12th November.
Mr. H. Gregory, with Shewell and Dawson, accompanied Captain Gourlay to
Steep Head to cut timber for the repair of the schooner. Erected a forge
and continued the preparation of the garden, etc. Last night one of the
sheep was strangled by getting entangled in the net which formed the
sheep-pen. Received from the master of the Tom Tough a letter replying to
my queries of the 10th instant. It appears that on the 30th September,
while the schooner was aground in the lower part of the Victoria, Mr.
Wilson landed to search for fresh water at Mosquito Flat; having made
some indefinite arrangements with Mr. Elsey to signalize for a boat,
should he require it, to return to the vessel; but he omitted to acquaint
either the master of the schooner, or Mr. Baines, who was next in command
to Mr. Wilson. The result was that when the signals were made there was
some uncertainty whether they were fires lighted by Mr. Wilson as signals
for a boat, and some delay ensued in preparing the boat, when it was
found that the tide had fallen so much that there was not sufficient
water to float the boat over the intervening sand-banks, and at low water
Mr. Wilson waded across the deeper channels and walked over the dry banks
to the vessel. As the affair appeared to be complicated with some private
misunderstanding between the parties, and Mr. Wilson had neglected to
make proper arrangements with the master of the vessel, I deemed it
desirable that the investigation should not proceed any farther.
13th November.
Mr. Baines having succeeded in repairing the portable boat, I made
preparation for an excursion up the river, as the horses were still unfit
for the work of exploration, and I hoped to be able to cross the shallows
which had obstructed Captain Stokes. Richards' arm does not progress in a
favourable manner, and it is therefore necessary that Mr. Elsey should
remain at the camp to attend to his case. The party proceeding with the
boats will therefore consist of Mr. Wilson, Mr. Baines, Mr. Flood, and
myself. Men employed as before, and the general duties of the camp.
14th November.
Party employed as before. At 3.30 p.m. I left the camp and proceeded to
the creek, where the timber party were at work, reaching their bivouac at
7.30; six logs had been cut twenty to twenty-five feet long and twelve to
fourteen inches square; the timber is a melaleuca with a broad leaf
(Melaleuca leucodendron). The gum timber is generally unsound and
worthless.
15th November.
Returned to the principal camp with Mr. H. Gregory at 11.0 a.m., and at 2
p.m. started in the indiarubber boat with Messrs. Wilson, Baines, and
Flood; at 8.0 p.m. reached the creek near Steep Head, and remained at the
camp of the timber party for the night.
16th November.
Started at 6.30 a.m. and crossed the shallows at Steep Head without much
difficulty--as the tide was high, the water was six to eight inches deep.
Three miles above Steep Head we observed three natives watching us, but
they did not approach. At 10.0 a.m. reached Palm Island, which is only a
bank of shingle with a few pandanus and melaleuca trees growing on it
without a single palm-tree of any kind. One of the boats having been
injured, hauled her up for repairs. Mr. Baines shot three whistling ducks
on the island; they were very good eating. While at our dinner a native
approached the bank of the river and came to us, and a parley commenced
which was rather unintelligible, and when he found that he could not make
himself understood by words, resorted to the language of signs, and
expressed his contempt of us in an unmistakable manner. Having repaired
the leak in the boat, we again moved up the river, but at one and a half
miles came to a dry bar of rock, over which the boats were carried, and
we passed a shallow pool of brackish water half a mile long to a second
bar of greater breadth, and then entered a deep reach; but the day was so
far advanced that we took advantage of a level rocky ledge and
bivouacked.