Chapter 25

Messrs. Wilson, Elsey, and Mueller being desirous of proceeding up the Baines River to collect specimens, etc., made the necessary arrangements for the same, and they therefore proceeded in the boat with Phibbs, Humphries, and Shewell to the schooner; the men were then to return to the camp with a cargo of stores; and Messrs. Wilson, Elsey, and Mueller were to proceed up Baines' River in the small boat which they were to obtain from the schooner. Richards is in charge of the sheep; Macdonald cook during the week; Bowman and Melville in charge of horses; Dean preparing saddle-bags and harness; Fahey and Selby burning charcoal and general camp duties.

20th May.

Party employed as before. The weather continues fine, with southerly winds.

21st May.

Party employed as before.

22nd May.

Party employed as before. At noon the boat returned from the schooner with stores; Captain Gourlay also came up in the gig to the camp; he informed me that the schooner now only made ten inches of water per day, and that she would be ready for sea so soon as the upper seams were caulked, and that he considered her perfectly seaworthy for the purpose of the expedition.

23rd May.

Party employed as before.

24th May.

Despatched the boat to the schooner with three cases containing sationery, tobacco, clothing, etc. Captain Gourlay returned to the Tom Tough.

25th May (Sunday).

PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY EASTWARD.

26th May.

Party employed preparing equipment for the journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

27th May.

As before.

29th May.

Party employed as before. Messrs. Wilson, Elsey, and Mueller returned with the long-boat and gig from the schooner, having been about thirty miles up Baines' River to the south-west of Curiosity Hill. Mr. Wilson brought a native in the boat from Stony Spit.

30th May.

Party employed as before, and packing stores to be put on board the schooner.

31st May.

Party employed as before.

1st June (Sunday).

2nd June.

Party employed preparing saddlery and equipment for the journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

3rd June.

Mr. Baines proceeded in the boat to the schooner (which was now anchored below the shoals), conveying a quantity of stores. Boat's crew: Phibbs, Humphries, Dean, and Selby; remainder of party at the camp employed as before. Preparing map of route up the Victoria River, etc.

4th June.

Party employed as before, namely, shoeing horses, restuffing saddles, and other preparations for journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Received from Mr. Wilson a journal of his proceedings from 31st January to 3rd March, and 1st April to 14th May.

5th June.

Party at camp employed as before. Mr. Baines returned with the gig. Boat's crew: Phibbs, Humphries, Dean, Selby, and Dawson, also one of the seaman belonging to the schooner; received a note from the master of the Tom Tough, complaining that Dawson had used abusive language to Mr. Gourlay; but as it appeared that considerable provocation had been given, I only reprimanded Dawson for his conduct. Mr. Baines informed me that on the 4th instant he had landed early in the day from the schooner, in company with Captain Gourlay, Dawson, and one of the seamen (Adams), for the purpose of bartering with a party of natives, about twenty in number. The blacks having been allowed to come close to the boat, stole a tomahawk, and on Adams making a demonstration of detaining one of their number until the stolen article was returned, one of the blacks seized his gun and tried to wrest it from him; but, Captain Gourlay approaching, he ran into the bush, and the rest of the blacks retired; the party then returned to the schooner. The tomahawk was afterwards found in the water near where the boat had landed.

6th June.

Party employed as before; the shoeing of the horses progresses rapidly, Mr. H. Gregory and Bowman shoeing five horses each day, although some of them are very restive.

7th June.

Mr. Elsey proceeded in the gig with Phibbs, Humphries, Selby, and Adams, conveying the two sick men and boy belonging to the schooner crew to the Tom Tough. Mr. Wilson requested me to hold an investigation into the circumstances attending the landing of a party from the Tom Tough on the 4th instant, to traffic with the blacks, as he deemed it very imprudent, when so large a number of natives were assembled on the shore, to land with only four persons, though they were all armed; and adverted to the possible results of such a proceeding, which he said might have terminated the hitherto undisturbed harmony which had been maintained by the parties in his charge during my absence in their intercourse with the aborigines, and stated that he considered the evidence of men who were not present, but on board the schooner at the time of the party landing, was more to be relied on than Mr. Baines' statement, which had been made before the officers generally. As Mr. Baines had minutely detailed the whole transaction to me, and nothing farther was alleged by Mr. Wilson, who appeared to be actuated by no friendly feelings towards Mr. Baines, and my investigation would have only been an expression of a want of confidence in the veracity of Mr. Baines, which I could not entertain, I informed Mr. Wilson that I did not see any necessity for the investigation suggested. Party employed preparing equipment, shoeing horses, baking meat biscuits, etc. Rain at night.

