20th October.
Resumed our journey at 6.40 a.m., steering south-east through fine grassy
flats till 10.0, when we crossed the Clark River, and altered the course
to east over well-grassed flats, to the foot of a rocky range of
sandstone hills, which we reached at noon, and ascending by a steep spur,
at 2.30 p.m. attained the highest ridge; here sandstone was the
prevailing rock; xanthorrhoea, silver-leafed ironbark, and triodia
constituted the principal vegetation; descending gradually, at 3.30
reached a small creek with a patch of good green grass on its banks, and
at 3.45 halted at some small waterholes, which appeared to be permanent;
except near the creek, the country was poor and stony, with a forest of
ironbark and box trees; the country between the Clark and the Burdekin
appears to be of excellent quality, consisting of well-grassed flats,
timbered with ironbark, Moreton-Bay ash, poplar, gum, and box trees. The
Clark is about 100 yards wide, with a sandy bed crossed by ridges of
slate rock; the banks are sixty to eighty feet high, and the marks of
last year's flood thirty to thirty-five feet, the trees being bent and
broken by the force of the current; more water appears to come down the
Clark during floods, but the Burdekin has a more constant stream, the
Clark containing only shallow pools of water, separated by dry sand and
rock; after leaving the immediate flats of the river the country was very
poor and stony; the late rains had not extended so far, and the grass had
the dry and parched appearance which characterised the country on the
banks of the Gilbert.
Latitude by a Pegasi 19 degrees 14 minutes 2 seconds.