Dec. 15.—­Last night we had two thunder-storms; one rose in the west, and turned to the northward, following the Christmas Ranges; the other rose in the south, and turned to the east, probably attracted by Expedition Range.  Still following the watercourse, we entered, after about four miles travelling, into the scrub.  The watercourse was soon lost in the level ground, and water-holes appeared every where; the general direction of the waters seemed to be to the north-west.  Four miles farther we came to a piece of open forest at the foot of a hill, which was covered with ironstone-pebbles.  Here we encamped without water; but, having passed good water-holes not four miles distant, I sent Mr. Calvert and Brown to fetch some, whilst I and Charley went forward to examine the country.  On my way to some ranges which I had seen to the eastward, I fell in with a dry watercourse, and, following it down for about half a mile from the camp, discovered a well-filled water-hole.  The watercourse was found to join a creek with a deep and very wide bed, but dry.  Muscle-shells strewed in every direction, and other appearances, indicated that, during the wet season, the whole country must be very swampy.  The course of the creek was to the N. N. W., and it is joined by watercourses from the right and left; all now quite dry.  After having followed the creek for about twelve miles, until sunset, without coming to the end of the scrub through which it trended, we were compelled to retrace our steps; in attempting which my companion, Charley, lost the track, but my good little horse, Jim Crow, guided us to the camp, which we reached about eleven o’clock.  Mr. Calvert and Brown had not yet returned; although the report of their guns had been heard several times.  The night was extremely cold, notwithstanding we were encamped under the shelter of trees:  and it was therefore evident that we were at a considerable elevation above the level of the sea.  The Box-tree of Jimba-flats, the Bricklow—­in short, the whole vegetation of the scrubby country, west of Darling Downs, were still around us; and the Moreton Bay ash (a species of Eucalyptus)—­which I had met with, throughout the Moreton Bay district, from the sea coast of the Nynga Nyngas to Darling Downs—­was here also very plentiful.

Dec. 16.—­Our cattle and our horses, with the exception of those we had used the night before, had strayed in search of water; but Charley found them on the sow-thistle plains, beyond our last camp.  Messrs. Calvert, Murphy, and Brown, came in early this morning; they had lost their way in the dark, in consequence of remaining too long at the water-hole.  They informed me that they had passed the night on an open piece of forest ground along a creek.  This intelligence induced me to examine the locality:  I therefore went with Brown, and found the creek, with a deep sandy, but dry bed, full of reeds; its direction being from south by west to north by east.  I followed it up about eight miles, when the scrub receded