and after passing another gravelly brook, we found ourselves on a beautiful grassy forest bank, overlooking the river Bellengen. We fortunately found here a deserted blacks' camp, so that we had abundance of bark to build a secure shelter for the night.

March 10th.—As soon as I awoke I ran down to