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Mr. DALE'S JOURNAL of an Expedition from King George's Sound to the Koikyennuruff Range of Mountains.

Albany, King George's Sound,
January 29th, 1832.

Having been requested by his Excellency to proceed to a high hill named Toodyeverup, near the middle of the Koikyennuruff range of mountains, to ascertain its nature, and that of the adjacent country, and also, if possible, to find out whether the Kuik[1] and Quannet, two kinds of grain described by the natives of King George's Sound, as used by those of that part of the country for food, grew in the vicinity of the range, I left the settlement on the morning of the 21st inst., accompanied by Mr. Clint, three soldiers, and Nakina, a native of King George's Sound, and followed for the first six miles a native path, which conducted us to a crossing place over a branch of King's

  1. Several of the natives of King George's Sound tribe describe these grains; the first, or Kuik, as growing on the north and eastern foot of Koikyennuruff, and the latter, or Quannet, to the N. east of Koikyennuruff, and also on the northern base of Toodyeverup. None of them have seen these grains, but they describe the stalks on which they grow as being from six to eight feet, the size of one's finger, with protruding long ears, which are pendant from a succession of joints. The Kuik they say resembles our rice, and the Quannet grain is compared to a large pea for size. Their account is that the White Cockatoo Tribe, who inhabit the district, eat the Kuik raw, but beat the Quannet tied up in their skins, bake it, and cook it in the ashes, like a damper.