21st October.
6.15 a.m., resumed our journey and traversed an inferior country of
sandstone and porphyry; box, silver-leafed ironbark, and triodia
characterized the vegetation; in crossing one of these gullies, in which
were some pools of water, Bowman's horse fell over the bank into the
pool, and he got some severe bruises; at 10.15 came on the river, where
it ran over a ledge of rocks forming a succession of rapids, below which
it spread out into a broad sheet of sand a quarter of a mile wide, and
turned to the south. As Bowman had fallen some distance in the rear, I
selected the first suitable spot, and at 11.0 encamped, and shortly after
Mr. H. Gregory came in with Bowman to camp. On the bank of the river we
saw two black gins, who climbed a tree on our approach, and in the
afternoon came to the camp with an old man, and after some unintelligible
conversation departed; they had neither clothes or weapons, except a
throwing-stick of the same form as those used by the blacks of the
southern shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The geological character of
the country has been sandstone, much altered by contact with porphyry
which has been forced through it; both dip and strike are confused, and
could not be ascertained to have any general angle or direction, except
in the bed of the river, where the strata dipped 10 degrees to the north,
but in the hills, on the left bank below the camp, the strata was
horizontal; the river is now 150 yards wide at the narrowest parts, a
small stream of water, one foot deep and ten to twenty yards wide,
running in a winding course through the sand, and sometimes expanding
into sheets of water occupying the whole breadth of the channel.
Latitude by a Pegasi 19 degrees 16 minutes 22 seconds.
22nd October.
At 6.15 a.m. steered south and followed the right bank of the river; for
the first hour the country was hilly on both banks, with deep gullies; it
then became more level, and opened into flats, well grassed; the timber
box, ironbark, and Moreton-Bay ash; the soil a light brown loam in some
parts, sandy and very soft from the numerous excavations of the funnel
ant. These flats extended one to two miles back and then rose into low
ridges of poor land, timbered with box and ironbark; crossed a sandy
creek coming from the west, and at 1.30 p.m. camped on the right bank of
the river. A short distance from the camp surprised a black and his gin
and a child; the man climbed a tree and the woman ran off with the child,
leaving a small water vessel, hollowed out of a piece of wood, and a
calabash full of water. The rocks near the last camp were sandstone or
porphyry; in the only exposed section the sandstone dipped to the north 5
degrees to 15 degrees. We also crossed a hill of porphyry which was
remarkable for the regularity of cleavage into thick lamina, which were
vertical, with a north and south strike; but though it had the appearance
of a stratified rock, its structure was perfectly crystalline. About
noon, granite, containing large plates of mica, was observed in some of
the gullies.
Latitude by e Pegasi 19 degrees 29 minutes 43 seconds.
23rd October.
At 7.0 a.m. steered south-south-east and south-east over ridges of
sandstone, timbered with ironbark and thinly grassed, for an hour and a
half; again struck the river and passed at the foot of some limestone
hills and ridges; this limestone contained fragments of shells and coral.
Altering the course to south, traversed fine open flats half a mile to a
mile wide, beyond which the country rose into low ridges of limestone. At
noon basalt appeared covering the limestone and sandstone. The steep
slope which formed the boundary of this rock was very rugged; but the
level surface was covered with black soil and well grassed. At 12.55 p.m.
camped in a fine grassy flat, walled in by steep rocks of basalt. We
experienced some difficulty in watering the horses, as the bank of the
river was so steep that they frequently fell back into the river in
ascending it. The limestone rocks seen on this day's journey appear to
rise from beneath the sandstones, some of which are very hard and
close-grained; it dips about 10 degrees to the west and some of the
adjacent sandstones 20 degrees west, in well-defined strata. The basalt
covers all the other rocks, filling up the former inequalities of the
surface and forming a perfectly level plain; where the softer sandstones
were in contact, they were only baked into a coarse brick-like mass,
which had had much the appearance of having been formed from the alluvial
banks of the river.
Latitude by e Pegasi and a Gruis 19 degrees 42 minutes 10 seconds;
variation of compass 6 degrees 15 minutes east.