FIRST EXPEDITION 491 



age. The women stood in line and pointed with their left hands 

 along the track, reminding me of the witches in " Macbeth." They 

 were understood by the boys to mean that their men were in that 

 direction, and that we should go another way to avoid a collision. 

 One gesture of the " weird sisters " surprised and puzzled us all. 

 All at once each caught hold of her breasts and squirted milk towards 

 us in copious streams. Perhaps they meant that they were entitled 

 to our consideration as women and mothers. The party we met 

 before had distinctly a sense of modesty, but this party had abso- 

 lutely none ; so that I am still unable to say, from my own observa- 

 tion, whether modesty is an instinct in the unsophisticated orders 

 of mankind or an acquired habit of mind. 



In half a mile more we came on a man cooking at a fire by the 

 side of a lagoon. He ran away like a deer and hid among the 

 reeds, leaving his all behind some eggs, some roots, an opossum 

 just singed, a spear and wimmera and some bamboo fishing- 

 spears. A snake was roasting on the ashes. 



The track kept a general NNW. (magnetic) direction. For 

 the first 2 miles it wound among lagoons, with fine green picking 

 for horses. At the end of the 2 miles, the NORMANBY came in 

 sight. For the next 4 miles (to the " lower crossing ") we passed 

 through poor bush country parallel with the river. The trees 

 were frequently crusted with muddy sediment above the blazes, 

 which were at the height of a man's hand on horseback. This 

 part of the road must be DEEPLY SUBMERGED DURING THE WET 

 SEASON. The track was very hard to follow, and we often missed it. 



We crossed the river at the " lower crossing " and camped on 

 its left bank, where there was sweet young grass for the horses. 

 (CAMP 29 : bloodwood, J. 1/9/79.) The track crosses the river 

 by a conglomerate bar which dams back a long reach of deep water. 

 In view of the proximity of natives probably in large numbers 

 (for we saw many fires among the lagoons) we kept watch all night. 



September 2. Leaving Camp 29 (by the track) magnetic west 

 through level country with pretty good feed the grass having 

 been burned about three weeks before in 2 miles we reached a 

 large second-magnitude creek, with a bottom of recent sandstone, 

 or " cement," said to be the Laura. What are called the Laura 

 and the Kennedy, on the Coen track, are said to have been traced 

 from the Palmerville and Cooktown road by parties running them 

 down to the Coen diggings ; otherwise I should have said that 

 the creek now crossed was not half the size the Laura should have 

 attained after travelling so far. [The " second-magnitude creek " 

 was, in fact, the KENNEDY RIVER. The Laura falls into the Nor- 

 manby, breaking through its left bank, about 15 miles above 

 Camp 29. The Kennedy falls into the Normanby, breaking through 

 its left bank, about 7 miles below Camp 29. R. L. J.] 



The next 5 miles were over low, level country for the most 



