Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/35

mile wide, composed of pebbles of granite, limestone, beautiful crimson jasper, greenstone, basalt, quartz, &c. The alluvial brushes on its banks are now frequently superseded by park-like forest ground, verdant rocky eminences, and luxuriant grassy flats of the greatest richness, lightly timbered with Apple trees, (Angophora lanceolata,) whose gnarled branches, and light green foliage, resembling that of the English oak, render it the most picturesque forest tree in Australia. Several small tributary streams now begin to join the river. The first we meet, on the south side, is Dongai Creek. In the narrow valley of this stream, the land is of the richest quality possible, consisting of a narrow border of alluvial flats, covered with broad-bladed grass, growing breast high, and with a few large blue gum trees scattered so far apart as to offer no impediment to immediate tillage. All the squatters on this stream have, in consequence, brought patches of ground under cultivation. Dongai Creek is hemmed in on both sides by fertile ranges, well clothed with grass, and lightly wooded; apple trees being the predominating trees on their lower slopes. The scenery is often very pleasing; the ranges rise in smooth round cones, and their sloping sides, covered with bright green verdure, contrast strongly with the dark glistening green of the brush vegetation* which occasionally invades some of the hills. The stream itself, of crystal brightness, rushes rapidly through the glen, over a bed of large pebbles, and