25th December.

Christmas day.  Frequent heavy showers throughout the day and night. 
Killed a sheep; the weight, 38 1/2 pounds.

26th December.

Preparing equipment; fitting spare shoes for the horses, etc.  Frequent showers.

27th December.

Packing stores, fitting saddles, etc.  This has been the first fine day during the past week, having had only a single shower during the twenty-four hours.

Flood in the river.

28th December.

Party employed as before.  The schooner was moved into the stream, as the drift-wood collected in large quantities, and could not be easily cleared away from the bows when moored near the bank.  The water of the river is very muddy, and has risen about six feet above the ordinary high-water mark.  The current is about two miles per hour.  In winding chronometer 2139, the chain, which was much corroded, broke, and the force of the recoil of the spring snapped it in so many places that I had to splice six of the links.

29th December.

As before—­preparing equipment, etc.

30th December (Sunday).

31st December.

Preparing tracings of maps, etc., completed the preparations for the exploration of the interior.

A Stampede.

1st January, 1856.

Wrote to Mr. Wilson, enclosing instructions for the guidance of the officer in charge of the camp on the Victoria.  Wrote to the master of the Tom Tough instructions relative to the movements and repair of the Tom Tough, etc.  Received from Mr. Wilson a letter requesting to be informed why he had been selected to take charge of the party at the principal camp.  Wrote to Mr. Wilson in reply to his letter of this day’s date.  Having completed the preparations for the journey into the interior, the horses were saddled, and the party was on the point of starting, when a gun was fired on board the schooner, and the horses took fright and rushed wildly into the bush; and it was only after a hard gallop of two miles that they could be turned and driven back to the camp.  Many of the saddles and loads were torn off by the horses having run against trees, and, as they had scattered very much, it took some time to collect the bags which had fallen from the horses, and four bags of provisions could not be found.  A few of the straps of the colonial-made pack-saddles had given way, but there was no other damage done to them; but the English-made saddle was shaken to pieces.  The party were occupied in the evening repairing damages.

2nd January.

Completed the repair of the saddlery, etc. broken yesterday; two of the missing bags were found, but a heavy shower having obliterated the tracks of the horses, two bags of sugar and sago were lost.

3rd January.

All arrangements being complete, the party commenced their journey at 11 a.m., and, proceeding up the river to Timber Creek, encamped there at 3.0 p.m.