We all felt the inconvenience of leaving the carts behind, and I in particular.  I was now obliged to make two strong bags to fit my specimen boards, and to hang them over a horse’s back, one bag on each side, a very inconvenient method, as it rendered them liable to much damage going through the scrub.  The sheep at this time had grown very thin and poor, not averaging more than thirty pounds when skinned and dressed; they had, however, become so habituated to following the horses that they cost us very little trouble in driving them.

After travelling about six miles through open forest land we camped near a creek on the skirts of a thick scrub.

July 19.

We were cutting through scrub all day, skirting numerous small creeks which we met with here, most of them running to the eastward.  The soil was rather stiff, and indicated a rocky formation, blocks of granite projecting from it in various directions.

July 20, 21, and 22.

During these three days we travelled over an irregular, mountainous country, intersected by numerous creeks, running in every direction, but all of them with belts of scrub on each side.  We sometimes crossed the same creeks two or three times a day, owing to the tortuous directions they took, and our clothes were kept wet all the day; some of them too had very steep banks, which presented another obstacle to the progress of our horses.  Between the creeks, small patches of open forest land intervened, with large blocks of rock scattered over them; most of the creeks had a rocky bottom, and were running to the eastward.

July 23.

Sunday, we had prayers read as usual at eleven o’clock, and halted for the day.

July 24.

We resumed our journey through the same description of country, cutting through scrub, and occasionally travelling through open land, timbered principally with Moreton Bay ash, box, and flooded-gum, and covered with very long grass.  We crossed two creeks running to the northward, on the side of the last of which we camped.  We were here compelled to shoot one of our horses, which had fallen lame.  During the week we had made very little progress, being forced to turn in every direction to avoid the deep gulleys, and the scrub which invariably prevailed in the bends of the creeks.  A tribe of natives visited us at this camp, and appeared very friendly; they did not stop with us long.  I saw to-day several trees of the white-apple, as we called it, and which I have before described.

July 25.

We entered the scrub on the side of the creek, and proceeded along its banks with difficulty, being obliged to cut our way through, but it grew less dense after we had skirted the creek a short distance.  We found the creek to be the branch of a river, which here divided, one branch running to the south-east (by which we had camped yesterday)the other running east.  It is rocky, and shallow where it divides, but grows deeper in its course towards the coast.  It is about two hundred yards wide, and its banks are overhung with trees on each side.  After following it about a mile up, it grew much more shallow and narrow, and had a rocky bottom.