8th June (Sunday).

MAKE MEAT BISCUITS.

9th June.

Completed shoeing the horses; party employed making small tents and saddle-bags, fitting pack-saddles, baking biscuits; Dr. Mueller collecting and arranging botanical specimens.

ARRANGEMENT OF PARTY.

10th June.

Party employed as before, and preparing extra shoes for the horses, etc. Mr. Elsey returned with the gig from the schooner; boat's crew: Phibbs, Humphries, and Selby; the sick men had reached the vessel without any serious difficulty, although the boat grounded on the banks, and was thereby detained till next tide, and thus kept them several hours exposed to the rain.

11th June.

Party employed as before.

12th June.

Completed baking 300 pounds of preserved beef and 300 pounds of flour into biscuits, which weighed 480 pounds when dry. A 6-pound tin of beef, with the soup and fat, was added to 6 pounds of flour, 1 ounce of salt (no water being used), and the whole made up into dough and baked in the ordinary form of sea biscuits; the result was 8 pounds, and thus 1 1/4 pounds contained 1 pound of flour and 1 pound of meat.

13th June.

Mr. Baines proceeded with Phibbs, Humphries, and Selby in the gig to the Tom Tough, with stores not required at the camp, and for the purpose of returning with soap and other stores required for the outfit of the land expedition. Party employed as before. Mr. Wilson completed and furnished to me a sketch of the Western branch of the Victoria River, which had been discovered by Mr. Baines in December, 1855, while searching for stray horses, and which I had then named after him. Preparing maps, etc., for transmission to the Governor-General of Australia.

14th June.

Wrote to Governor-General, reporting progress of the North Australian Expedition. Party employed as before; set of spare horse-shoes completed.

15th June (Sunday).

The weather has been remarkably cool and clear for several days, the temperature at sunrise 48 to 52 degrees.

16th June.

Mr. Baines returned from the schooner with the gig and long-boat (boat's crew as before) bringing the stores required for the land party. Party at the camp preparing equipment for expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mr. Wilson requested to be informed whether I had decided to attach him to the party which was to be organised at the Gulf of Carpentaria for the exploration of the country towards Moreton Bay, and in reply I informed him that so many unforeseen circumstances might occur before reaching the Albert River to require me to modify any arrangements made at the present time, that I should not select the individuals to form that party till we reached the Albert River. Received from Mr. Wilson a letter stating that unless I would now decide that he was to form one of the party proceeding from the Albert River overland to Moreton Bay, he was desirous of resigning his appointment of geologist to the North Australian Expedition. Wrote to Mr. Wilson in reply, stating that I could not comply with his request.

17th June.

Preparing copies of letters to Governor-General of Australia for transmission to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Party preparing for journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Received from Mr. Wilson a letter stating that he declined to perform any further duties as an officer of the North Australian Expedition unless I complied with certain conditions therein named. Wrote to Mr. Wilson in reply, and informed him that he was henceforth suspended from any command in the Expedition. As I could not now include Mr. Wilson in the party proceeding to the Albert River by land, I requested Dr. Mueller to prepare to take Mr. Wilson's place in the party.

18th June.

Issued a general order, Number 4, suspending Mr. Wilson from any further command in the exploring party till further orders. Party employed as before--preparing equipment. Received from Mr. Wilson a letter relative to his being suspended from any further command in the party.

19th June.

