196 Notes on the 



To the east and north east there was apparently only scrub 

 and thick forest. Here I again got a view of the remarkable 

 range before mentioned. Its steep western end bore S. 10° E. 

 As evening approached and the trees and belts of forest 

 threw their long dark shadows along the beautiful, open, and 

 verdant plains, kangaroos of great size were to be seen on 

 all sides. 



Proceeding up the Mackenzie, which above the junction 

 of the creek we had gone up, comes from the south and the 

 south east, in six miles the bed of the river becomes quite 

 changed — the banks become higher, the river much larger, 

 and great reaches of water stretch away for miles, almost 

 in a straight line. I have no doubt, that another, and the 

 main branch of the Mackenzie, strikes off here to the right, 

 to join the river Isaacs fifteen or twenty miles more to the 

 south than the branch we had come up. 



Three miles below this enlargement of the river, a large 

 flood-channel comes in from the west, and because this 

 channel points out a much better course than the river for 

 any future dray-road up the river, on our return I 

 marked this spot, by cutting my initials and a broad arrow 

 on the north side of a large tree of Moreton Bay ash, which 

 stands on the flat about sixty yards from the edge of the 

 water. I observed here the footprints of some unknown 

 animal. They were larger than those of a Newfoundland dog ; 

 round, not oblong, and with marks of claws. I traced them 

 up the steep clay bank into the scrub. 



On this flood-channel there is open well grassed country, 

 and six miles up it there are numerous large reaches of water. 

 On the river itself, round the great bend which the channel 

 cuts off, there is good country. Where this flood-channel 

 breaks out from the river, twelve miles up, there are good 

 geological sections of horizontal sandstone strata, with the 

 ends of petrified trunks of trees projecting from the face of 

 the cbffs. The Mackenzie is here divided into several chan- 

 nels, in one of which I found large angular pieces of coal, 

 bright when fractured, and in appearance equal to the best 

 coal. Carrying a large quantity to the top of the bank, here 

 about one hundred feet high, I made a fire, and found that 

 the coal burns with a bright and lofty flame, and a strong 

 smell of bitumen. 



Five miles further, after crossing a considerable creek 

 coming from the N.W., when riding along a plain where the 

 course of the river is north, I again got a view of the re- 



