137
N. by E. for two more, the ground being slightly varied with ascents and descents, and shewing very little good soil; afterwards a mile and three quarters N.N.E. and half a mile N. to a river which Mokare called French River, but which could only be a branch of it, unless he was mistaken in what we afterwards followed, and what he called the main channel. Half a mile before coming to this branch, I emerged for the first time from a wooded country, and enjoyed a view for several miles, W. N. and E. over slightly elevated plains, clear of trees; leaving this, and for the last quarter of a mile, I traversed a gentle acclivity, rising from the river on my right, unshaded by a tree, and bearing the remains of a most luxuriant crop of grass, and a few shrubs of green wattle. The soil is very good, and only interrupted in a few spots by the protruding granite. The native name of the ground is Noor-ru-bup. As the party stopped here for the night, the examination in detail of this spot occupied me till dark. (A rough sketch may assist in giving an idea of it: see Fig. 1 on the Plate.)
(A) is my tract of arrival at (B) our bivouac; (R) is the river, the bed of which was dry at the places where the tracts of examination (EE), and of departure (C) cross it. The magnetic North is indicated by the arrow point, and the distance between the lower and upper crossing places is about a mile and a quarter. The grassy and good soil, already mentioned as partly passed over, is contained between the faint line (d) and the river. The slope on the east side of it is sufficiently gentle for agricultural purposes, and it is a good brown gravelly soil, producing, however, but little grass. To the eastward of my tract the surface becomes stoney, being strewed in a great measure with