Wrote to Mr. Baines instructing him to take charge of the portion of the North Australian Expedition proceeding in the Tom Tough to the Albert River. Preparing equipment for explorations towards the Gulf of Carpentaria.

20th June.

Wrote to the Governor-General of Australia, forwarding copies of correspondence with Mr. Wilson. Wrote to Secretary of State for the Colonies forwarding copies of despatches to the Governor-General. Wrote to master of Tom Tough schooner, instructing him to proceed to Coepang for supplies, and thence to Albert River. Wrote to Mr. Baines two letters of instructions; inspected equipment, and fitted the saddles of the party proceeding overland to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Wrote to Mr. Wilson a letter in reply to his communication of the 18th.

START FOR GULF OF CARPENTARIA.

21st June.

At 10.0 a.m. left the principal camp on the Victoria with a party consisting of Messrs. H. Gregory, Elsey, and Dr. Mueller, Robert Bowman, Charles Dean, and J. Melville, seven saddle and twenty-seven pack horses, conveying five months' provisions of salt pork and meat biscuits, and six months' supply of flour, tea, sugar, coffee, etc., twenty-six pounds of gunpowder, sixty pounds bullets, 1 hundredweight shot, 5000 caps, etc. Proceeding up the left bank of the Victoria, crossed the ridge at back of Steep Head, and at 3.15 p.m. camped about three-quarters of a mile above it on the bank of the river.

22nd June (Sunday).

At 7.30 a.m. left the camp and followed the river up for ten miles, and then along a small creek four miles south-south-east; but the country proving very steep and rocky, returned one mile and camped at 3 p.m.

23rd June.

Left the camp at 7.0 a.m., and returned down the valley of the creek to the river, and kept along the bank of the Victoria to the junction of Beagle Creek. We ascended for five miles, and camped at 11.0, as there was no water between this point and the Victoria at Bynoe Range on the Beagle Valley route, and the distance was too great to be commenced at this late hour of the day.

24th June.

Started at 7.0 a.m., and steered east through an open box forest nearly level and well grassed. The grass had been burnt off by the blacks, but had shot up to a foot in height. Passed to the south of the Fitzroy Range; the valley between it and Stokes' Range similar to Beagle Valley, and about four miles wide. Keeping close to Stokes' Range, passed behind some of the detached hills at 4.20 p.m. Reached our old camp of the 5th May, and found the stores we had left secreted in the rocks undisturbed.

25th June.

Having distributed the stores which had been left here in May among the several pack-horses, at 7.15 a.m. resumed our route up the river, and crossed to the right bank two miles above the creek we intended to ascend, and camped at 11.0. Marked a large gum-tree Delta V.

Latitude by b and a2 Centauri 15 degrees 39 minutes 17 seconds.

LEAVE THE VICTORIA RIVER.

26th June.

Left the camp at 7.0 a.m., and followed the creek upwards to the east-south-east for five miles. The valley was about one mile wide, with fine grassy flats, bounded by sandstone cliffs 50 to 200 feet high, and forming tableland with deep ravines. The valley now turned to the east and east-north-east; some small tributaries joined the creek from the south-east, the sandstone cliffs disappeared, and the outline of the hills became rounded and rose about 300 feet above the creek. Shallow pools of water with dry shingle between, and an occasional deep waterhole, characterised the channel of the watercourse. At 1.30 p.m. camped on the left bank of the creek in an open grassy flat; the higher land very stony and indifferent.

Latitude by Canopus 15 degrees 40 minutes 49 seconds.

27th June.

The temperature was lower at sunrise this morning than on any other day since landing in North Australia, being only 41 degrees. A little dew on the grass, and a light air from the east. At 6.50 a.m. started and followed up the creek to the east-north-east till 1.0 p.m., when we camped at a deep pool of water 20 yards wide and 200 yards long. Our attempts to procure fish were unsuccessful. The country consisted of low stony hills, thinly wooded, and the flats of the creek from a quarter to three quarters of a mile wide continued to be well grassed. On the north side of the creek a few miles back the hills rose to a greater elevation, and formed table-topped hills; some with cliffs of sandstone near the summits, and others smooth grassy slopes. The latter, from the colour of the grass, appeared to be of trap formation, and fragments of this rock were found in the bed of the creek. Soft shales were exposed in the gullies and on the sides of the hills, and were overlaid compact gray sandstones.

