some spears, made of the Bricklow Acacia:  all were forgotten in the suddenness of their retreat.  I could not resist the temptation of tasting one of the eggs, which was excellent; but, as they seemed to have trusted to our generosity, I left every thing in its place, and departed.  Brown thought that one of them looked like a half-caste, and, as they had called us, as far as we understood, “whitefellows,” I felt confirmed in my supposition, either that a white man was with them, or had lived among them very recently.  I returned to the creek, in order to find another water-hole with water; but did not succeed, and had to encamp without it.  During the night we heard the noise of a frog, “brrr, brrr;” probably a new species, for we had never heard that croak before.  It seemed, however, to frighten Brown, who, like all blackfellows, is very timid after night-fall.  Yesterday we met with a new leguminous shrub.  It belongs to the section Cassia, and has a long pinnate leaf, the leaflets an inch long, and half an inch broad.  Its pods were about a foot long, half an inch broad; and every seed was surrounded by a fleshy spongy tissue, which, when dry, gave to the pod a slightly articulate appearance.  The seeds, when young, had an agreeable taste, and the tissue, when dry, was pleasantly acidulous, and was eaten by some of my companions without any ill effect, whilst others, with myself, were severely purged.  To day I found the same plant in form of a tree, about thirty feet high, with a short stem, and long spreading shady branches.

CHAPTER IV

Swarms of cockatoos—­allowance of flour further reduced—­native
family—­the Mackenzie—­coal—­natives speaking A different idiom—­mount
Stewart—­brown and myself Miss the way back to the camp—­find our party
again, on the fourth day—­NEUMAN’S creek—­Roper’s peak—­Calvert’s
peak—­Gilbert’s dome—­great want of water.

Jan. 1, 1845.—­After a ride of about four miles down the creek, we came to a deep hole of good water, that had been filled by the late thunder-storms, the traces of which, however, had disappeared every where else.  I found a red Passion flower, with three-lobed leaves, the lobes rounded:  it was twining round the trunk of a gum tree, and rooted in a light sandy alluvial soil.  A new species of Bauhinia, with large white blossoms, growing in small groves, or scattered in the scrub, particularly near the creeks, was conspicuous for its elegance, and was the greatest ornament of this part of the country.  It is a tree about twenty-five feet high, with long drooping branches; the foliage is of a rich green colour, and affords a fine shade.  A climbing Capparis,