FIRST EXPEDITION 517 



2nd Coal. Impure, clayey, brittle and short ; light in colour. Fragments of 

 anthracite can be picked from it. Thickness at lower side, 2j inches ; at upper side, 

 I inch. 



Dark shale, 4 inches on lower side ; $ inches on upper side. 



yd Coal. Brittle, anthracitic ; 5 inches thick on lower side ; 4^ inches on upper 

 side. 



Grey sandy shale, 2 feet 7 inches. 



Hard grey sandstone, 6 inches. 



Sandy shale, I foot 6 inches. 



Hard grey sandstone, 5$ inches. 



Sandy shale (thickness not seen). 



At the south end of the vertical shaft, the section is as follows : 



Black shale down to roof of coal. 



1st Coal. Coal y good ; 3 inches on upper side ; 2\ inches on lower side. Clay, 

 I inch on upper side ; dies out on lower side. Coal, good ; 6 inches on upper side; 

 9 inches on lower side. 



Dark shale, "j\ inches. 



2nd Coal. Brittle ; inch upper side ; I inch lower side. 



Dark shale, 3$ inches upper side ; 5 inches lower side. 



$rd Coal. Brittle, anthracitic, impure ; 6 inches upper side ; 7 inches lower side. 



Dark sandy shale, 2 feet 7 inches. 



Sandstone, 6 inches. 



Dark sandy shale, 10 inches. 



Sandstone (bottom of shaft), 6 inches. 



At the bottom of the underlie shaft, the section is as follows : 



Solid dark sandy shale, 2 feet. 



1st Coal. Coal; good ; 3 inches. Black shale, o to 2 inches. Coal, good ; 

 4 to 5 inches. 



Black shale, 4! to 8 inches. 



2nd and yd Coals. Brittle, anthracitic ; 12 inches thick at end of shaft, although 

 interrupted by 8 inches of shale 2 feet from end. 



We reached COOKTOWN on yd October (1879). 



AFTERWORD. 



With the exception of the excursion to the coal deposits between 

 The Brothers and Oaky Creek, the incidents which occurred 

 between the " Kennedy Bend " and Cooktown were naturally 

 not of sufficient importance to find a place in an official report, as 

 we travelled mainly along well-known roads. 



We had calculated the length of our tether with such accuracy 

 that the last of our load of edibles was cleared off the table before 

 we went to sleep in our 5oth camp. For more than a week we had 

 fared sparingly, but on this occasion we ate without scruple and 

 without leaving a crumb, happy in the knowledge that the early 

 hours of the following day would see us on a public road. The 

 start next morning was all the earlier because there was no need 

 to wait for breakfast, and soon we had the beaten road beneath our 

 feet and the telegraph wire from Cooktown to the Palmer above 



