Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/470

 408 SURYEY OF TIlE INTERTROPICAL ls2o, trended alternately S.b.E. and S.b.,W. for fifteen Sept.'l. miles; .at this part the rver was .upwards of sventy yards wide; the banks were lined with mngroves, but the .rocks rose ,precipitously be- hind them to the height of three hundred .feet. Here our party .landed tc pass the night, and, before dark, Mr. Roe and his companion Mr. C-nnlngham with one of the boat's crew climbed the ridge o.v, er their heads, but encountered much difficulty before they.reached the summit, from .which they could discover nothing but ridges beyond ridges of rocky wooded hills, pre- cisely similar to what they were upon. One higher than the rest was discerned about ten miles off to the .eastward. No signs of human beings were.noticed. The top of.the .hill was ,strewed about with ant-hills constructed of dry dusty sand, and this was the only substance that could be called soil; but, notwithstanding all this sterility, .there .were trees of the uca/yptus .family growing from twenty to.forty feet high; and one was measured whose diameter was asmuch as e!ghteen inches. The rocks are of sand-stone, in nearly hori- zontal strata,. coated with a crust of crystallized quartz, and coloured by a ferruginous oxide. On their return to the tent, they made pre- parations to pass the night; and. as' it was

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