We halted for the night in one of these lovely valleys; a clear stream bubbled along within about fifty yards of us and, about a mile beyond, two darkly-wooded basaltic hills raised their heads, and between these and the stream our ponies were feeding in grass higher than themselves. I sat in the fading light, looking at the beautiful scenery around me, which now for the first time gladdened the eyes of Europeans; and I wondered that so fair a land should only be the abode of savage men; and then I thought of the curious paintings we had this day seen, of the timid character of the natives, of their anomalous position in so fertile a country, and wondered how long these things were to be. With so wide a field of conjecture before me, thought naturally thronged on thought, and the night was far advanced ere I laid down to seek repose from the fatigues of the day. DEEP STREAM. March 27. The ponies having been routed out of their long and excellent feed, amongst which indeed it was no easy matter to find them, we moved on. I could not but reflect how different our position and the condition of the ponies would have been had we known as much of the country at first starting as we did at present; but these reflections were now useless. With the exception of one small rocky valley, the whole of our morning's journey was through a rich and fertile country until we reached a deep stream, thirty or forty yards wide and apparently navigable for large boats up to this point; it ran away to the westward, but with a current scarcely perceptible. DIFFICULT APPROACH TO IT. It was very difficult to approach this stream on account of the marshy nature of its banks, which were overgrown with bamboo and, even if we could have got the ponies to it, it was not fordable here. We therefore turned up it in an easterly direction to look for a passage over it; and in so doing were necessarily compelled to cross many smaller streams and a great deal of swampy ground in which some of the most weakly of the ponies got bogged and were only extricated with great difficulty. However annoying this was I could not but smile at the distress of some of the men, who had contracted a friendship for the animals they had so long led, when one of their favourites got into a difficulty. The exclamations of Ruston the old sailor were particularly amusing, as, according to the position in which the animal got bogged, he used to roar out for someone "to come and give his pony a heave upon the starboard or larboard quarters;" and once, when violently alarmed at the danger he imagined his pet pony to be in, he shouted amain, "By G---, Sir, she'll go down by the stern." At last however we got clear of the marsh, and reached a rocky gorge where this stream issued from the hills, and here we stopped for breakfast