9th September.
At 7.30 a.m. resumed a westerly course through grassy gum forest; at 8.0
a.m. crossed a large watercourse trending south, with many shallow pools
of water; the country then became scrubby; at 9.10 crossed a granite
ridge and entered a rich grassy valley timbered with eucalypti and
raspberry-jam wattle, a small watercourse trending north. The ridge on
the west side of the valley was destitute of timber, but covered with
dense wattle brush; at 10.0 a.m. altered the course to 305 degrees, and
at 10.35 came on the head of a small stream-bed with pools of water;
following it west-north-west, at 11.30 it was joined by a running stream
four yards wide, the water being brackish, and trended to the south-west;
left it and steered west over an open scrubby country; at 12.30 p.m.
entered a dense thicket of eucalypti and acacia, the soil being formed of
fragments of granite and trap; at 1.0 p.m. entered a deep valley by an
abrupt descent, and found ourselves once more on the banks of the
brackish stream, which was much enlarged, and running through a narrow
grassy flat backed by high sandstone cliffs from 80 to 100 feet high.
Continuing our course along the river west till 1.55 p.m., when it turned
north, and at 2.20 p.m. north-west; at 3.0 p.m. the banks of the stream
became very high, and stratified in a remarkable manner, the lower rocks
in thin beds dipping to the east, while the superincumbent rocks of red
sandstone were horizontal. We therefore entered the bed of the river to
examine it, and found two seams of coal--one five feet thick and the
other about six feet thick--between beds of sandstone and shale. Having
pitched the tent and tethered the horses, we commenced to collect
specimens of the various strata, and succeeded in cutting out five or six
hundredweight of coal with the tomahawk, and in a short time had the
satisfaction of seeing the first fire of Western Australian coal burning
cheerfully in front of the camp, this being the first discovery of coal
in the western part of the Continent.
Latitude 28 degrees 57 minutes 10 seconds; longitude 115 degrees 30
minutes.
10th September.
At 7.20 a.m. left the camp and followed the river downwards on a general
course 250 degrees; at 7.40 crossed to the left bank, the valley opening
out and the soil improving, being formed by the decomposition of soft
shales, which contain much gypsum in fine crystals. Oat and rye grasses
were abundant, with plenty of saltbush; at 9.10 crossed to the right
bank, and steered 220 degrees to an abrupt headland on the north side of
the valley, which was here about two miles wide; the soil a stiff brown
loam, with rounded fragments of granite, flinty trap, and quartz,
resembling in appearance the French millstone burr; the grass improved,
being chiefly of perennial species. After a halt of twenty minutes to
take bearings from the hill, at 9.40 steered 200 degrees, and again
crossed the river at 11.15, and altered the course to 235 degrees; the
grassy country having a breadth of two miles. At noon ascended a sandy
ridge with a few gum-trees on the top; there the valley closed in, the
grassy flats below being only half a mile wide and backed by extensive
elevated sandy downs, covered with heath and short scrub. The course of
the river was about 230 degrees. At 1.35 p.m. ascended a remarkable red
sandstone hill, with a table summit and steep rocks on all sides nearly
blocking up the valley; at 2.15 p.m. resumed a general course of 242
degrees along the bank of the river, and at 4.5 bivouacked in a rich
grassy flat thinly timbered with white-barked eucalyptus.
Latitude 29 degrees 10 minutes 42 seconds; longitude 115 degrees 15
minutes.