wrenching off the heads of the horse-shoe nails:  it could not be altogether avoided, and made it past noon before the cattle reached the camp.  A native companion, a rock wallaby, and a young red kangaroo were the result of the hunting in the afternoon, which saved the necessity of having to kill a beast:  this would have been specially inconvenient, if not impossible here, for the natives had burnt all the grass, and there was not a bite of feed for either horses or cattle, had they halted.  About 50 blacks, all men, followed the tracks of the party from Cawana Swamp:  they were painted, and fully armed, which indicated a disposition for a “brush” with the white intruders; on being turned upon, however, they thought better of it, and ran away.  The camp was formed under a red stony bluff, which received the name of “Cowderoy’s Bluff,” after one of the party; whilst a large round hill bearing E.N.E. from the camp was called “Barney’s Nob.”  In the afternoon Mr. Binney and Eulah were sent to the river to fish, but as they ate all the caught, there was no gain to the party.  For this their lines were taken from them by Mr. Jardine, and they got a “talking to,” the necessity for which was little creditable to the white man.  The thermometer at 5 a.m. stood at 80 degrees.  The day’s stage about 10 miles N.N.W.  Some banksias, currijong, and stringy-bark were noticed to-day, the latter is not a common timber in the northern districts.

‘October’ 17.—­All the horses were away this morning:  as might have been expected, the poor hungry creatures had strayed back towards the good feed on Cawana Swamp, and were found 5 miles from the camp.  The day’s stage was the worst they had yet had.  The country down Parallel Creek has already been described, and it took six of the party five hours to get the cattle over three-and-a-half miles of ground:  the bed of the creek, by which alone they could travel was intersected every 300 or 400 yards by bars formed of granite boulders, some of which were from 25 to 30 feet high, and their interstices more like a quarry than anything else; over these the cattle had to be driven in two and sometimes three lots, and were only travelled 8 miles with great difficulty.  There were several casualties; “Lucifer,” one of the best of the horses cut his foot so badly, as to make it uncertain whether he could be fetched on; and two unfortunate cows fell off the rocks, and were smashed to pieces.  The cows were beginning to calve very fast, and when the calves were unable to travel, they had to be destroyed, which made the mothers stray from the camp to where they had missed them; one went back in this manner the previous night, but it was out of the question to ride thirty miles after her over the stones they had traversed.  The camp was made in the bed of Parallel Creek, at a spot where there was a little grass, the whole stage having been almost without any.  Here the basaltic wall was over 80 feet in height, hemming them in from the west; on some parts during the day it closed in on both sides.  An observation at night made the latitude 17 degrees 51 minutes.  A curious fishwas caught to-day—­it had the appearance of a cod, whose head and tail had been drawn out, leaving the body round.  (Camp VIII.)