27th July (Sunday).
Resumed our route at 7.0 a.m., crossing a very rocky ridge of hills, in
descending which one of the horses wedged his foot into a cleft of the
rock, and falling down, was only released by beating the rock away with
an axe. Fortunately, though much cut and bruised, there was no serious
injury. With some difficulty we extricated ourselves from these rocky
ridges, and, crossing a large creek, entered a level plain covered with
melaleuca scrub. Crossing two sandy creeks fifteen and twenty yards wide
with shallow pools, at noon reached a barren range of white sandstone
hills, rising about 250 feet. Beyond this entered an open grassy plain,
with clumps of melaleuca-trees, indicating the existence of springs of
water, one of which we reached at 1.25 p.m., and encamped. The country
passed is of a worthless description, there being very little grass, and
the soil very poor and stony. The sandstones are of gray colour, and not
regularly stratified; but where it could be ascertained the bedding was
horizontal, and the lamina dipping 20 degrees to 30 degrees to the north,
but often in the opposite direction. These sandstones are at least 200
feet thick, and rest on soft shales of white-brown and green colour.
Latitude by a Trianguli Australis 15 degrees 55 minutes 20 seconds.
28th July.
The indifferent character of the country having caused the horses to
stray in search of better food, we were delayed till 8.30 a.m., when we
steered south-east over several low ridges of sandstone, wooded with
white and paper-bark gum, with triodia in the hollows. Small dry
watercourses trended to the north-east and north. At 10.20 crossed a
creek ten yards wide, with pools of water, and at 1.5 p.m. a second of
the same size, which trended to the east, was followed till 1.50, when a
small pool of water and a little grass enabled us to camp. The country
continues to be of a bad description, and covered with scrub, though of a
more open nature than before, the soil more gravelly, melaleuca less
frequent, and eucalypti and triodia more abundant. The rock is a coarse
gray sandstone, thick bedded with horizontal strata, the lamina dipping
30 degrees to north-east generally; but varying much, the peculiar
marking on the surface of the rock resembling the rippling of water, is
frequent, forming grooves two to four inches wide and half an inch deep.
Latitude by a Trianguli Australis 15 degrees 59 minutes 45 seconds.
29th July.
A dense fog was the unusual cause of delay in collecting our horses, as
they could not be seen more than a few yards distant. At 8.45 a.m.
steered south-east through scrubs of melaleuca, acacia, grevillia, and
eucalypti; at 11.0 the country became more open, and entering a grassy
plain extending five to eight miles to the east, where it was bounded by
a low range of hills; to the south-west a level forest of white-gum ran
parallel to our route. The soil was a brown clay-loam with pebbles of
sandstone; a few box and bauhinia trees grew on the plain; the grass had
been burnt off and sprung up again very green. At 1.20 p.m. came on a
large dry creek trending north-east; it had several channels twenty yards
wide with loose sandy beds, and was bordered by casuarina, melaleuca, and
flooded-gum trees; following down the creek, at 1.15 camped at a shallow
pool in one of the side channels. About three miles before we reached the
camp Dr. Mueller had fallen some distance behind the party; but as this
was a frequent occurrence in collecting botanical specimens, it was not
observed till we reached the creek, when he was out of sight; after
unsaddling the pack-horses I was preparing to send in search of him, when
he came up to the camp, the cause of delay having been that his horse had
knocked up. This was unfortunate, as the load of one of the pack-horses
had to be distributed among the others, in order to remount the doctor,
who requires stronger horses than any other person in the party, having
knocked up four since January, while not one of the other riding-horses
had failed, though carrying heavier weights.
Latitude by a Trianguli Australis 16 degrees 7 minutes 50 seconds.
30th July.
There being abundance of good grass at this camp, we remained this day to
shoe some of the horses and repair harness, etc., and rest the horses;
nor was I sorry to get a day of comparative rest, as I had been in the
saddle every day since leaving the Victoria on the 21st June. Eleven of
the horses were re-shod.