CHAPTER XLIV 



THE JARDINE BROTHERS' EXPEDITION, continued 

 THE JARDINE RIVER AND THE PROBLEM OF THE ESCAPE RIVER 



CROSS TO LEFT BANK OF THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER. HEATH AND BRUSHWOOD. FLOODS. 

 CAMP 79. McHENRY RIVER. SWIMMING. DEP6T AT CAMP 82. RECONNAIS- 

 SANCE DOWN THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER BY THE BROTHERS, WHO CONCLUDE THAT IT 

 FALLS INTO GuLF. THEIR RETURN TO THE DEPOT. SHORTAGE OF FLOUR. 

 SECOND RECONNAISSANCE. A RAFT. SWIMMING. MOUTH OF THE REAL ESCAPE 

 RIVER. NEWCASTLE BAY. ON KENNEDY'S TRACKS. THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER 

 AT CAMP 82 CANNOT BE THE ESCAPE. UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO CROSS THE 

 ESCAPE. WANDERINGS BETWEEN THE ESCAPE AND THE EAST COAST. THE 

 MYSTERIOUS RIVER MUST BE THE ESCAPE AFTER ALL. FLOODS AND HEAVY TRAVEL- 

 LING. EXHAUSTED HORSES. RETURN TO DEPOT. FLOUR EXHAUSTED. WATER 

 AND JERKED BEEF ONLY. HORSES REDUCED TO THIRTEEN. FRESH START OF THE 

 EXPEDITION, DOWN THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER TO THE WEST IN SEARCH OF " THE 

 BEND." CAMPS 83 AND 84. ELIOT RIVER. CAMP 85. DIFFICULTIES IN BOGS. 

 SWIMMING. CAMP 86. No BREAKFAST. LIGHT JOBS FOR SUNDAY. SOLUTION 

 OF THE PROBLEM. THE MYSTERIOUS RIVER is NOT THE ESCAPE AND FALLS INTO 

 ENDEAVOUR STRAIT NEAR CARSTENSZOON'S VAN SFULT RIVER (1623). THE 

 MYSTERIOUS RIVER NAMED THE " DECEPTION," THE " FERGUSSON," AND FINALLY 

 THE " JARDINE." CAMP 87. 



(SEE MAP B.) 



ON 2$tb January, 1865, the party CROSSED THE SUPPOSED 

 ESCAPE RIVER and travelled N. 16 W. down its left side 

 for 10 miles, the rain falling heavily almost all day. The 

 country was " of the usual character, heath and brush- 

 wood." " A delay of a couple of hours occurred in consequence 

 of a thunderstorm flooding a narrow gutter that might be hopped 

 over. It was not until this subsided that the horses and cattle 

 could be made to face it, the poor brutes having been so frightened 

 with bogs and water that the horses had to be led over the smallest 

 of them." CAMP 79 was in '* a miserable hole " in the middle of 

 the brush. 



The RIVER which the expedition now followed down proved to 

 be an ENTIRELY UNKNOWN one, to which the name of the JARDINE 

 was subsequently given. The great mistake was made of regarding 

 it as King's ESCAPE RIVER and believing that by keeping on its left 

 bank a deep crossing and formidable swamps would be avoided. 



On 26th January, the river (subsequently named the JARDINE) 

 was traced for 10 miles a little to the north of west, and the rain 



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