206 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



The large party, with its equipment, was LANDED AT TAM 

 O'SHANTER POINT on 2^th and 2$tb May, 1848. The tents were 

 pitched in the form of a square, with the SHEEP-FOLD in the centre, 

 about 200 yards from the beach and near a fresh-water creek. 

 One HORSE was DROWNED in landing. 



A party of NATIVES approached (24^ May) and watched the 

 landing of the sheep with curiosity, and without displaying hostility. 



KENNEDY and three others rode out to examine the country 

 in advance of the main party, leaving on $otb May and returning 

 to the camp on $rd June, HUXLEY accompanying him part of the 

 way. Kennedy came to the conclusion that a get-away to the 

 north or north-west was impossible because of swamps and dense 

 scrubs. Had he gone further north, the coast range coming down 

 close to the sea would have formed an insuperable barrier to his 

 progress. If he had left the sheep and carts behind and landed 

 at Port Douglas he might have got away by the now-existing road ; 

 but of course he knew nothing of the country before him. Again, 

 had he landed at Cardwell, 18 miles south of Tarn O'Shanter Point, 

 and made a road up a comparatively easy spur of the coast range, 

 as George Elphinstone Dalrymple did in 1864, he might have 

 carried his expedition to a successful issue. 



It was most unfortunate that, before parting with the " Tarn 

 O'Sbanter " and " Rattlesnake" Kennedy did not make a reconnais- 

 sance to the south. As it was, he started on $th June, with an 

 outfit of CARTS and SHEEP, to penetrate a country equally unsuitable 

 for the carriage of the one and the feeding of the other. 



The caravan had only gone two miles south when it met with 

 a large tidal river, which was then named the MACKAY on the 

 Admiralty charts, but which has since been named the HULL RIVER. 

 A boat lent by the " Rattlesnake " assisted in carrying the stores 

 and some of the sheep across, while the horses and the remainder 

 of the sheep swam. The NATIVES assembled in great numbers to 

 watch the landing, but gave no trouble. Kennedy himself 

 CAMPED, in the dark, on the south side (right bank) of the river, 

 whilst Carron and five others recrossed for fresh water, with which 

 they filled their kegs, returning to Kennedy's camp at midnight. 



On 6th June, LIEUTENANT SIMPSON, of the " Rattlesnake," left 

 to rejoin the ship, and the exploring party thereafter saw no more 

 white faces. Carron does not explain how the carts were got 

 across the river, but says that early in the morning they loaded 

 the carts and pack-horses and travelled for 3 miles inland, 

 when they met with impassable swamps and returned to the 

 beach and resumed their southward course. In 2 miles (say 

 3) they reached, about dusk, a second tidal river, larger than 

 the first, the TULLY (subsequently named after the Commissioner 

 of Crown Lands, who took part in Dalrymple's expedition in 

 1864), and CAMPED on its left, or northern, bank. 



