184 NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. [Nov. 10, 1856. 



ceedings of the Expedition to that date, the ' Monarch ' sailing the 

 next morning.* 



Having organized a party to proceed by land with the horses to 

 the upper part of the Victoria, consisting of myself, Mr. H. Gregory, 

 Dr. Miiller, Overseer Phibbs, and six men, the remainder of the 

 party embarked in the ' Tom Tough ' schooner, to which the sheep 

 had been removed from the ' Monarch,' Mr. Wilson being instructed 

 to ascend the Victoria and form a camp at some suitable spot for 

 disembarking the sheep, if practicable, near Kangaroo Point ; and 

 in accordance, the schooner sailed from Point Pearce on the 25th 

 September. 



On the 28th, I started from the camp at Providence Hill with the 

 horses, which had been reduced to forty-one, and many of these 

 scarcely able to travel, pursuing an easterly course through level 

 forest country of indifferent quality, till the 3rd October, when we 

 ascended MacAdam Range, which proved to be only the deeply 

 serrated edge of the vast sandstone table-land, which occupies so 

 much of this N.W. coast of Australia. 



On the 4th October, one of the horses was seized with sudden 

 illness, and died in four hours ; and on the 10th, a second horse was 

 lost under similar circumstances. 



On the 11th, the party reached the Fitzmaurice Eiver and camped 

 on a small dry creek ; but the tide rising in the night, the alligators 

 ascended the creek from the river and attacked the horses which 

 were feeding on the land, severely wounding three. On the same 

 day a horse had been abandoned, being too weak to travel. 



Crossing the Fitzmaurice on the 13th, at the lowest point at which 

 it was fordable — the water being fresh, 20 yards wide and 2 feet deep, 

 with a rapid current — we steered southward, and traversed some 

 fine grassy valleys during this day ; but soon reaching the stony hills 

 beyond, we were compelled to leave two more horses, as they were 

 completely exhausted, having been for some days so weak that they 

 could not rise without assistance. 



The country now became more rocky, so that we did not reach 

 the banks of the Victoria till the 18th, when after a difficult descent 

 from Sea Range, we camped, one mile north of the " Dome." 



The two following days were occupied in travelling up the Victoria, 

 the distance being greatly increased by having to head a deep salt- 

 water creek, which joined the river opposite Kangaroo Point. On 

 the 20th we reached the camp, which had been established by the 

 party from the schooner, on the left bank of the river, in lat. 1 5° 34' S. 



- » See Proceedings, No. I., p. 5 ; No. II., p. 32, 33, 49 ; No. IV., p. 79.— Ed. 



