Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/80

 quite spoilt my appetite, so I threw myself down supperless, among the grass and fem, for the night.

4th day.—As soon as it was daylight I refreshed myself with a bathe in the river; and as it was of no use breakfasting until we found better water, we started across the reedy plain, on the borders of which we had spent the night, towards the lofty mountains separating the Bellengen from the Clarence. These mountains, which are of bold and beautiful colour, of great elevation, and heavily wooded to their summits, formed a grand feature in the landscape, from their abruptness and proximity, as the rising sun bathed them in a flood of purple light. Having traversed this verdant plain, and some tolerably grassy forest, we entered a dense brush, and after crossing several steep brushy ranges, and some rocky water-courses, I turned west-south-west, to meet the Bellengen again. After traversing some brush, we came suddenly on a reedy flat near the river, containing a lagoon. A large snake was in the water when we arrived, but swam into the sedge on seeing us. We stopped here to breakfast. The Bellengen black who had accompanied us from the beach seemed to like sweet tea and damper very much, but did not approve of bacon. Having repacked our traps, we journeyed on through continuous intricate brushes, which, on the north side of the Bellengen, seemed to prevail equally both on the alluvial lands and the ranges; cedar, rosewood, fig-trees, nettle trees, and plum-wood, predominating on