Part 40 (1/2)

Latitude by a2 Centauri and a Coronae Borealis 15 degrees 5 minutes 35 seconds

ROPER RIVER

15th July

Leaving our camp at 710 am, steered north-east till 90, over level country, which appeared to be very swanetic, and crossed a small dry watercourse which proved to be a continuation of Elsey Creek At 110 turned 60 degrees netic, and shortly came on the bank of a fine river with banks thirty to forty feet high, and fine reaches of water fifty to eighty yards wide; at 1145 camped at the junction of Elsey Creek and the river, which appears to be the Roper of Dr Leichhardt The fan-palm was frequently seen on the banks of Elsey Creek, where it obtained a height of fifty to eighty feet, and had a thicker sterowing on the banks of the Victoria River

KILL AN EMU

16th July

At 75 a down the Roper River east and north-east; about a mile below the camp the limestone rocks formed a bar, over which the river ran with a rapid current ten yards wide and two feet deep; the banks became lower and the surface of the country extreoons, in which the nelue of low sandstone hills caht a vast level plain, covered with high grass and reeds, extending two or threethe wet season, though the soil was now dry and full of deep cracks The river divided into several small shallow channels full of reeds, and each with a s the course of the running water contrasting strongly with the parched vegetation of the other portions of the plain Clumps of melaleuca occurred at intervals, and at a distance appeared like low hills At 20 pe, which approached the bank of the river froe of flat-topped hills extended to the north-east froht miles distant, to the north-west of the cah Bow emu, which supplied us with a meal of fresh rees 50 minutes 56 seconds

17th July

At 70 a the bank of the river for a rass and reeds, altered the course to south-east till 810; then steering 100 degrees netic till 925, e ca abundance of water The river appears to turn to the north and enter a range of hills, which trends north and south a few miles to the east of our carassed and thinly timbered with terminalia, box, and silver-leafed ironbark; trap-rock visible in several places, and the soil was a good red loam The metallic barometer has a second time suddenly deviated from the aneroid barometer, and the form of the vacuuht to bear the h one of the steadiest animals had been selected to carry the instruments, and they are always surrounded with blankets

Latitude by rees 53 minutes 16 seconds

18th July

As this was a suitable carass was abundant, I rode to the south-east with Mr H Gregory to look for a route towards the head of the Wickha a valley between the trap hills to the west and a sandstone range to the east About eightnorth-east; its channel was dry and sandy, but after some search found a suood grass on the flats, which were limited by sandstone hills densely wooded with acacia of the same species as that seen on the lower part of Sturt's Creek After an hour's halt at the pool of water we returned to camp

SILENT NATIVES

19th July

The horses having scattered ht, it was 8 am before they were collected and saddled; we then followed our track of yesterday to the pool in the creek, eightit at 1145

The sandstones here showed a decided dip to the west, at angles varying frorees, and the trap-rocks only extended five miles from the previous ca the ca they were observed by us cale word; they soon after retired They had no spears, and were followed by a s Their teeth were entire, but they were all circu into the cah we called upon therass; but as it was absolutely necessary for our own safety to dislodge theun to be fired in the air, hoping that they would retire, but they commenced to shi+p their spears, and I therefore ordered a charge of shot to be fired at the the the caht, unless for hostile purposes, we had no inal Australian considers it an act of positive hostility to approach a caht

Latitude by a Coronae Borealis 14 degrees 59at 730 a sandstone country, well grassed, but very stony and thinly wooded; a low range of rocky hills, nearly parallel to our route, lay to the south-west, and at 1120 a strearass was, however, very dry and inferior near the range

Latitude by a Coronae Borealis 15 degrees 4 minutes 31 seconds

21st July

The horses had shown an unusual desire to stray during the night, and as we had reason to apprehend a visit from the blacks, they were kept close to the ca a tableland about 250 feet above the caully, in which was a fine spring, into a grassy valley, which varied from a few yards to a mile in breadth, bounded by sandstone hills, the strata of which were not well defined, but appeared to have a considerable dip to the west-south-west; in the upper part of the valley the creek ell supplied ater, but as we advanced into the lower ground the channel was dry, though increased to twenty yards wide and ten to fifteen feet deep; at 1115 am one of the horses, Prince, was observed to be unwell, and at 120 p fro bled them, we proceeded down the creek in search of water at which the party could halt, and found a small waterhole at 220 pm, but the two sick horses dropped dead about 150 yards before reaching it; their loads had been previously removed to the saddle-horses; as soon as the camp had been formed Mr Elsey and Dr Mueller examined the dead horses to ascertain the cause of death, and it appeared from the state of extreme inflammation of the stomachs that they had eaten some poisonous plant; but the food was too nised

Latitude by a Coronae Borealis 15 degrees 12 minutes 46 seconds