THIRD PRELIMINARY REPORT 621 



the point of succumbing to the effects of the POISON they had eaten 

 on the Richardson Range. My own riding horse (" Poodle ") 

 had been weak since we came down to the beach on the 9th March. 



On z\ih March we ran W. 10 N. for 6 miles ; the first 3 miles 

 through closely timbered grassy country just below the scrubby 

 divide ; the second through heath and wire grass, with pitcher- plant 

 swamps, falling to the south. One of the latter forced us 2 miles 

 to the north before we could cross it. Here all uncertainty as 

 to " POODLE'S " FATE was put an end to. He was not expected 

 to live for more than two days longer, and I had only been riding 

 him occasionally for some time back. At the swamp I rode for a 

 short stage. Resting my wounded arm on the stock of the Westley- 

 Richards rifle which was carried on the saddle, my hand accidentally 

 touched the trigger. The piece must have been cocked just before, 

 while I was leading the horse through the brushwood. The bullet 

 shattered the jaw of the unfortunate animal. As he had hardly had 

 a chance of reaching Somerset alive, even before the accident, his 

 misery was ended by a second SHOT. 



ONE OF MR. CROSBIE'S HORSES, POISONED on the Richardson 

 Range, had also to be LEFT HERE. 



In 5 miles more (W. 10 S.) through poor wire- grass country, 

 with casuarinas, we found better GRASS, and a boggy gully falling 

 to the south-west, and camped. (CAMP 66.) 



The next day (25 th March) we did not move as the horses had 

 strayed, some not being found till three o'clock. Rain fell heavily 

 from an hour before daybreak till two in the afternoon. 



On 26th March we shaped our course a little north of west. 

 For the first 4 miles we were on the JARDINE side of the divide, but 

 imperceptibly crossed it ; and after running north for three- 

 quarters of a mile down the right bank of a narrow but deep 

 creek, we crossed a tributary gully coming from the east, and ran 

 the united stream down three-quarters of a mile to the west, still 

 uncertain whether we were on the Jardine or the Kennedy waters. 



In a mile and a half further to the NW., over closely timbered 

 and fairly grassed country, Mr. Crosbie climbed a high tree, and 

 saw the MANGROVES OF THE KENNEDY within half a mile to the 

 north. We therefore altered our course to the SW., and had 

 travelled about three-quarters of a mile when we came to a swamp 

 fringing a deep canal- like creek running north-north-east, which, it 

 was thought, we should have to bridge, and we camped. (CAMP 67.) 

 Luckily, however, a practicable crossing was found about half a mile 

 below the camp, on a sandstone bar. The mangroves began to 

 appear shortly below the crossing. The brackish water ran about 

 40 feet wide and I foot deep. 



Next morning (zjth March} we crossed the creek, and another 

 similar one was found in the same valley, but was crossed with 

 ease. Believing we had crossed the head of the Kennedy, we struck 



