CHAPTER LXXI 

 THE AUTHOR'S EXPLORATIONS, 1879-80, continued 



SECOND EXPEDITION, continued 



WITH CROSBIE'S PROSPECTING PARTY 



THE NISBET AND LOCKHART RIVERS AND HAYS CREEK 



IOTH JANUARY, 1880. AT CAMP 23. BREAKFAST. ATTACK BY BLACKS REPULSED. 

 EASTWARD TO NISBET RIVER. CAMP 24. NATIVES ABANDON CAMP AND WEAPONS. 

 SPEAR BARBED WITH CHIPPED BOTTLE-GLASS. RAIN. HORSE-SHOEING. KEN- 

 NEDY'S TRACK. PROSPECTING AT CAMP 23. GOLD. NATIVES SPYING ON CAMP 

 FROM HlLL AT IjOOO YARDS. Two LONG SHOTS DISPERSE THEM. THEY CEASE 



FOLLOWING US. HEAVY RAIN. UP THE SPY HlLL. THE SEA VISIBLE. LoWRII 



ISLAND. PARTY MOVE NORTHWARD TO HAYS CREEK. CAMP 25, I2TH JANUARY. 

 SITE OF HAYS CREEK PROVISIONAL GOLDFIELD. DODD'S REEF, ON NISBET FALL. 

 RAIN. MACDONALD ILL WITH FEVER. GOLD IN HAYS CREEK. HUME AND 

 HAMIL FOLLOW CREEK DOWN TO SEA. ASCENT OF ADAM PEAK, NORTH OF HAYS 

 CREEK. EXTENSIVE VIEW. SKETCHING LOCKHART RIVER, BETWEEN MC!LWRAITH 

 AND MACROSSAN RANGES. PROSPECTORS GET GOLD IN TRIBUTARIES OF HAYS 

 CREEK. THREE DAYS OF RAIN. SUN NOT SEEN FOR Six DAYS. SHOOTING TORRES 

 STRAIT PIGEONS. LEAVE CAMP 25, i8TH JANUARY. NORTH-NORTH-WESTWARD. 

 ASCENT OF MC!LWRAITH RANGE. GREYHOUND CREEK, A TRIBUTARY OF THE 

 LOCKHART. GIN AND CHILD. RAIN. CAMP 26. BEARINGS. WHOLE COURSE 

 OF LOCKHART RIVER SEEN. MORESBY'S ATTEMPT TO FIND THIS RIVER. 



ANNOTATED REPRINT 



ANUART 10. We had packed up to move down (from 

 Camp 23) into the open country in the Nisbet valley to 

 the east, and were having breakfast, when a party of BLACKS 

 approached us from the hill behind (on our yesterday's 

 rack). [SiE MAP C.] They had SPEARS in their hands, and 

 houted and gesticulated. Four or five of us ran up the hill to 

 aeet them. They advanced skilfully in " skirmishing order," 

 odging behind trees and rocks and taking advantage of every bit 

 jf cover, but those in the rear exposed themselves freely. We 

 IKED at those in the rear, killing one and wounding another. The 

 est vanished into the scrub. The one killed had been able to 

 :agger back for about a hundred yards, into the gully to which 

 e traced him by his blood. He wore a necklace of pearl-shell, 

 we had gone back to the camp to finish our packing we heard 



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