CHAPTER XXVIII 

 LEICHHARDT'S OVERLAND EXPEDITION, 1844-5, continued 



LEICHHARDT THE FIRST TO CHART INTERIOR OF THE PENINSULA. RHEOGRAPHY OF 

 THE STAATEN, DE FACTO, AND THE MITCHELL. THE COASTAL PLAIN. ANASTOMOSIS 

 OF LYND, STAATEN, DE FACTO, AND MITCHELL RIVERS. THE LYND FALLS INTO 

 THE MITCHELL. HIGHBURY LAGOON. FLOUR EXHAUSTED. CAMP i6ra JUNE, 

 1845. CROCODILES. CAMP I9TH JUNE. LAGOONS. CAMP ZOTH JUNE. PALMS. 

 NATIVES. GAMBOOLA AND DUNBAR STATIONS. CAMP 2IST JUNE. MITCHELL 

 GRASS AND SHEEP COUNTRY. CAMP 22ND JUNE. SWAMPS. BED OF THE 

 MITCHELL RIVER. CAMP 23RD JUNE. PLAIN CREEK RUNS OUT OF MITCHELL 

 AND JOINS DUNBAR CREEK. DUNBAR CREEK RUNS OUT OF MITCHELL. LEICH- 

 HARDT FOLLOWS FLINDERS IN INCORRECTLY IDENTIFYING IT AS THE DUTCH 

 " NASSAU RIVER." THE RIVER NAMED THE STAATEN IN MODERN MAPS is THE 

 DUTCH NASSAU RIVER. THE DUTCH " STATEN REVIER " is ONE OF THE MOUTHS 

 OF THE GILBERT RIVER. CAMP 24TH JUNE. RIVERS OVERFLOWING AND 



ANASTOMOSING IN THE PLAINS. " CHINA'S SORROW," THE HoANG Ho, A PARALLEL. 



LEICHHARDT CREEK. CAMP 25TH JUNE. Too FAR NORTH. WESTWARD TO 

 CLEAR GULF OF CARPENTARIA. LONDON CREEK. DUNBAR AND KALKA STATIONS. 

 CAMP 26TH JUNE. DUNBAR CREEK NOT THE NASSAU. THREATENING ATTITUDE 

 OF NATIVES, WHO DRIVE THE CATTLE. CAMP 2/TH JUNE. DOWN DUNBAR CREEK. 

 CAMP 28TH JUNE. LATER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE MITCHELL 

 DELTA. THE JARDINE BROTHERS. J. T, EMBLEY. CHURCH OF ENGLAND 

 MISSION. NEW MOUTHS OF THE RIVER. 



(SEE MAP H.) 



IT is easy to follow Leichhardt's footsteps down the Mitchell 

 with the aid of modern maps. It must not, however, be 

 forgotten that seventy years ago Leichhardt was traversing 

 an absolutely uncharted new land, and that his were the 

 first contributions to the charting which now delineates the 

 topography of the interior of the Cape York Peninsula. 



Before tracing Leichhardt's progress north and west of the 

 mouth of the Lynd, it is necessary to consider the RHEOGRAPHY OF 

 THE NASSAU, de jure, AND MITCHELL RIVERS, as it is now understood. 

 Travelling from south to north, the three rivers, the NASSAU, 

 de jure (the STAATEN, de facto), the LYND and the MITCHELL, are 

 perfectly distinct, but long before they reach the Gulf of Carpen- 

 taria they have entered a coastal plain which is common to them all, 

 and have lost their identity by linking one with another in a complex 

 system of anastomosis. 



For about 25 miles of its lower course, before joining the 

 Mitchell, the LYND begins to leak through numerous channels into 

 the Staaten, de facto. Then the MITCHELL, nearly as far down as 



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