Having hobbelled our horses, that eagerly fed on the luxuriant grass surrounding them, we crossed the river in a canoe which had been scooped by Mr. Manton’s servants from the solid trunk of a “water gum” tree, (_Eucalyptus sp._) and was capable of carrying four or six persons. Arriving on its opposite side we were now beyond the acknowledged limits of the colony, although numerous cattle and sheep stations extend to a great distance further. On the banks of this fine stream, besides numerous flowering shrubs, the elegant “swamp oaks” towered to the elevation of fifty or sixty feet, their dark filiform foliage giving them the character of the larch: besides these, (which were by far the most numerous,) there were some enormous trees of the _Eucalyptus_ genus, called “water gum” by the colonists; they attain from ninety to one hundred feet in height, with a diameter of from six to eight feet; the wood is of a reddish colour, and very hard: on account of the latter quality, it is less frequently used, being difficult to cut. The currijong (_Hibiscus_) also grew about the limestone rocks in the vicinity, and was readily to be distinguished from other trees by the lighter and more vivid green of its foliage. A number of European genera of plants indigenous to the country, or at all events from their situations giving reason to suppose so, grew in the vicinity of this river; among others, the “sow thistle,” (the young tops of which are eaten by the natives just before the plant commences to blossom,) a small red poppy, the crow-foot, a rumex or dock (_R. lancifolia_?) geranium, and “shepherd’s purse,” (_Thlaspi bursa pastoris_,) were abundant, and they are seen very far in the interior beyond this place.