October 26 to 28.

We travelled over stony hills, the tops of which were occasionally composed of white flint (?), with rusty veins running through it.  On the sides of the hills were broken rocks containing mica, hornblende, and crystals of quartz.  The grass on these hills had all been newly burned.

October 29.

Sunday; prayers at eleven o’clock.  We this day shot three small wallabies, which were a great treat to us.

October 30.

This day Luff was taken very lame, being seized with severe pain and stiffness in the right leg; he was quite unable to walk, so we burned the other two round tents to enable him to ride.

November 1 and 2.

We again had to kill a horse which was too weak, and disposed of it as we had our former ones.

November 3.

We were cutting through scrub all day, intersected by deep gullies and rocky hills; we crossed a small river, with very uneven rocky bottom, about three feet deep; where we crossed it, it was running southerly, and as there had been a heavy storm a few days previously, the current was rapid; five of our horses fell in crossing it—­the one carrying my specimens in a very bad place; we were obliged to cut the girths, and before I could secure his load two bags of seeds were washed away; we tied our horses to trees, and encamped in a thick bamboo scrub by the side of the river.

November 4.

This morning Jackey went to examine a scrub through which we wanted to pass, and while out, shot a fine cassowary; it was very dark and heavy, not so long on the leg as the common emu, and had a larger body, shorter neck, with a large red, stiff, horny comb on its head; Mr. Wall skinned it, but from the many difficulties with which he had to contend, the skin was spoiled before it could be properly preserved.

November 5.

We travelled a short distance to the top of a hill, from which Jackey had seen grass from a tree.  We were obliged to kill another horse to-day, and cured the flesh as usual.

November 6.

We were compelled to shoot two other horses to day, and as we had no other means of taking the meat with us, we skinned one of them, and made the skin into bags, in which we each carried a few pounds of meat on our backs.

November 7 and 8.

We were travelling these two days over very rough rocky ground, intersected with gullies and belts of scrub.

November 9.

We were obliged this morning to start without our breakfast, having no bread baked, and being unable to find water.  We followed the course of a creek at the foot of a low range of hills running northward, the range being to the westward.  In the evening we found water in the creek.

November 10.

We proceeded along the valley of the creek, which was very uneven, and full of small hillocks.  Near the spot where we camped a great number of Pandanus trees were growing.  On each side of the creek there were a few scattered trees and a thick scrub to the westward.  The soil was stiff, with plenty of grass in the valley.