g lame by the burnt stumps
of reeds and strong coarse grass entering the soles of their feet, I hope
they will soon recover. If the bar at the mouth of the river will admit
vessels to enter there is a sufficiency of water at all tides to ship
horses or stock from alongside the banks without any wharf or anything
else, and good country to depasture upon, but the grasses too strong
generally for sheep.

Wednesday, May 21.

Camp 60. Commenced our journey for Port Denison, wind east-south-east. I
forgot to mention before that, running parallel with the river between
this camp and our last, are small ironstone and conglomerate ridges, with
abundance of feed and good sound ground wooded with the silver leaf,
dwarf gum-looking tree, and various others of no great growth but
sightly, and in the ridges, which are of no height to speak of, there are
splendid freshwater lagoons and creeks; came to a lagoon about two and a
half miles south-south-west of our 59 camp on nearly our old tracks;
splendid feed and water. Just as we had started in the morning the
natives made their appearance on the trees on the opposite side of the
river but did not attempt to cross. I suppose we will see enough of them
on our eastern route; this part of the country is well watered and no end
of feed; plenty of it higher than I am, and a considerable variety; the
remainder of our sheep, even with their long journey, fell off but
little.

Thursday, May 22.

Return Camp 1. Beautiful morning; this lagoon is about twelve feet deep,
surrounded by a marsh with abundance of green feed. Not a breath of wind
at sunrise. West of this camp about two and a half miles off is a
considerable-sized creek, by the overflow of which this lagoon is formed
and fed; plenty of water in the creek and in side creeks from it, and
most excellent timber on its banks and flats for building purposes; it
comes up from south-west and after passing this bears off considerably to
west of north. I have called it the Fisher after C.B. Fisher, Esquire, of
Adelaide. Returned today by my north-going track, the approaches to the
river were so abrupt that I could not get a crossing-place; some of the
banks nearly precipitous and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty
feet high, although I saw rocks right across the river and could have
gone over, but could not ascend the banks so came to camp at a lagoon
close to the creek, three and a half miles north 25 1/2 degrees west of
Falls camp.