On reaching the camp, Gibson and Jimmy had shot some parrots and other birds, which must have flown down the barrels of their guns, otherwise they never could have hit them, and we had an excellent supper of parrot soup.  Just here we have only seen parrots, magpies and a few pigeons, though plenty of kangaroo, wallaby, and emu; but have not succeeded in bagging any of the latter game, as they are exceedingly shy and difficult to approach, from being so continually hunted by the natives.  I named this very singular feature Mount Carnarvon, or The Sentinel, as soon I found

   “The mountain there did stand
    T sentinel enchanted land.”

The night was cold; mercury down to 26 degrees.  What little dew fell became frosted; there was not sufficient to call it frozen.  I found my position here to be in latitude 26 degrees 3’, longitude 132 degrees 29’.

In the night of the 1st September, heavy clouds were flying fastly over us, and a few drops of rain fell at intervals.  About ten o’clock p.m.  I observed a lunar rainbow in the northern horizon; its diameter was only about fifteen degrees.  There were no prismatic colours visible about it.  To-day was clear, fine, but rather windy.  We travelled up the creek, skirting its banks, but cutting off the bends.  We had low ridges on our right.  The creek came for some distance from the south-west, then more southerly, then at ten miles, more directly from the hills to the west.  The country along its banks was excellent, and the scenery most beautiful—­pine-clad, red, and rocky hills being scattered about in various directions, while further to the west and south-west the high, bold, and very rugged chain rose into peaks and points.  We only travelled sixteen miles, and encamped close to a pretty little pine-clad hill, on the north bank of the creek, where some rocks traversed the bed, and we easily obtained a good supply of water.  The grass and herbage being magnificent, the horses were in a fine way to enjoy themselves.

This spot is one of the most charming that even imagination could paint.  In the background were the high and pointed peaks of the main chain, from which sloped a delightful green valley; through this the creek meandered, here and there winding round the foot of little pine-clad hills of unvarying red colour, whilst the earth from which they sprung was covered with a carpet of verdure and vegetation of almost every imaginable hue.  It was happiness to lie at ease upon such a carpet and gaze upon such a scene, and it was happiness the more ecstatic to know that I was the first of a civilised race of men who had ever beheld it.  My visions of a former night really seemed to be prophetic.  The trend of the creek, and the valley down which it came, was about 25 degrees south of west.  We soon found it became contracted by impinging hills.  At ten miles from camp we found a pool of water in the bed.  In about a couple of miles farther, to my surprise I found we