ing towards the river with
Mr. Eyre, I directed Mr. Poole and Mr. Browne to try the brushes with
Flood and Mack, for a wild bullock, whilst we arranged the camp. We
scarcely had time to do this, however, when Mr. Browne returned to inform
me that soon after gaining the brush they had fallen in with a herd of
about fifty cattle, out of which they had singled and shot a fine animal,
and that on his way back to the camp the dogs had killed a large
kangaroo. Upon this I sent Morgan with the cart to fetch in the quarters
of the animal, and desired the natives to go with him to benefit by what
might be left behind, and to feast on the kangaroo. The beast the party
had killed fully justified Mr. Browne's account of it, and its fine
condition proved the excellent nature of the pastures on which it had
fed. We had not killed many of the sheep, as I was anxious to preserve
them, since they had given us little or no trouble, so that I was led to
hope that by ordinary care they would prove a most valuable and important
stock.

We were here unable to approach the river, and therefore encamped near a
creek, the banks of which were barren enough; however, as we had stopped
for the benefit of the cattle it was of no consequence. But although on
this occasion they were absolutely up to their middles in the finest
grass, the bullocks were not satisfied, but with a spirit of
contradiction common to animals as well as men they separated into mobs
and wandered away; the difficulty of recovering them being the greater,
because of the numerous tracks of other cattle in every direction around
us. We recovered them, however, although too late to move that day, and
it is somewhat remarkable to record, that this was the only occasion on
which during this long journey we were delayed for so long a time by our
animals wandering. Had it not been for Tampawang, whose keen eye soon
detected the fresher tracks, we might have been detained for several
days.

As Mr. Browne had been on horseback the greater part of the day, I left
him in the camp with Mr. Poole, both having been after the cattle, and in
the afternoon walked out with Mr. Eyre, to try if we could get to the
river, but failed, for the creeks were full of water, and our approach to
it or to the nearer flats was entirely cut off. So intersected indeed was
this neighbourhood, that we got to a point at which five creeks joined.
The scene was a very pretty one, since they formed a sheet of water