Latitude by b Centauri, a2 Centauri and Arcturus 15 degrees 37 minutes 15 seconds.

28th June.

Left the camp at 7.15 a.m., and followed up the creek to the east-north-east till noon, when we reached the last water in its channel near a steep range of sandstone hills, or rather tablelands; the country traversed was an undulating plain of trap formation resting on gray sandstone; it is thinly wooded, and well grassed; water was abundant in the creek below the camp; above the channel was dry, and soon divided into small gullies; in the afternoon ascended a hill three-quarters of a mile north-west of the camp; the lower portion was a dark compact trap or basalt, and the summit a horizontal bed of sandstone about 200 feet above the camp; the country to the north was very level, and only occasionally interrupted by flat-topped sandstone hills, the view extending at least thirty miles; to the south and south-west a country of trap formation extended for twenty miles, and to the east the tableland rose about 300 feet above the camp, and was composed of the same strata as the hill ascended, but surmounted by the ferruginous conglomerate, which is the highest rock of the new red sandstone series.

Latitude by b Centauri, a Centauri and Arcturus 15 degrees 33 minutes 13 seconds.

ARNHEIM LAND. DALY RIVER.

29th June.

At 6.45 a.m. left the camp with Mr. H. Gregory to reconnoitre the country to the east; ascending the tableland, steered east till 10.0 through a level forest of stringybark and other eucalypti; the soil a light gravelly loam, but well grassed; we then turned north-north-east for one hour, along a shallow watercourse, and then east through level forest country till 3.20 p.m., when we reached a small stream-bed trending north-north-east, tracing it through wide grassy flats, which were on fire; at 4.40 found a small pool of water, where we halted for the night.

30th June.

As this appeared to be a spot to which the party could be advanced with safety, we left our bivouac at 6.50 a.m.; returning across the tableland, reached the camp at 4.30 p.m.

1st July.

At 6.40 a.m. started an average course of 80 degrees magnetic, and reached the waterholes in the small creek at 3.30 p.m. with the whole party, and camped at our bivouac of the 29th June.

Latitude by b Centauri 15 degrees 30 minutes 19 seconds.

2nd July.

At 6.30 a.m. left the camp and followed the creek down to the east-north-east till 11.0 a.m.; it then turned more to the northward, and was nearly lost in wide level flats covered with high grass; the back country level stringybark forest, with good grass; at 2.25 p.m. the channel of the creek again collected, and we found a small waterhole twenty yards long and four feet deep, at which we camped; here we observed the fires of a party of blacks who had camped at the waterhole the previous day; small heaps of mussel-shells lay at intervals along the banks of the creek, though the channel was perfectly dry; but it appears that during the last wet season less rain has fallen than usual, and the soil has not been fully saturated, and consequently the waterholes have dried up sooner than in average years; although from the level character and geological features of the country, we are now on the tableland which divides the waters flowing to the north-west coast from those which fall into the Gulf of Carpentaria, the elevation of the country does not exceed 800 feet above the sea.

Latitude by Centauri and Arcturus 15 degrees 18 minutes 33 seconds.

3rd July.

Starting at 7.30 a.m., followed the creek to the north-east by east till 8.25, when it was joined by a small creek from the south; thus increased water was abundant in the bed of the creek, but the pools were shallow and not permanent. Grassy flats extended for a mile on each bank of the creek, beyond which the level forest of stringybark, bloodwood, and box was well grassed; the soil a good red loam. In a few spots fragments of limestone and agate were strewed over the surface, and an occasional ridge of ironstone conglomerate was crossed on which the grass was indifferent. At 12.45 p.m. camped in a wide grassy flat, where the grass, having been burnt early in the season, had sprung up again quite fresh and green.

Latitude by a2 Centauri 15 degrees 11 minutes 24 seconds; variation of compass 2 degrees 10 minutes east.

