8th August.

Steering a south-east course from 6.50 a.m., crossed a sandy tableland, with paper-bark and melaleuca with broad leaves; passed a small creek with pools trending north-east, and at 10.0 a low rocky ridge; then descended into a wide valley, with melaleuca and a few box-trees.  At 1.25 camped on a large sandy creek with two channels ten yards wide, with low sandy banks; one channel was dry, but the other had a few small pools in it; a line of melaleuca and flooded-gum trees marked its course along the valley.  When in flood the waters of the creek are 100 yards wide and ten to fifteen feet deep.  The grass was inferior, but from having been burnt had grown up fresh and green.

Latitude by a Trianguli Australis 16 degrees 34 minutes 44 seconds.

Iron tools used by natives.

9th August.

Starting at 6.40 a.m., traversed an undulating sandstone country on a south-east course till 1.15 p.m., when we came on a large dry sandy creek, which we followed to the north-north-east till 1.50, when we found a shallow pool, at which we encamped.  This creek had a sandy channel ten yards wide, with low banks, subject to flood to the breadth of fifty to eighty yards.  Pandanus, melaleuca, and flooded-gum grow on its banks.  The country generally is poor and stony, with paper-bark, gum, bloodwood, and narrow-leafed melaleuca.  Shortly after reaching the creek the horse Monkey knocked up, though only carrying a pack-saddle since the 30th July; I therefore left the saddle, having removed all such portion of the fittings which might hereafter be useful.  A few yards from our camp we found some spears and water vessels, which had been hidden under some sheets of bark by the blacks, who evidently were out hunting, as we heard them calling to each other in the afternoon, though they were not seen.  These water vessels were formed by hollowing out a block of wood in the shape of a canoe, and had a capacity of three gallons, and it was evident that they possess tools of iron as also of stone.

Latitude by a Trianguli Australis 16 degrees 42 minutes 50 seconds; longitude by lunar distances 136 degrees 28 minutes.

10th August.

As there was a sufficient supply of grass and water, remained at the camp to rest the party.  The morning was cloudy, but cleared up about 9 a.m., and I observed a set of lunar distances.  Dean brought in some jasper from a hill one mile north-west of the camp.  He also reported that the creek appeared to trend to the north for eight or ten miles.

11th August.

We continued a south-east route at 7.40 a.m., ascending hills of limestone and sandstone, with an upper bed of basalt, which on the higher land to the south-west was again covered by sandstone.  The trap or basalt was much decomposed, and contained fragments of lower rocks.  At 1.40 p.m. camped on a fine but small creek, with permanent pools of water in a rocky channel from five to thirty yards wide.  The country was well grassed and openly wooded with box, sterculia, leguminous ironbark, and terminalia.