The southern margin of the George Gill Range presented a series of bold, picturesque headlands, formed of a hard Silurian sandstone, which sheltered little rocky pools, margined by reeds and ferns and overhung by gum trees, while every now and then tiny streams actually trickled down the gorges amongst the hills. Out among the sand-hills everything was as dry and sterile as possible, and the contrast between them and the almost verdant foliage immediately around the rock pools was most striking. Within actually the space of a few yards, we could pass from desert country into a luxuriant growth of reeds, ferns, and flowering shrubs. Around the margins of the pools species of Adiantum, Cheilanthes, and Aspidium formed quite a carpet of green; amongst the larger plants, pines, fig trees, Tecomas, and a yellow-flowering Hibbertia were growing freely. The surface of the water was flecked with the floating leaves of Vallisneria and Potamogeton, and yet within ten yards of the margin of the pool was sterile desert country stretching away southwards to the sea without a break. From the sides of the water-pool, the rocks rose precipitously, and over them in the rain season water must pour down in torrents from the hills behind.