remains of the early races of animals in Australia were to be found in the deep crevices and caverns of the limestone rock. How they got there was a question which had often puzzled me; but having at length arrived at some conclusions on the subject, I was now desirous to ascertain, by a more extensive examination of the limestone country, whether the caves containing the osseous breccia presented here similar characteristics to those I had observed in Wellington Valley.

OSSEOUS BRECCIA.

The first limestone we examined had no crevices sufficiently large to admit our bodies; but on riding five miles southward to Oakey creek we found a low ridge extending some miles on its left bank which promised many openings. We soon found one which I considered to be of the right sort, namely a perpendicular crevice with red tuff about the sides. Being provided with candles and ropes we descended perpendicularly first, about six fathoms to one stage, then obliquely, about half as far to a sort of floor of red earth; Mr. Rankin, although a large man, always leading the way into the smallest openings. By these means and by crawling through narrow crevices we penetrated to several recesses, until Mr. Rankin found some masses of osseous breccia beneath the limestone rock but so wedged in that they could be extracted only by digging. Unlike the same red substance at Wellington Valley where it was nearly as hard as the limestone, the red calcareous tuff found here was so loose that the mass of bones was easily detached from it; but none of them were perfect, except one or two vertebrae of a very large species of kangaroo. Pursuing this lode of osseous earth we traced it to several other recesses and in the lower side of an indurated mass (the upper part having been the floor of our first landing place) we found two imperfect skulls of Dasyuri, the teeth being however very well preserved. This was, doubtless, an unvisited cave; for the natives have an instinctive or superstitious dread of all such places, and it is not therefore probable that man had ever before visited that cavern. With all our ropes it cost some of us trouble to get out of it, after passing two hours in candle-light. It may thus be imagined what a vast field for such interesting researches remains still unexplored in that district where limestone occurs in such abundance.

The objects of my journey did not admit of further indulgence in the pursuit at that time; and I was content with drawing the attention of one of the party, a young gentleman residing in the neighbourhood, to it, in hopes he might discover some bones of importance.*

(*Footnote. See a further account of these caves and some others in Chapter 3.15 below.)

MOUNT GRANARD, FIRST POINT TO BE ATTAINED.

March 19.

Our stores being completed we proceeded along the course of the little rivulet of Buree, towards the Lachlan. My first object was to gain Mount Granard, described by Mr. Oxley as the most elevated pic of a very high range, and laid down on his map to the westward of where the Lachlan takes a remarkable turn from its general direction towards the low country more to the southward. I had long thought that it might be possible to ascertain from this hill whether any range extended westward of sufficient magnitude to separate the basins of the Murray and the Darling. I wished to visit it last year, but the loss of Mr. Cunningham, the consequent delay of the party, and the adverse nature of my instructions in regard to my own views, together prevented me. I then saw that the hills along the line I was now about to follow were favourable for triangulation; but the greater certainty of finding water in a large river like the Lachlan was my chief inducement for now moving towards its banks, as the season was of such unusual drought. On this day's journey I took for my guidance the bearing of a line drawn on the map from Buree, as fixed by my former survey, to the mouth of Byrne's creek, as laid down by Mr. Oxley; and which I supposed to be the same as that which descends from Buree.

HALT ON A DRY CREEK.

The line guided me tolerably well to where I encamped that night. This was on a fine-looking plain, within sight of the wooded banks of the creek; but, on examining the bed of the latter, I could find no water, although I followed it two miles down. There I arrived at a cattle station named Toogang, where there was water. It was nothing to the old hands of the Darling to go only TWO miles for water. We suffered no inconvenience from this; but it was deplorable to see the bed of what must in some seasons be a fine little stream so completely dry and dusty. This day we met with a new species of Psoralea.* At the camp I ascertained the magnetic variation to be 9 degrees 10 minutes 15 seconds East, by an observation of the star Beta Centauri.

(*Footnote. A genus chiefly inhabiting the Cape of Good Hope, India, the Levant and North America, of which no species have before been published from Australia. I was subsequently fortunate enough to discover two more species of this genus; which with one as yet unpublished, found by Mr. Allan Cunningham in 1818 in the rocky islands of Dampier's Archipelago on the north-west coast, makes the number inhabiting Australia to be 4: all of which are remarkable for their resemblance to the North American form of the genus. The species we observed on this occasion was a small spreading herbaceous plant. P. patens, Lindley manuscripts; herbacea, pubescens, foliis pinnatim trifoliolatis, foliolis dentatis punctatis lateralibus oblongis obtusis intermedio ovato obtuso basi cuneato, racemo pedunculato laxo multifloro foliis multo longiore, bracteis subrotundis striatis obscure multipunctatis, ramis divaricatis.)

March 20.

We proceeded, crossing the channel near the cattle station where I learnt that it was joined immediately below by that which I had named King's creek on my last journey; also that water was abundant in it below the junction. Some natives joined us and Piper prevailed on one of them to be our guide, as far as he knew the country. The use of such a guide in following an unexplored watercourse is that bad places for the carts may be avoided, and the doubles of the stream cut off by the easiest routes.

BREAK A WHEEL.

In crossing a gully which entered the creek near another station, called Chilberengaba, we broke a wheel, and though we had travelled only about seven miles we were obliged to encamp, and remain until the carpenter and the smith could repair it.

ATTEMPT TO ASCEND MARGA.

In the meantime I set out with the native guide for the summit of Marga, which proved to be one of my old fixed points. It was about seven miles south-west of our camp; but after a most fatiguing ascent of two steep and rocky ridges, during great heat, I was obliged to return without reaching Marga. At the cattle station we heard of a bullock which had been left by us in an exhausted state during our last expedition; and we succeeded in bringing it in, and in laying the yoke on its neck for another visit to the banks of the Darling; it was fitter than any other of our working bullocks. I added a second species of Psoralea to that discovered yesterday, a small graceful plant with racemes of purplish minute flowers, elevated far above the leaves, and on slender stalks so tough as to be broken only with some difficulty.*

(*Footnote. P. tenax, Lindley manuscripts; herbacea, depressa, perennis, glabra, foliis glandulosis palmatim 5-foliolatis, foliolis linearibus vel lineari-oblongis obtusis, racemis cylindraceis longissime pedunculatis erectis, leguminibus ovatis scabris glabris.)

March 21.

According to arrangements made with Captain King and Mr. Dunlop, the King's astronomer at the Parramatta observatory, I halted the party this day in order to make hourly observations of the barometer, thermometer, the sky, etc. This plan had been strongly recommended by Sir John Herschel; and for our present