The river by which we were camped was running west by south:  below our camp it was not nearly so wide as at the spot where we came upon it.  Where it turned through the hills its banks were rocky and steep, and the bed narrow, but running rapidly.  The hills here, as well as the valley of the river, were well covered with grass.  The position of the camp was about 17 degrees 30 minutes south latitude, 145 degrees 12 minutes east longitude.

August 20, 21, and 22.

During the whole of these three days we travelled over undulating open land, wooded pretty thickly with stringy-bark, box, and apple-gum, interspersed with occasional sandy flats, producing a broad-leafed Melaleuca, and a pretty species of Grevillea, with pinnatifid, silvery leaves.  Neither the Melaleuca nor the Grevillea grew more than twenty feet high.  On the flats we found a great number of ant-hills, remarkable for their height and size; they were of various forms, but chiefly conical, some of them rose ten feet high.  From the appearance of the ant-hills I should take the sub-soil to be of a reddish clay.

August 23.

We camped by the side of a creek running to the westward, with rather a broad bed, and steep banks of strong clay.  There was no water in the creeks except in holes.

A tribe of natives, from eighteen to twenty in number, were seen coming down the creek, each carrying a large bundle of spears.  Three of our party left the camp and went towards them, carrying in their hands green boughs, and making signs to the blacks to lay down their spears and come to us.  After making signals to them for some minutes, three or four of them laid down their spears and approached us.  I went back to the camp and fetched a few fish-hooks, and a tin plate marked with Mr. Kennedy’s initials; having presented them with these they went away and appeared quite friendly.  Shortly after we had camped, Goddard and Jackey went out for the purpose of shooting wallabies; they parted company at the base of a hill, intending to go round and meet on the other side, but missing each other, Jackey returned to the camp without his companion.  To our great alarm Goddard did not return all night, although we kept up a good fire as a beacon to show him where we were camped, and fired a pistol every five minutes during the night.

August 24.

Three of our party, accompanied by Jackey, rode to the spot where the latter had left Goddard on the previous day, intending, if possible, to track him, and succeeded in doing so for some distance to the eastward, but then coming to some stony ground, they lost the track.