5io NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



rather a creek of the first magnitude than a river as yet. 1 The 

 creek had many dry channels. Its bed was graced with Leichhardt 

 trees and teatree, but had no scrub. It had scarcely any water, 

 only a few shallow holes in one of the channels. We prospected 

 a little in the bed of the river, but got no gold. 



A mile and a half from the Lukin we crossed a fourth-magnitude 

 creek (a bywash of the river), with water. In 2 miles more, across 

 country burned only a few hours before, we came to a little gully 

 with water in holes in the " cement " bottom, and green picking 

 for the horses on its banks, and camped. (CAMP 43 : bloodwood, 

 broad arrow, J. 19/9/79. Latitude 14 21' ii"S.) [This camp 

 should be about 3 miles east of EBAGOOLA POST OFFICE of the present 

 day.-R. L. J.] 



The blacks had neglected to burn the country passed over 

 to-day, north of the Lukin, but it was poor in the extreme, the 

 grass being mainly spinifex, and but little of that. The timber 

 was for the most part teatree, bloodwood and ironbark. The 

 country was gently undulating, the subsoil being composed for 

 the most part of a granitic " cement." The timber rather 

 improved southward, but the grass did not. 



September 20. Almost immediately after leaving Camp 43, we 

 began to mount a low range. At the distance of 2 miles from the 

 camp we crossed a third-magnitude creek with a broad, dry, sandy 

 bed, falling to the south. [RYAN CREEK, Hamilton Goldfield. 

 R. L. J.] Another mile took us up to the crown of the range, 

 which is about 400 feejt above the level of the plains. The range 

 is of granite, with some unaltered greywacke. There is much 

 quartz scattered about, with a white and " hungry " look. Large 

 flexible crystals of biotite are embedded in the quartz. 



About 15 miles to the north-west I could see a high range, 

 apparently capped with horizontal sandstone. [This range was 

 visited on my second journey on i6th December, 1879. R. L. J.] 



For I mile further our course lay to the left of, but within a 

 few yards of, the crown of the range. This low range is composed 

 of very coarse granite with enormous felspar crystals and crystals 

 of quarts up to I cubic inch. The ironbarks on the ridges are 

 large and strong. There are a few stringybarks and stunted white 

 gums, but no bloodwood trees. We packed some washdirt to 

 the nearest water from a dry gully running east, and on washing 

 it obtained some colours of GOLD. 



In half a mile more we were on the top of the range [which 

 here DIVIDES THE PACIFIC FROM THE GULF WATERS]. The gullies 

 behind flow to the east at first, and then swing round to the 

 north and north-west. Before us was a tableland sloping gently 

 to south-south-east. 



1 James V. Mulligan named this river in 1875. It was not then known to be, as it has 

 since proved, the river named the HOLROYD by the Brothers Jardine in 1864. R. L. J. 



