ranges.  At noon we crossed a small creek running nearly north:  the grass had been burnt on its banks.  About half a mile beyond it was another creek of a more promising appearance, and as we approached it we saw several crows, as well as other birds, in the trees.  We here found a small hole with the water fast drying up; it contained a lot of young fish about half an inch long, and just sufficient water to replenish our water bags and give the horses a drink; below it the creek took a north-north-westerly course, and was dry and sandy for a distance of two miles and a half, at which point we found some large but shallow holes of milky-looking water.  On the plains near these holes we found large flocks of pigeons.  The grass was very coarse and dry, and the water would probably not last more than a few weeks.

Horse Tracks.—­On the plains to the east of the creek were the tracks of a single horse, which had evidently crossed when the ground was very soft, and gone in a south-westerly direction.

Position of Water.—­The waterholes are situated in latitude 27 degrees 51 south, longitude 142 degrees 40 minutes east, by account from Camp 55.  From here a course of west half south took us in a distance of about twenty miles to Cooper’s Creek, which we first struck in latitude 27 degrees 49 minutes south, longitude 142 degrees 20 minutes east.  The land through which we passed on the 11th was so low and wooded as to prevent me from seeing the direction of the ranges; the first five or six miles was tolerably open.  We then came to a box forest, where the soil was loose and earthy, similar to polygonum ground; there were in every direction signs of heavy floods and frequent inundations.  We crossed several small watercourses, in one of which there was a hole of rather creamy water, at which we halted for an hour.  From the waterhole we quite unexpectedly obtained a rather fine fish, about eight inches long, of the same description as the young ones we had found in Brahe’s Creek.

Cooper’s Creek.—­At the point at which we first struck Cooper’s Creek it was rocky, sandy, and dry; but about half a mile further down we came to some good waterholes, where the bed of the creek was very boggy, and the banks richly grassed with kangaroo and other grasses.  The general course is a little north of west, but it winds about very much between high sand hills.  The waterholes are not large, but deep, and well shaded, both by the steep banks and the numerous box trees surrounding them.  The logs and bushes high upon the forks of the trees, tell of the destructive floods to which this part of the country has been subjected, and that at no very distant period, as may be seen by the flood marks on trees of not more than five or six years’ growth.

From Camp 57 we traced the creek in a west-north-westerly direction about six miles.  It then runs out among the sand hills, the water flowing by various small channels in a south-westerly direction.  The main channel, however, continues nearly south until it is lost on an extensive earthy plain covered with marshmallows and chrysanthemums.