DALRYMPLE'S EXPEDITION 421 



" The Government officials were mounted, but the diggers were on foot, and had 

 therefore to carry their swags and rations, each man's share totalling about 70 lb., 

 although some burdened themselves with even greater loads. The diggers brought 

 their rations from Townsville. 



" Mr. Macmillan wished to give the horses a spell after they left the ship, but the 

 diggers were impatient to make a start. Some thirty of the latter made up their minds, 

 the day after the landing, to set out next morning ahead of the guides. A night of 

 ' sleeping over it ' brought wiser counsels and the number of hot-heads was reduced 

 to five next morning. THESE FIVE STARTED on Monday the 2jth, under the leadership 

 of George Batton Welch. Before telling about our own doings I may say that on 

 Friday, 3ist October [having not long before come on a tree on which Welch's name 

 was cut], we met one of the party making his way back to the port. He told us that 

 after crossing a big river [Normanby ? R. L. J.], the party split up on the top of a 

 high range [Mt. Ruby Range, between the Normanby and the head of the Deighton ? 

 R. L. J.], three going one way and our man and a mate going another. Later 

 these two also parted company. The man we met was, I believe, the ONLY SURVIVOR 

 of the five. 



" On Monday, the 2jth, Messrs. Macmillan and St. George and Jerry got on a 

 hill where Jerry (who had not been in Cooktown, but in Weary Bay) got his bearings 

 and recognised landmarks he had seen when with Mr. Hann. Next day (Tuesday) 

 he led them to Mr. Hann's Camp No. 45 on Big Oaky Creek. We diggers having 

 received our orders, started out on Thursday, yzth October, and got as far as a water-hole 

 which we named after ' King Jerry,' and where we camped. On Friday, $ist, we came 

 to Big Oaky Creek (Hann's Camp 45) and here joined Mr. Macmillan and his party. 

 We stopped there on Saturday. Mr. Macmillan did not wish to follow Hann's 

 track slavishly (Hann did not go from the Palmer direct to the Endeavour or rather 

 to the Annan, which he thought was the Endeavour). 



" On Sunday he led us to the foot of the range at the head of Oaky Creek and 

 we camped there. On Monday, yd November, he went ahead of us for a few hours, 

 looking for a gap in the range west of the Normanby River. Unfortunately he did 

 not go far enough north to see the gap through which the Railway now goes. We 

 got down in the NORMANBY RIVER at a place which must have been about Hann's 

 Camp 43. Some BLACKS were shot here. I do not know why, as they had not interfered 

 with us. 



" On Tuesday morning, \ih A 'member, the mounted men crossed the river about 

 a quarter of a mile below our camp, followed by most of the pedestrians, who waded 

 across (the water knee-deep). I happened to see a log which had fallen across the 

 stream near the camp, and by this some 25 of us crossed. The ' horse ' party and 

 the ' log ' party had not quite come together when a number of BLACKS made their 

 appearance. When Mr. Macmillan and some other of the mounted men saw them 

 they galloped towards them, and they disappeared. The men who were near enough 

 to see the blacks well told us (the ' log ' party) that they did not offer to throw spears. 

 On the contrary, they leant their spears up against rocks and trees and did not raise 

 their hands, and were evidently, in their own way, trying to make it known that they 

 meant peace. 



" From the crossing of the Normanby, we went on to the north-west, with the 

 river on our right and the range on our left, and came to the northern end of the 

 range, now known as BATTLE CAMP RANGE, and camped for the night. The northern 

 face of this range, between Hann's 4151 and 42nd camps, was where the natives attacked 

 Hann [lyth September, 1872. R. L. J.]. 



" About five next morning, 5 th November, while the stars were still shining, a crowd 

 of natives came up yelling out a terrible war cry, and they reached to about 70 yards 

 from where we lay all over the ground. There were about 40 in the first rank and as 

 many more in reserve some distance behind. Just as the day was breaking, Messrs. 

 Macmillan and St. George advanced towards them. I noticed that they fired over 

 the heads of the blacks, but some of the men fired straight at the blacks, some of whom 



