In the afternoon, as we were passing through a densely vegetated bottom, we saw a very large iguana run up a tree. This brute was of a beautiful green colour and five or six feet long; it sat on the tree, making a noise somewhat like a snake, and was the largest and ugliest of the lizard tribe which I have ever seen on land. As we could make no use of it I thought it would be wanton to kill it; so, after examining it as well as we could, we moved on, leaving it undisturbed.
The black flies on this day changed their character, and became much smaller than those I had hitherto seen.
March 8.
We made but little progress today on account of the denseness of the vegetation, which was so luxuriant that we found great difficulty in forcing our way through it; in several instances indeed it was wholly impassable; and, after making an attempt to penetrate through a jungle, we were obliged to turn about and coast round it. The numerous streams we met with were also a serious impediment, for many of these were so muddy and deep that we had great difficulty in finding a place where we could cross.
SIGNS OF NATIVES.
We halted for breakfast near a stream of this kind, under the shade of a large group of the pandanus. This was evidently a favourite haunt of the natives, who had been feeding upon the almonds which this tree contains in its large complex fruit, and to give a relish to their repast had mingled with it roasted unios, or fresh-water mussels, which the stream produced in abundance. The remains of some old spears were also lying about, but the natives themselves were not visible.
Immediately after breakfast I ascended a hill to see if we could in any way get clear of the deep stream on the banks of which we had breakfasted. The Glenelg was distant about three miles to the south, and I found that, in order to disengage ourselves from the waters which almost encompassed us, we must turn off to the north-west, and thus almost double back on our former track, as there was no other resource. I returned at once to the party, and we spent the rest of the day in crossing two deep streams, and then proceeded about a mile to the eastward, where we halted for the night on the bank of a rocky watercourse, but not containing a drop of water. The timber today was larger than I had yet seen it, affording many new kinds, and one in particular, resembling in appearance and quality the English ash.
March 9.
We moved through a low country, densely vegetated, and still abounding in deep sluggish streams, almost unapproachable, on account of a dwarf bamboo and other tropical plants which clothed their margins. Some of these streams were twenty feet deep and upwards, and looked more like canals than natural watercourses.
CASCADE OF THE RIVER.