482 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



To the north we saw fair open country, about a mile in breadth, 

 skirting the hills. Thence to the coast, however, the land appeared 

 to be '.vorthless salt-water inlets and bare " salt pans " with a 

 fringe of sand-hills. 



On the inland side, the gap overlooked a valley falling to the 

 north-west. This valley is about a mile wide. We could trace 

 it upward for 5 or 6 miles by the smoke made by NATIVES who were 

 BURNING THE GRASS the alpha and omega of their simple notion of 

 " doing their duty by the land." 



We descended about a mile to the west into the valley and 

 crossed to the left bank of a creek. This was a deep, clear, running 

 stream 2 or 3 yards in width, flowing over a bottom of vertical 

 slates, striking north and south. From the point where we crossed, 

 the creek runs west. We followed down the left bank for about a 

 mile, when, after rounding some slate spurs, which here come down 

 to the creek from the sandstone tableland to the south, we found 

 that the creek was a tributary of a much larger stream coming from 

 the south. This RIVER I named after MR. ALFRED STARCKE, whose 

 surveying camp was at that moment the northmost outpost of 

 civilisation in the interior of Queensland. It has a rapid stream 

 about 10 yards wide. Its bed is somewhat scrubby. A black gin 

 was surprised beside a fire in the scrub as we crossed the stream. 

 She seemed astonished, but not much alarmed. 



We could see up the valley of the STARCKE RIVER to the south 

 for 8 or 9 miles [6 at most, according to modern maps. R. L. J.]. 

 The valley is nearly flat, with an average breadth of 2 miles of 

 tolerable grazing country, lightly timbered with box and bloodwood. 

 With the tributary valley it would form a fair-sized cattle run. 



We continued our journey to the westward, keeping the river 

 in sight, on our right hand, for the first mile or two. Here we 

 crossed a NATIVE TRACK in the long " sorgham grass," only a few 

 hours old. The travellers' line of march had been from north 

 to south. Their numbers must have been very considerable I 

 should say hundreds rather than scores as the grass was beaten 

 down as if by the passage of a large mob of cattle. About 4 miles 

 from the crossing of the river, we camped at sunset on the left 

 bank of a gully (a tributary of the Starcke), with water-holes and 

 coarse grass. (CAMP 20 : bloodwood, marked broad arrow, J. XX.) 

 We were overjoyed to find this patch of grass before night set in, 

 as the last 3 miles of travelling had been over the still smoking 

 embers of the bush fires we had seen in the morning, and we had 

 begun to fear having to camp without any food for the horses. 

 This would have been a serious thing in the weak state of some of 

 our horses. 



A gin and piccaninny walked leisurely away from the right 

 bank as we approached the gully. Brusher wanted to take possession 

 of the gin, but I put my veto on the first proposal to adopt a course 



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