west to where we crossed a creek from north-east; at 10.24 made three-quarters of a mile south by west; at 10.45 made one mile south to the left side of the river; at 11 made three-quarters of a mile south-east by south along the dry bed of the river, from which we started successive flights of pigeons.  At this place Mr. Campbell and party halted with the horses while Mr. Allison and I went about a mile westward onto the plain, where he made the altitude 86 degrees 30 minutes, which makes the latitude 20 degrees 6 minutes, agreeing with the latitude of my dead reckoning and with an observation I made of a star last night; at 3 Jemmy, who had gone down the river, returned without finding any water, except what was left by the last thunderstorm; and as he told me I was following up a river, and not down, I too hurriedly believed him, and made up my mind to return to a waterhole that Fisherman had found to the right of our course in the bed of the river.  At the waterhole I found blacks, but, as I always avoid them when I can, after I had a short interview with them we started down the river to the water Jemmy had found, following along the right bank as we had the left before; at 4.40 made two miles and three-quarters down the river to where we crossed, near its junction, a river or a branch of one from north-west; at 5.8 made one mile and a half back to where Mr. Allison went on the plain to get an observation; at 5.20 made half a mile south; at 5.40 made one mile south to where the river has two channels; the one trending to the west of south we crossed, between the two channels of the river; at 5.53 made half a mile south to where the left channel of the river was full of water and fine grass on its banks, on the right bank of which we formed our twenty-third camp, at the place where Mr. Allison made an observation of the sun.  The country is very level and the watercourses are unconfined, and in times of floods the water overflows the low banks of the different channels.  The blacks we saw today appear to be circumcised; three of them approached us, one of whom was the old blackfellow we had seen yesterday.  Their name for water we thought from what they said was oto.  We presented them with a tin pot and two empty glass bottles with which they were very much pleased.

Friday December 27.  Camp Number 23, situated on the Herbert River.

Left camp at 8.24 a.m. to go down the river; at 8.35 made half a mile south-south-west to where we crossed, near its junction, a western channel of the river; at this place there are flats covered with bushes like saltbush, which the horses eat.  These bushes I have observed on the western plains from Rockhampton and on most of the low situations along our route on this expedition; at 8.43 made half a mile south; at 8.48 made a quarter of a mile south-west where we crossed, near its junction, a more western channel of the river; at 9.10 made one mile south-west by south to where we crossed, near its junction, a river