Oct. 7.—­John and Charley went back to fetch the bullock, and, in the mean time, I occupied myself in examining our packs, in order to dispense with such things as were least necessary; for, with an additional weight of 130 pounds of dried meat and hide, our pack bullocks were overloaded, and it was now imperative upon me to travel as lightly as possible.  Thus I parted with my paper for drying plants, with my specimens of wood, with a small collection of rocks, made by Mr. Gilbert, and with all the duplicates of our zoological specimens.  Necessity alone, which compelled me to take this step, reconciled me to the loss.

Our bullock came in during the afternoon, and was immediately killed, skinned, and quartered.

Oct. 8.—­We cut the meat into slices, and put them out to dry.

Oct. 9.—­I went with Brown to examine the country along the river, which I called “Limmen Bight River;” from its disemboguing into Limmen Bight.  Charley had been at the upper part of the creek on which we were encamped, and found it running and fresh; which made me believe, that those pools of very brackish water we had previously seen, belonged to a different watercourse.  I rode with Brown to the westward, over a succession of ironstone ridges covered with stringy-bark scrub.  These ridges formed steep headlands into the broad flat valley of the river.  Along the valley, bare sandy and boggy plains alternated with tea-tree thickets and mangrove swamps, in one of which our horses got deeply bogged.  After five miles we came on a large piece of salt water, which, according to Brown, was a tributary creek of the river.  It flowed between low banks fringed with tea-trees.  We followed a foot-path of the natives, who seemed very numerous, which led towards another range west by south; and crossed several tea-tree creeks, Pandanus groves, and swamps full of a high blady grass.  We observed some springs, with but little water however, though densely surrounded with ferns (Osmunda).  After about seven miles, we were stopped by a fern swamp full of fine box-trees, with a thick jungle of high stiff grasses and ferns (Blechnum).  A small running creek formed its outlet, and contained a chain of deep ponds covered with Nymphaeas, and surrounded with Typha (bull-rush), the youngest part of the leaves of which is very tolerable eating.  Large swarms of ducks (Leptotarsis Eytoni, Gould), rose with their peculiar whistling noise, at our approach.

Oct. 10.—­I moved my camp to the chain of lagoons, which we found yesterday; and our horses and cattle enjoyed the fine feed.  The largest hill of the range to the westward, bore south-west from our camp.  A species of Hibiscus with large pink flowers, but small insignificant leaves, and another small malvaceous shrub with white flowers grew round the camp.