having cut up the
heart, liver, and kidneys, we mixed it all with a little flour and boiled
it for breakfast. By this means we made some small saving, and it was a
dish that we were very fond of. We saved all the wool that we could get
from our sheep, for the purpose of stuffing our saddles, a process which
was frequently required, owing to the poor condition of our horses.

August 28.

We started early this morning, but had not travelled far when one of our
horses fell from weakness; we placed him on his legs four times during
the day, but finding the poor animal could not walk, we shot him and took
sufficient meat from him with us to last us two days. After making but a
short stage, over ironstone ridges, covered with stringy-bark, and loamy
flats, producing Melaleucas and Grevilleas, we camped beside a small
creek, in the sandy bed of which there was no water, but from which we
soon obtained some by digging a hole about two feet deep. We afterwards
found there was plenty of water in the creek higher up to the eastward.

August 29.

We were obliged to leave another horse behind us this morning as he was
quite unable to travel. We camped by the sandy bed of a very broad river,
with water only in reaches and holes. There is, however, evidently a
great deal of water running here occasionally, as the bed of the river
was six or seven hundred yards wide, with two or three channels. The
flood-marks on the trees were fifteen feet high; it has a north-easterly
course; its bed was composed in places of large blocks of granite and
trap-rock, which was very difficult to walk upon, being very slippery.
Fine melaleucas were growing on each side, which with their long
pendulous shoots and narrow silvery leaves, afforded a fine shade from
the heat of the sun. There was plenty both of grass and water for the
horses, but most of them continued to grow weaker.

August 30 and 31.

The country was very mountainous and so full of deep gullies, that we
were frequently obliged to follow the course of a rocky creek, the
turnings of which were very intricate; to add to our difficulties, many
of the hills were covered with scrub so thickly that it was with much
difficulty that we could pursue our course through it. We had intended to
have kept along the bank of the river, thinking it might lead us to
Princess Charlotte's Bay, and although unable to do so, we did not as yet
lose sight of the river altogether.

September 1.

All this