HEAD OF JARDINE TO FALSE ORFORD NESS 587 



Heavy RAIN began before daylight and lasted till ten o'clock. 

 Afterwards the sun was strong, and Love and I had a busy day 

 repacking and drying rations, clothes, bedding, and ammunition, 

 and mending harness. 



Charlie and Macdonald went back to Camp 52, got " OLIVE'S " 

 TRACKS, and found and brought her back. " Greenhide " had 

 got up, but had all the symptoms of POISONING. He was driven for 

 a short distance, but lay down again, and could not be induced to 

 rise. " Queensland " had also risen, but could only crawl along 

 a short way " on his hocks." 



I ascended a bare promontory on the sandstone hills, half a mile 

 from the camp, and saw clear low HEATH for 5 miles to the east. 

 There appeared to be passable travelling (brushwood and low trees) 

 to E. 30 N., in line with a wooded island (BOYDONG CAYS ?). 



March 6. The night and morning were fine. RAIN began, 

 however, when we started to LEAVE CAMP 54, and continued to fall 

 heavily till the afternoon. 



We followed our northward track for 2 miles to the point where 

 we began the ascent of the RICHARDSON RANGE. 1 



From this point we struck to the north-east, for a promontory 

 which I had seen yesterday, where I hoped to find grass for the 

 horses, and where I could make a last effort to save " Queensland " 

 and " Greenhide." " Greyhound " was, however, already about 

 to give up, and in a quarter of a mile we were stopped by a dense 

 SCRUB. After penetrating this on foot for some distance, I returned 

 to the horses, and, taking into consideration the condition of 

 " Greyhound," and the chance of making but small progress at 

 the best in such weather, we RETRACED OUR STEPS for three-quarters 

 of a mile to the nearest grass, and camped 2i miles north of Camp 

 54. (CAMP 55.) 



The rain ceased by two o'clock, and Charlie and I walked to 

 the point we had made for in the morning. It lay north-east of 

 the camp. We sidled up the range by the track and then followed 

 the edge of the range round to the promontory, a distance of about 

 2 miles. We found that the top of the eastern scarp was the 

 very DIVIDE OF THE PENINSULA. There was not a single gully to 

 cross. Still better, there was not a stick of scrub to cut, although 

 the scrub commenced a few yards back from the top of the 

 escarpment. 



A very old NATIVE TRACK led down from the promontory to 

 the low ground to the east. It seemed practicable to get down 

 by this route to the sea in about 7 miles, keeping on the divide 

 between two creeks, without encountering any great extent of 

 scrub. 



" Greyhound's " is a very doubtful case, and it is hard to say 

 whether he can travel another stage. I gave him a large dose of 



1 The tableland which I had mistaken for the Richardson Range. R. L. J. 



