[Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia by Ludwig Leichhardt]@TWC D-Link bookJournal of an Overland Expedition in Australia CHAPTER V 11/47
After our mid-day meal, I set out again with the two Blackfellows, not only with a view to find water for the next stage, but to endeavour to make the table land again, and thence to pursue a more westerly course. A great number of sandstone ranges, several of them very steep, and of considerable elevation, stretch parallel to each other from west to east, forming spurs from a higher mountain range to the westward, which is probably connected with Peak Range.
It is composed of basalt, and partly covered with dense scrub, and in other parts openly timbered; where the scrub prevailed, the soil was shallow and rocky, but the soil of the open forest was deeper, and of the character of that of the plains.
The deep gullies were all without water, but occasionally filled with patches of rich brush.
Many creeks went down between the sandstone ranges: and they were generally bounded on both sides by fine well-grassed, narrow-leaved Ironbark slopes, and sweet herbage, on which numerous emus and kangaroos were feeding.
In one of the glens among the ridges I observed a new gum-tree, with a leaf like that of the trembling poplar of Europe, and of a bright green colour, which rendered the appearance of the country exceedingly cheerful.
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