14th July.
Resuming our journey at 8.10 a.m., steered north-east down the valley of
the creek, which I named Elsey Creek, after the surgeon of the
expedition. Its course was generally to the north-east, but spreading
into lagoons and swampy flats, became very tortuous and irregular. It
then changed to a very winding reach of water fifty to sixty yards wide,
with low banks covered with reeds and tall melaleuca-trees, beyond which
was a belt of pandanus growing on the drier ground. Many small springs
rose in the limestone rock and ran into the creek, on the banks of which
large quantities of mussel-shells showed the frequent camps of the
blacks. The banks of the creek and springs were so soft and boggy that
our horses could not approach the water, and we followed its banks in
search of a spot where they could drink in safety, till 4.0, without
success, and having camped, had to water the horses with our leather
buckets.
Latitude by a2 Centauri and a Coronae Borealis 15 degrees 5 minutes 35
seconds.