STATEN RIVER TO JARDINE RIVER 315 



herbs and finally in a skirmish with the natives when they returned 

 to the boat ; and they were alongside the " Pera " at midday. 

 The " Coen," therefore, cannot be many miles north of the boat- 

 landing. Now it so happens that, in quite recent years, members 

 of the Mapoon Mission to Aborigines have located a small INLET IN 

 13 4' N. LAT. (between Pera Head and the mouth of the Archer), 

 and I consider it practically demonstrated that this is CARSTENS- 

 ZOON'S COEN REVIER. Unfortunately, Flinders, in 1802, made a 

 bad guess, and suggested that an inlet, now known as the PENNE- 

 FATHER RIVER, in 12 13' S. lat., was " probably the Coen R. of 

 the old charts," and the suggestion having been accepted without 

 question, much confusion has arisen. The subject of the true 

 location of the Coen is discussed in detail in Chapters VII, 

 LXXXV, and LXXXIX. 



The BATAVIA RIVER, as seen by Richardson, is described by him 

 as " running NW. by W., 120 yards broad, sandy bed, 30 feet deep ; 

 water very clear and good, running about 2 feet deep." Crocodiles 

 were seen in it by the Brothers Jardine. The head of the river 

 is in 13 n' S. lat. and 143 if E. long. PLUTOVILLE, the centre 

 of the " BATAVIA GOLD RUSH," is about 13 miles west of its 

 source. Below this, the river, to the north-west, cuts its way 

 through the DESERT SANDSTONE formation, and for a considerable 

 distance divides the sandstone shelves named by me in 1880 the 

 " SIR WILLIAM THOMSON RANGE " and the " GEIKIE RANGE." 



The Jardines' CAMP 65 was on a tea-tree swamp north of the 

 river. 



On loth January, the progress made was only 2i miles to 

 NNE. The greater part of the journey was on ridges timbered 

 with bloodwood and stringybark. The trouble began at a water- 

 course running north-west, with the water knee-deep and the 

 gently sloping banks very boggy. The CATTLE SANK IN THE MUD. 

 Four refused to face it and had to be let go. Thirty or forty 

 stuck fast and the greater part of the day was spent in hauling 

 them out with ropes. Five had to be abandoned when only their 

 backs and heads were out of the slough. The horses came through 

 the ordeal better, but their saddles and loads had to be carried by 

 the men. At CAMP 66, which was, of course, pitched on the 

 nearest piece of sound ground, the remainder of the day was spent 

 in drying the arms and loads and in jerking the beef of one of the 

 bogged bullocks. HEAVY RAIN fell at night. 



A stage of from 2 to 3 miles was the total result of next 

 day's toil (nth January). 



" After having travelled with the greatest difficulty for 2 miles over execrable 

 country, so boggy as to be barely possible to traverse, their progress," says Byerley 

 (p. 45), " was stopped by a creek 25 yards wide, flooded ' bank and bank ' and running 

 like a mill sluice. This was the River Batavia [a mistake : it was a tributary of 

 NIMROD CREEK, which falls into the right bank of the Batavia. R. L. J.]. The usual 



