Narran we encamped. Near the spot large rocks appeared in the bed, as if
the river was passing through the stock of the gravelly ridge I had
visited on the 18th. The rock consisted of that found about the basin of
the Darling; a quartzose conglomerate with much felspar, and having
pebbles of quartz imbedded. The large fragments of the conglomerate in
the river bed were angular, and not at all rounded at the edges. Here the
poor natives had been very industrious, as was evident from heaps of the
grass PANICUM LOEVINODE, and of the same redstalked coral-like plant,
also mentioned as having been observed in similar heaps, on the banks of
the Darling, during my journey of 1835 (vol. i. p. 238). I now
ascertained that the seed of the latter is also collected by the natives
and made into a paste. This seed was black and small, resembling fine
gunpowder when shaken out. Nevertheless it was sweet and pleasant to the
taste, possessing a nutty flavour.

The human inhabitants were few, and as invisible as other animals in
these forests--the prints of whose feet were also plain in the soft
smooth surface. As faithless as the snows of the North [*], this soil
bore the impressions of all animals obliged to go to the water, and
amongst them those of the naked feet of men, women, and children, with
the prints likewise of other BIPEDS, such as emus and kangaroos, and also
those of the native dog. Here still was our own race amongst other
animals all new and strange to Europeans. The prints of the foot of man
alone were familiar to us. But here he was living in common with other
animals, simply on the bounty of nature; artless, and apparently as much
afraid of us, and as shy, as other animals of the forest. It seemed
strange, that in a climate the most resembling that of Milton's paradise,
the circumstances of man's existence should be the most degrading.
Latitude of our camp, 29° 19' 26" S. Thermometer, at sunrise, 55°; at
noon, 100°; at 4 P. M., 101°; at 9, 70°;--with wet bulb, 65°. The mean