June 10.—­We travelled about five miles north-north-west to latitude 17 degrees 9 minutes 17 seconds.  The flats, the rugged hills, and the river, maintained the same character.  Creeks, probably of no great extent, joined the Lynd from the south side of all the hills we passed both yesterday and to-day.

The weather was very fine, although exceedingly hot during the day; but the nights were mild, and without dew.  An easterly and south-easterly wind blew during the whole day, moderated a little at sunset, and again freshened up after it; but the latter part of the night, and for an hour and a half after sunrise, was calm.  I was induced to think that this wind originated from the current of cold air flowing from the table-land of the Burdekin down to the gulf, as the easterly winds west of New England do, and as the westerly winds of Sydney during July and August, which are supposed to be equally connected with the table-land of New England and of Bathurst.  The westerly winds occurring at the upper Lynd, do not militate against such a supposition, as they might well belong to an upper current coming from the sea.

Two new fishes were caught; both were very small; the one malacopterygious, and resembling the pike, would remain at times motionless at the bottom, or dart at its prey; the other belonged to the perches, and had an oblong compressed body, and three dark stripes perpendicular to its length; this would hover through the water, and nibble at the bait.  Silurus and Gristes were also caught.

Brown rendered himself very useful to us in shooting ducks, which were very numerous on the water-holes; and he succeeded several times in killing six, eight, or ten, at oneshot; particularly the Leptotarsis, Gould, (whistling duck) which habitually crowd close together on the water.  Native companions were also numerous, but these birds and the black cockatoos were the most wary of any that we met.  Whilst travelling with our bullocks through the high grass, we started daily a great number of wallabies; two of which were taken by Charley and John Murphy, assisted by our kangaroo dog.  Brown, who had gone to the lower part of the long pool of water near our encampment, to get a shot at some sheldrakes (Tadorna Raja), returned in a great hurry, and told me that he had seen a very large and most curious fish dead, and at the water’s edge.  Messrs. Gilbert and Calvert went to fetch it, and I was greatly surprised to find it a sawfish (Pristis), which I thought lived exclusively in salt water.  It was between three and four feet in length, and only recently, perhaps a few days, dead.  It had very probably come up the river during a flood, for the water-hole in which the creature had been detained, had no connection with the tiny stream, which hardly resisted the absorbing power of the sands.  Another question was, what could have been the cause of its death? as the water seemed well tenanted with small fish.  We supposed that it had pursued its prey into shallow water, and had leaped on the dry land, in its efforts to regain the deep water.  Charley also found and brought me the large scales of the fish of the Mackenzie, and the head-bones of a large guard-fish.