Latitude 20 degrees 46 minutes.

17th September.

The course of the river was followed for about seventeen miles in a westerly direction, the bed widening out to 300 or 400 yards, the water being now confined to a sandy channel not above 150 yards in width, the depth of the valley through which it runs being about forty feet; timber of white-gum and cajeput is tolerably plentiful on the banks, the soil of which is a red loam of considerable depth.  Many of the pools are lined with tall reeds.  Camp 83.

Latitude 20 degrees 41 minutes 32 seconds.

Reach the DEGREY river.  Abundance of fish.

18th September.

Started at 6.40 a.m. and in two and a half hours entered a deep and wild-looking gorge, at which point it formed a junction with the DeGrey, coming from the south-south-east, through a beautiful level tract of open grassy country, a broad belt of flooded-gum trees growing for some distance back on either side.  Passing through the gorge, which was a quarter of a mile wide and about a mile long, we came upon a camp of natives, who, as usual, quickly dispersed without giving us an opportunity of showing them that we intended them no harm.  The river here contains a fine reach of deep water, upon which was a large quantity of whistling ducks and other water-fowl.  Two miles lower down we halted on the banks of a deep creek coming in from the northward; the rest of the day being employed re-stuffing pack-saddles, etc., while some of the party caught a quantity of fine fish—­amongst them an eel, which, however, was allowed to escape, being taken for a water-snake by one of the party who had never seen one before.  A large kind of bat, or vampire, was first observed here, measuring about two feet across the wings.  Camp 84.

19th September.

We continued to follow down the DeGrey for about eighteen miles in a west-north-west direction, through open grassy plains extending for many miles on either bank, the channel of the river still maintaining the same sandy character, and with abundance of water in its bed.  Camp 85.

Latitude 20 degrees 36 minutes 30 seconds.

20th September.

There was little or no change in the appearance of the country for the eighteen or twenty miles that the river was traced down during to-day.  We encamped on the bank of a wide and deep reach of water more than a mile long, surrounded by tall reeds.  Fish were caught here in great abundance.  Camp 86.

Latitude 20 degrees 31 minutes 48 seconds.

Native camp.

21st September.