492 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



part bare of timber, there being only a few stunted Moreton Bay 

 ash trees scattered about. Little lagoons are frequent, and abound 

 in native companions and geese. The whole of this country had 

 been recently burned and carried rich green grass. We resolved 

 to spell the horses here for two days. Queensland and Billy were 

 both picking up, and Coen had now little the matter with him. 

 Two days on these FERTILE PLAINS should set the horses all up for 

 a time. The country would make a few good cattle runs. The 

 subsoil is a grey, friable loam. The land is not subject to floods, 

 although most of the open plains must be swampy, and perhaps 

 covered with a few inches of water in the rainy season. 



We camped beside a lagoon where Grainer said game of all 

 sorts abounded at the time of his former visit. We were less 

 lucky. Brusher managed to bag three parrots and two teals at 

 the expense of a great deal of ammunition. The fact that the 

 last of our beef was " on the table " at supper-time gave us a keener 

 interest in the shooting than that of mere sportsmen. (CAMP 30 : 

 Moreton Bay ash, J. 2/9/79.) I fixed the latitude of this camp 

 at 14 57' 49" S. This was the first reliable observation taken, as 

 hitherto the nights had either been too cloudy to see the stars at 

 their transit, or the moonlight had made the image reflected in 

 the mercurial horizon indistinct. On the coast side of the range 

 this mattered little, as I was generally able to determine my position 

 by bearings to points on the coast. 



Just as I had finished my observations, a sudden stampede among 

 the horses convinced us that the BLACKS were disturbing them. 

 They snorted and capered about in a state of high excitement and 

 alarm. We sallied out armed, but saw no enemy, and found the 

 horses unhurt after we had with great difficulty collected them. 



September 3. When the boys were mustering the horses in 

 the morning, they heard the voices of natives. This rendered it 

 probable that the natives really had a look at the horses during the 

 night. As we could not afford to lose another horse, we abandoned 

 our intention of spelling the horses here. 



We left Camp 30 at 8 a.m. The track, which is here well- 

 defined, keeps magnetic west. In one mile the soft-soiled plain- 

 and-lagoon country ended and was replaced by gently rolling, 

 hard-bottomed open forest land strewn with little pebbles (coated 

 with iron oxide) from the recent conglomerates. The trees were 

 mostly bloodwood. In half a mile more the loamy soil reappeared, 

 with small lagoons and a few open plains rarely swampy. The 

 grass had been burned about three weeks before, and there was 

 abundance of short, sweet feed. 



Four miles from the camp we passed a little lagoon on the right 

 hand, with the ridge-poles and pegs of a tent still standing. Just 

 beyond this lagoon the track bends to magnetic NW. In 2 miles 

 a large swamp was passed on the left, with geese in great numbers. 



