The lower ground of
these plains had little or no vegetation upon it, but bore the appearance
of land on which water has lodged and subsided; being hard and baked in
some places, but cracked and blistered in others, and against the sides
of the higher portions of the plain, a line of sticks and rubbish had
been lodged, such as is left by a retiring tide, and from this it seemed
that the floods must have been about a foot deep on the plain when it was
last inundated. At 4 1/2 miles we reached its western extremity, and
ascending the line of sand hills by which it is bounded on that side,
dropped down to another plain, and at six miles intersected a creek with
a deep broad and grassy bed, but no water. A high row of gum trees marked
its course from a point rather from the southward of east to the
north-north-west. Crossing to the opposite side we ascended another sand
hill by a gradual rise, and again descended to another plain, at the
farther extremity of which we could indistinctly see a dark line of
trees. Arriving at these after a ride of six miles, we were stopped by
another creek. Its banks were too steep for the cart, and we consequently
turned northward and traced it downwards for four miles before we found a
convenient spot at which to halt. The ground along the creek side was of
the most distressing nature; rent to pieces by solar heat, and entangled
with polygonum twisted together.
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