ertaking. However at their ages, 23 and 21
respectively, the spirit is very buoyant, and they are again quite
ready for another venture. Their journey, which, from the nature of
the country traversed, has been one of unusual difficulty and
hardship; and it is surprising to me that, hampered as they were with
a herd of 250 cattle, for which providing food and water in a barren
and unknown country is in itself no easy matter, they should have
come through so successfully.

6. Next to the general barrenness of the country, the difficulties
they had to encounter were--first, the destruction of a quantity of
their supplies and gear, through the camp being carelessly permitted
to catch fire during their absence in pioneering the route. Next,
the determined hostility of the natives, who were almost continually
on their track, annoying them on every favorable opportunity; on one
occasion, the crossing of the "Mitchell," opposing them so
obstinately that a considerable number were shot before they would
give way. Then the loss of two-thirds of their horses (all the best)
from eating some poisonous plant, and which necessitated the last 300
miles of the journey being travelled on foot; and last, the flooded
state of the country during the season of the rains. And I think it
is not too much for me to say, that nothing but a thorough knowledge
of their business, supported by determined energy, could have carried
them through what must be considered one of the most arduous tasks in
exploration on record.

7. I will not attempt in the small space of a letter to give you
more full particulars of the journey and its incidents. Mr. Surveyor
Richardson has, of course, his journal and maps of the route as
directed by the government, and from these, with the information
gained by my sons in their numerous "offsets" in search of the best
courses to follow, which will be placed at the disposal of the
Government, I believe a pretty accurate idea of the nature of the
country on the west coast of the York Peninsula may be gathered.

8. My sons have at present formed their station near Point Vallack,
on the north shore of Newcastle Bay, between two or three miles from
the settlement of Somerset. They are on good terms with the natives,
and their black servants fraternise with them, but are kept under
strict rule. The natives of Cape York from the first have shown a
friendly feeling towards them, having, on their first arrival, met