554 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



At the foot of the hills the timber alters its character. The 

 trees are chiefly stringybark, bloodwood, box, woolybutt and 

 apple-gum, with Moreton Bay ash in alluvial flats. 



We continued to the west for 2- miles up a gentle rise, well 

 grassed, to a low divide, whence a view was obtained of the 

 MC!LWRAITH RANGE. Towards the top of the rise, stringybark 

 and box timber prevail : there were also a few small ironbarks. 



In 2 miles to W. 10 N. a granite hill was passed about 2 miles 

 off to the left. Half a mile farther we passed close by a second 

 granite hill on the left. One mile to the north-west of this mountain 

 we camped on the left bank of a fourth-magnitude creek. [A 

 tributary of the Batavia River. R. L. J.] (CAMP 29. Latitude, 1 

 by observations of Capella and Canopus, 13 11' S.) [The BATAVIA 

 RIVER, which falls into the Gulf of Carpentaria in lat. 12 S., 

 is not mentioned in the Journal of Jan Carstenszoon, head of the 

 " Pera" and " Aernem" expedition, in 1623. The name does 

 not occur in his log, as given by Dr. Heeres, but the inlet is located 

 and named the Batavia in the " Chart made by the Chief Steersman, 

 Arend Martenszoon de Leeuw. who took part in the expedition." 

 -R. L. J.] 



From the base of the range to the camp, the country traversed 

 was of macro-crystalline reddish granite. No reef quartz was 

 seen. 



'January 24. We struck due north for 2 miles over ridges of 

 coarse reddish granite, decomposing to a soft soil, well grassed (no 

 reef quartz). In 2-J- miles we crossed a third-magnitude creek 

 running W. 30 S. [The BATAVIA RIVER. PLUTOVILLE, the centre 

 of the " BATAVIA RUSH " of 1909, which followed a DISCOVERY OF 

 GOLD by an ABORIGINAL nicknamed " PLUTO," must be about 

 12 miles below my crossing. R. L. J.] On crossing it I ascended 

 a hill on the right bank and took a series of bearings. 



In i mile N. 25 E. we crossed a spur of the hills on the right. 

 From this point onward the granite was grey, and finer in grain 

 than that which we had passed yesterday and to-day. Occasional 

 outcrops of sandy ferruginous greywacke were seen. Where these 

 occurred, there was generally a good deal of quartz. 



We kept north for a mile and a half along the edge of the hills. 

 The prospectors tried several gullies here, but got no gold. A 

 mile and a half to the north, across a level valley (granite), we 

 crossed a fourth-magnitude creek. In half a mile further, past a 

 spur of the range on the right, we crossed a creek of the fourth 

 magnitude, and camped on the right bank. The prospectors tried 



1 For some time back it had been impossible to fix the latitude, as we rarely saw 

 either sun or stars. This was, however, at the time, not of much consequence, as we were 

 near the coast, and could make out our position by compass bearings. BAIRDSVILLE, 

 where alluvial gold was discovered in 1892 by William Baird, is about 7 miles west 

 of my Camp 29. Baird was killed by the blacks on the scene of his discovery in 1906. 

 R. L. J. 



