halted; they appeared unhealthy and stunted, but indeed I suspect they
are a new and undescribed variety. Being desirous of procuring anything I
could for the men to eat I had the tops of some of these trees cut off
and boiled, they were however still so hard that to chew them was
impossible, and it was evident that we had not yet reached a parallel of
latitude calculated to produce tender-topped grass trees.

I knew our latitude and position this night exactly, as I had seen Mount
Naturaliste of the French in the course of the day. There could be no
doubt whatever that we were in a very remarkable district, for we stood
upon the point where the geological formations of the north-western and
south-western portions of the continent were associated together, and the
flora of which was so made up of those of both that it was impossible to
tell which predominated. There were many other interesting circumstances
connected with the surrounding country, some of which have been already
mentioned. I named the river and estuary now discovered the Hutt after
William Hutt, Esquire, M.P., brother of His Excellency the Governor of
Western Australia.

INDISPOSITION OF MR. SMITH.

Mr. Smith this day complained of weakness, not sufficiently however in
the least to alarm me. He had hitherto been nearly always in the rear of
the party without lagging, but I thought two of the men in a much weaker
state than he was.


CHAPTER 2. FROM THE HUTT RIVER TO WATER PEAK.

WILD TURKEYS SEEN.