EINASLEIGH RIVER TO STATEN RIVER 297 



brought them along, but were too late in the day to overtake the 

 cattle. (SEE MAP H.) While they were unpacking and preparing 

 camp (a dry camp, No. 17, some distance south of the Staten, de 

 Jacto), the GRASS TOOK FIRE, with the result that 420 Ib. of flour, 

 almost all the tea, 100 Ib. of rice, jam, apples and currants, a box 

 of cartridges and caps, 2 tents, I pack-saddle, 22 pack-bags, 14 

 surcingles, 12 leather girths, 30 ring pack-straps, 2 bridles, 2 pairs of 

 blankets, clothing and needles, awls, twine, etc., were destroyed. 

 The most heroic exertions were required to save the rest of the 

 stores. Scrutton is said to have snatched some of the powder 

 canisters from the fire with the solder melting on the outside. 



While waiting at MAROON CREEK (STATEN RIVER, de Jacto) 

 for the party to whom this misfortune occurred, the BROTHERS 

 and their three companions had an anxious and trying time. At 

 their camp, only a trifling amount of water had been obtained by 

 digging, not enough even for their own horses. They could not 

 go back to look for the men left behind, whose delay they could 

 not understand. They had to go forward and find water for the 

 cattle. 



On the 6th, the BROTHERS marked a line, while their companions 

 drove the cattle to COCKBURN CREEK, where they camped (CAMP 1 8) ; 

 and still the men did not arrive with the horses and packs. They 

 remained the two following days at Camp 18, still awaiting the 

 two parties left behind, and came near starvation. They succeeded, 

 however, in killing three small " opossums " on the 7th and in 

 shooting a calf on the 8th. On the latter day, twenty or thirty 

 of the cattle were found to be missing, and " Maroon," a stallion 

 designed for stud purposes, died of POISON or SNAKE-BITE. On 

 the qth, ALICK went back and met the rear party. 



On loth and nth November, the BROTHERS and EULAH followed 

 COCKBURN CREEK down for 38 miles l to the north-west, instructions 

 having been left for the rest of the party to follow with the cattle 

 and pack-horses. On the 12th, about 9 miles further on the 

 same course, they found two sandy water-courses, which they 

 supposed to be the heads of the Mitchell, but which must have 

 been branches of the STATEN RIVER (de Jacto). Then, striking 

 out to north by west, they crossed 16 miles of barren inundable 

 country to MARAMIE CREEK, so named, in the aboriginal language, 

 because of the abundance of fresh-water crabs. 



On the i$th, the Brothers followed MARAMIE CREEK down for 

 25 miles to WSW. Nothing but a waste of tea tree and spinifex 

 was to be seen, and it was evident that this was no country for 

 travelling cattle. 



On i^th November, the Brothers struck south and came on 

 " what they supposed to be the Mitchell, which was afterwards 

 ascertained to be the Staten of the Dutch navigators, or one of its 



1 Modern mapping shows that the distances must have been over-estimated. 



