Page:Extracts from the letters and journals of George Fletcher Moore.djvu/123

 Rh longer the cat-in-bag kind of prospect which had hitherto almost invariably been the case with us. Like puss in a sack, we had been endeavouring to poke out our heads, but in vain; each hill tempted us to push onwards and upwards in hopes of liberation, but we only found another and another tempting us forward to incur a fresh disappointment.

16th.—Came to another rich valley, where we caught a kangaroo; arrived at Mount Bakewell, which is covered with long grass, principally of the poa species; searched for a stream, and found the river Avon, which in some places is 40 yards in breadth, but is in this place broken into several channels; we ascended at a steep point of the mount, which is about 1500 feet in elevation, and affords an extensive view of what appeared a level country, wooded and rich. Mount Bakewell is a combination of quartz, red sandstone, and granite; traced out the valley of the Avon for some distance, and calculated that our view extended forty miles, in some directions, without any very striking objects, excepting a few hills of conical form rising here and there; the soil in this district seems rich loam of a brownish hue, producing patches of grass, wherever a tree had been burnt, and flowers in great quantities, particularly everlasting pink; and here we also found trees like the crab apple, bearing round nuts of a walnut taste in abundance, but not yet ripe.

17th.—Bathed in the Avon, and made this