On the east side of Water Valley, I found the same kind of slate, noticed before at Curiosity Peak: but what most interested me was a bituminous substance found near the bottom of the wells recently dug, and 23 feet from the surface of the ground.

It was apparently of a clayey nature when first brought up, but became hard and dark upon exposure to the air, and ignited quickly when put into the flame of a candle.

The sides of Water Valley were very precipitous, and nearly 300 feet high: a growth of palms marked the spot, and served to indicate our wells.

We here saw also the same fruit I had noticed on Curiosity Peak.
BIRD'S PLAYHOUSE.
I found matter for conjecture in noticing a number of twigs with their ends stuck into the ground, which was strewed over with shells, and their tops brought together so as to form a small bower; this was 2 1/2 feet long, 1 1/2 foot wide at either end.

It was not until my next visit to Port Essington that I thought this anything but some Australian mother's toy to amuse her child: there I was asked, one day, to go and see the bird's playhouse, when I immediately recognised the same kind of construction I had seen at the Victoria River: the bird* was amusing itself by flying backwards and forwards, taking a shell alternately from each side, and carrying it through the archway in its mouth.
(*Footnote.