luffs, showing that there must be a stream of some
importance skirting that end of them, or some extensive valley; an easy
way of arriving at them would be south from this camp and over the low
dividing ridge; the waters or creeks in this valley, after uniting into
one or more large courses, flow to north and east till they pass east of
this a few miles off; further view is intercepted by the ranges north and
east of that. Maitland appears much better today and Kirby I think is
improving a little; Palmer is not quite so well. I hope he will soon get
over his illness; he is a very useful man; neither shoeing horses nor
almost anything comes wrong to him; indeed he has shod all the horses I
may say since he joined the party, and has been a very useful fellow.

Friday, July 4.

Camp 27, Jack's Swamp. Very cold during the night. Every appearance of a
nice day. What little wind there is is from north. We start from this
with 46 pounds of dried horse flesh which I hope will be sufficient to
carry us to stations on the Burdekin. The invalids and animals have
improved during their stay here, and we start this morning on about our
last bearing generally, although we cannot go direct from the hilliness
of the country. Bearing 62 1/2 degrees. All round this quarter quartz of
colours is strewed over the face of the country in addition to the
decomposing stones. Started at 8.6 a.m. firstly up the swamp side
northerly a short distance, then easterly over a saddle in the range for
the eastern slopes towards the main drainage to the northwards. At half a
mile on top of the saddle in the range with drainage to the east. Then
had to keep a little northerly of our course to avoid a rugged range on
the right. At about eleven miles direct struck the main drainage creek
(Ross's Creek after W. Ross, Esquire, Mulma, Murray, New South Wales) but
the actual distance travelled was considerably over that. Then followed
the creek on a bearing of about 20 degrees off and on. At one and a
quarter miles it receives a considerable tributary from west-south-west
(Cole's Creek after S. Cole, Esquire, Commissioner of Crown Lands,
Euston, New South Wales). A large mass of hard dark-coloured,
slaty-coloured rock in the centre of the two creeks with a passage on
each side. At four miles it receives a very deep but narrow creek from
the west (Beveridge's Creek after Peter Beveridge, Esquire, Swan Hill,
Victoria). Obliged to get into the main creek to pass it.