17th August (Sunday).

Grass and water being sufficient, remained at the camp to rest the horses, though, as several had to be shod, it was not altogether a day of rest to the party.  A fresh breeze from south-east cooled the air at noon, but died away towards sunset.

Latitude by Vega 17 degrees 32 minutes 11 seconds; longitude by lunar distances 135 degrees 51 minutes 15 seconds.

18th August.

Collected the horses early, but two of them appeared to be much griped from eating the coarse grass, and I therefore delayed starting till 7.40 a.m., and then ascended the stony range to the south-east and reached the tableland.  The soil was sandy with acacia scrub, paper-bark gum, stringybark, and bloodwood; at 10.0 the country became stony, with white-gum, tall acacia, and triodia, and we gradually ascended till the aneroid indicated an elevation of 1100 feet, and we appeared to be on a ridge parallel to the tableland of the interior and at a greater elevation; at 1.20 p.m. observed a clump of melaleuca in a deep rocky ravine, and steered south to it.  Here we found a spring with a few acres of grass around it, and encamped.

Latitude by Vega 17 degrees 40 minutes 31 seconds.

Basaltic range. 1300 Feet above sea.

19th August.

At 6.45 a.m. steered south-east and soon ascended a rocky range of altered sandstone and trap or basalt, thinly wooded with white-gum, tall acacia, and grevillia, triodia, and treraphis superseding the grass; at 7.30 the aneroid indicated the greatest altitude (1300 feet) which we had attained since leaving the Victoria River.  From this point the view was extensive to the north and south.  Towards the interior the surface of the tableland, not being so elevated as our position, appeared like a vast level plain without any marked feature whatsoever.  To the north the country appeared to consist of low ridges of wooded hills gradually decreasing in height as they receded.  Southward our view was intercepted by broken wooded hills of equal elevation with our position, while deep ravines trending to the south intercepted our route.  I therefore altered the course to 200 degrees magnetic, and descended a rocky valley in which was a small watercourse which enlarged into a considerable creek with large rocky waterholes.  The hills consisted of basalt and altered sandstone, which dipped 20 degrees to 60 degrees to the north-west, and by their outcrop formed parallel ridges which we passed with difficulty and great risk to our horses; at 12.30 p.m. we extricated ourselves from these ridges and entered a level valley extending thirty miles to the north-east and south-west.  Here granite rock was exposed on the bank of the creek, which now trended across the valley to the south-east, with a broad sandy bed from a quarter to half a mile in width, but quite dry and overgrown with bushes; at 4.5 reached the hills which bounded the valley to the south-east, and the creek entering a deep gorge which, by concentrating its waters, had formed a fine pool, at which we encamped.  The country after leaving the basalt hills, where the valleys were well grassed, was barren and useless sand, gravel, and rock.