As soon as it was light enough to find the ponies we recommenced our march; and, all our annoyances of yesterday being repeated, did not succeed in arriving at the ravine until noon—­it took us much care and a great deal of time to reach the bottom of this in safety; when however we had done so, we knee-haltered the ponies and let them loose amidst very good feed, of which they now stood much in need, for there was no grass whatever between the encampment and Hanover Bay; the whole of the intervening country being a mass of rock, scrub, and spinifex.  I now sent a party back to bring on the refractory pony, which I had yesterday been obliged to tie up to a tree, and the long fast it had been subjected to appeared to have produced a very beneficial effect on its temper, for it now was perfectly docile.

Excursion up Prince regent’s river.  Preparations for moving.

For the next few days all was bustle and preparation.  The ponies being so much smaller than I had expected, all our packsaddles had to be altered, and fourteen of them, which the party had made during the absence of the schooner, still had to be put together.  Mr. Walker undertook the task of constructing a pathway up the cliffs, by means of which the loaded ponies could ascend; he laboured personally at making this path, occasionally assisted by two or three others; and it would be impossible for anyone who had not seen it at all to comprehend the obstacles he met with, and the perseverance with which he contended against and finally overcame them.  We were obliged to complete everything in a hurried and unsatisfactory manner, for our departure had been so long delayed that we were every day in expectation of the setting in of the heavy rains and the consequent flooding of the ravine in which we were encamped; and in the event of this taking place before we made a start it was impossible to foresee for how long a period our movements might be delayed.

Character of its shores.

On Monday the 22nd Captain Browse and Mr. Walker accompanied me in the jolly-boat up Prince Regent’s River; we went up with the flood-tide, entering the river by its northern mouth; I had thus an opportunity of examining the island which lies at the entrance to this great arm of the sea, and landed upon it in several places, but found only bad sandy land, occasionally covered with rocks; it was however well wooded and abounded with birds.  After we had passed the mouth of Rothsay Water the tide swept us along with great rapidity, and we soon found ourselves in St. George’s Basin.  I kept close along the northern shore, where we saw but little good land after entering the basin; but there was one fertile island, of a small conical shape, bearing nearly due east as you enter.  From the appearance of this island there can be no doubt whatever that it is of volcanic origin; as it in all respects resembles Mount Lyell and the other basaltic conical hills which we afterwards found in the fertile district of Glenelg; we did not however land on it, but merely ran close by, and then continued our route up the river.