306 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



1623. It is now too late to give effect to the claim of this STATEN 

 RIVER, DE JURE, for recognition. 



On i$th December, a stage of 22 miles was made to 

 the north-east, over better country than had been met with for 

 some time, part of it being SANDSTONE RIDGES rising above the 

 level of the inundable land. Four or five miles from Camp 40, 

 a creek was passed falling to the west, which the Brothers proposed 

 to call Arbour Creek, but which does not appear on Richardson's 

 map, or on Byerley's. At 19 miles a halt was made at a dry 

 swamp, which now appears on the maps as the " SCRUTTON RIVER," 

 running out of the main stream of the Mitchell below Dunbar 

 Creek and joining DUNBAR CREEK (the Nassau River, de Jacto\ 

 midway between Camp 40 and the Gulf. Eulah, having been 

 sent ahead, found a good site for a camp 3 miles further, and 

 the caravan pushed on to it (CAMP 41). " It was," says Byerley, 

 " well worth the extra fatigue to the stock. They were rewarded 

 by an excellent camp, plenty of green GRASS, open country, and 

 WATER, which was alike acceptable to men and beasts. The creek 

 received the name of EULAH CREEK, in honour of the discoverer." 

 It was not, however, so named in Richardson's map or Byerley's, 

 and is called " MAGNIFICENT CREEK " in modern maps. 



Probably the Jardine Brothers passed through this country in 

 an unusually bad season, and it was lucky for them. Had they 

 not been ready to perish from THIRST in crossing the inundable 

 country they would have run a serious risk of DROWNING. 



Yet it is evident from the subsequent course of occupation that 

 the country traversed by the interlacing and anastomosing MOUTHS 

 OF THE MITCHELL RIVER is not worthless, as it seemed to its first 

 explorers. In good seasons at least, the coastal plains afford 

 abundant FOOD FOR STOCK, and the Brothers' experience of I5th 

 December indicates the existence of ELEVATED SANDSTONE PLATEAUX 

 to which stock may retreat in times of flood. Moreover, there is 

 almost a certainty that the ARTESIAN WATER area of Normanton is 

 prolonged in that direction, although the coastal alluvium makes 

 it impossible to see the outcrop of the basal beds of the Lower 

 Cretaceous strata. The area in question, according to modern 

 maps, now contains cattle stations at OLD and NEW MENTANA, 

 DUNBAR, KALKA, LOCHNAGAR, RUTLAND PLAINS and KOOLATA, as 

 well as the MISSION STATION of TREBANAMAN. (SEE MAP F.) 



From Camp 41 to Camp 42, the company travelled about 

 6 miles north-eastward on i6tb December. The two Brothers, riding 

 ahead, had barely gone a mile when they were confronted by a 

 party of NATIVES, who jeered and brandished spears. A stand 

 was made and eight or nine fell to the rifle fire, whereupon the 

 remainder retired. CAMP 42 was on an anabranch of the MITCHELL 

 RIVER, running NNW., " its bed in some parts densely timbered, 

 the foliage rich and luxuriant : in others there are fine sheets of 



