Page:Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies.djvu/184

146 size: one on the ground was 147 feet long, another, standing was 26½ feet round. Daviesia latifolia, a low shrub with bluish leaves, and axillary spikes of small, handsome, pea-like flowers, of yellow, shaded into orange in the middle, abounds on these hills. This kind of colouring is frequent in the numerous little pea-flowered shrubs that decorate the "scrubs," or bushy places of this land.

Open, grassy lands, watered by rivulets from the mountains, and thinly settled, succeed to these hills, and are bounded on the north, by those of the Ben Lomond range, and on the south, by those called the St. Pauls Tier, on account of the dome-like appearance of one of them, which also bears the name of Tasmans Peak.—At the farm of Michael Bates we were kindly welcomed, and enjoyed a meal of boiled mutton and tea, notwithstanding, in consequence of the distance from a shop, the latter had to be made in a canister, and when the party became enlarged, in the tea-kettle, which very generally supersedes the tea-pot in this country. As tea is cheap, the chest, which often stands under the table, is frequently resorted to in place of a tea-caddy; and the refreshing beverage is sweetened with coarse Mauritian sugar, conveyed from the bag into the kettle with an iron spoon.

3rd. We proceeded down the Break-o'day Plains, and past the township of Fingal, which is marked only by barracks, occupied by five soldiers. We reached the house of a settler, by moonlight, and were glad of a shelter from the frost.

4th. We continued our journey through a pass between the hills, to Avoca, a small settlement at the confluence of the Break-o'day and St. Pauls Rivers with the South Esk. Here we became the guests of Major Grey, a retired military man, who was formerly, for some time, in Western Africa.

In the course of the three following days we visited the settlers on St. Pauls Plains, another series of grassy vales, running to the east.—In one part of this district, where the soil is sandy, Stenanthera pinifolia, a pretty heath-like shrub, is found: it is common in N. S. Wales, but this is the only place in which we saw it in V. D. Land. In another part,