4th July.

We were again in the saddle at 7.10 a.m., and, steering 70 degrees magnetic, diverged from the creek, traversing a level grassy forest of stringybark with abundance of green grass; at 8.0 turned north-east; the forest became more open, and the stringybark was replaced by bloodwood and box; limestone rock was frequent, and rendered the surface of the country very rough; and frequent depressions of the surface appeared to result from the falling-in of the roofs of caverns beneath which were farther indicated by deep clefts and holes in the rock, into which the surface waters flow during the rains. At 11.0 a.m. turned north, and at noon again struck the creek, which gradually turned to the north-north-east; limestone formed the banks, and only one small pool was seen till 4.50 p.m., when we found a little water in the sandy bed of a tributary creek from the south-south-east, at which we encamped. On the bank of the creek we this day first observed the casuarina, which is so frequent on the banks of the creeks trending towards the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Latitude by Arcturus and a Coronae Borealis 14 degrees 54 minutes 2 seconds.

5th July.

As the course of the creek was to the north-west, and we had already been driven further north than was desirable, we left the creek and followed up the tributary to the east-south-east, leaving the camp at 7.5 a.m. The channel was soon lost on the wide grassy flats, in one of which was a fine waterhole covered with nymphae, near which a party of blacks were encamped. On our approach most of the women decamped with their bags and nets containing their valuables, while the men stood spear in hand gazing on the strange sight, as we passed them. Continuing up the creek, the course of which was only marked for some distance by the nature of the vegetation, which indicated occasional inundations, it again formed a shallow irregular channel in the centre of an open box flat, and at 1.30 p.m. camped at a small waterhole in the channel.

Latitude by meridian altitude of the sun 14 degrees 55 minutes 15 seconds.

TABLELAND.

6th July.

The small size of the creek affording little prospect of water nearer to its source, and as Mr. H. Gregory was suffering from a severe attack of fever, which rendered travelling unadvisable, I proceeded with Charles Dean to examine the country to the east-south-east. Leaving the camp at 7.0 a.m., steered 120 degrees magnetic; at eight crossed a sandstone ridge covered with acacia scrub, and again descended into the valley of the creek, passing some fine grassy plains, and at 11.0 ascended the level tableland, the edge of which was covered with acacia scrub, beyond which we passed a level flat acacia scrub and small trees, and at noon entered a stringybark forest with occasional patches of bloodwood, leguminous ironbark, and sterculia. The soil varied from a brown loam to ironstone gravel, and in a few spots ferruginous conglomerate was visible. On the loamy soil the grass was good and abundant, but the gravel was covered with spiny treraphis. This tableland was so level that no declivity could be detected during the continuance of our day's journey, which lasted till 5.30, when we bivouacked without water; by taking the precaution of letting the horses feed on the outward track, and secreting ourselves after dark in the high grass, we passed the night without the necessity of keeping watch after midnight.

7th July.

Our horses having strayed back on the track, we carried our saddles and tracked them about two miles, and then mounting our horses steered north for some miles; but all was level forest without any sign of the existence of water, except a few cockatoos. I then turned to the south-west; crossing the outward track, and at length came on a shallow watercourse trending west, a ridge of rocks having confined the channel to a narrow space; three small waterholes were discovered in which a little water remained; below this the creek turned south-south-east, and I again turned towards the camp; but night overtaking us in the stringybark forest, we passed to the south of the camp without observing its position.

8th July.

Having ascertained that we had passed the position of the camp, turned to the north-east and reached the camp at 11.20. Mr. H. Gregory was somewhat recovered, but very weak from a violent attack of fever. During my absence a small party of blacks had visited the camp and had bivouacked a short distance up the creek.

9th July.

Moved the camp to the waterholes twelve miles south-east, and in the afternoon rode down the creek with Mr. Elsey; the creek turned to the south-south-east for a mile and a half, and was lost on a level flat, from which a channel trended to the west, which was again lost in a level flat extending to the west several miles. Heavy showers at night.

CIRCUMCISION PRACTISED.

10th July.