528 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



December 12. We held N. 20 W. for a mile and a half, and 

 N. 15 W. for 3 miles, over rolling downs (ironbark) to a dry 

 fourth-magnitude creek, which we crossed, left to right bank. We 

 then ran down the right bank of the creek for I mile on the same 

 course, when the creek struck out to the north-west, and we con- 

 tinued our course (N. 15 W.). An outcrop of ferruginous mica- 

 schist was seen where we left the creek. In half a mile more we 

 crossed the KING RIVER. It had a large, dry, sandy bed, with 

 several channels, almost choked up with teatrees. [The KING 

 RIVER, named by Mulligan, 5th September, 1875, is a tributary 

 of the COLEMAN. R. L. J.] 



I ascended a porphyry hill on the right bank and had an extensive 

 view. There is a range of very high mountains down the valley 

 to the west. 



We continued for a mile and a half N. 15 W. over ridges of 

 ferruginous mica-schist, with low summits of porphyry on the 

 right. For another mile and a half, on the same course, we kept 

 the crown of a low ridge of ferruginous mica-schist containing 

 long felspar crystals. A high range lay parallel to our course 

 about a mile to the right, and a still higher (rocky, apparently 

 porphyry) 2 miles to the left. 



In i mile more we camped on the left bank of a fourth- 

 magnitude creek, falling to WSW. with a little water and good 

 grass. (CAMP 7 : gum, J. I2D. 79. Latitude, by observation of 

 Achernar and Canopus, 14 34' S.) 



December 13. We struck N. 35 W. from Camp 7. In three- 

 quarters of a mile we crossed a fourth-magnitude creek and began 

 to ascend to a high granite tableland. In a mile and a half on the 

 tableland, where a few QUARTZ REEFS were observed, we crossed a 

 small boss of dolerite or basalt, on which the sudden improvement 

 of the grass was very marked. [This is on the southern boundary- 

 line of the present HAMILTON GOLDFIELD. R. L. J.] 



In I mile further we crossed a fourth-magnitude creek falling 

 to the south, and observed slates and greywackes on its right bank, 

 striking north-west. The creek which we left in the morning, and 

 all the others crossed up to this point, unite to form a tributary of 

 the KING. In I mile, zigzagging to the north-west, we passed 

 through a gap (porphyry) in the divide between the King and 

 Lukin Rivers. 



For 3 miles we descended gently a wide, grassy valley to 

 N. 10 W. with high ranges of porphyry on the left, and a lower 

 range on the right, and crossed a creek falling into the left bank 

 of the main creek in the valley. For a mile and a half N. 6 E. 

 we kept the left bank of the creek, which had a very winding course, 

 and was fringed with scrub. We found water in the creek here and 

 camped. (CAMP 8 : bloodwood, J. I3D. 79. Latitude, by 

 observation of Achernar, 14 28' S.) I named this creek after 



