68 IIOKN KXPEDITION NAItRATIVR. 



Tills was pf^rhaps fluo to tlio fact tliat as soon as 0% or t.lio sun sot it bocaiiio very 

 rold, llip toinperaturo gradually falling; to several do^roos bolow froeziiii;- point. Tt 

 was now tlie tii-.st of June, so tliat we worn very close to mid-winter, and what 

 froi^s there were remained liidden, or at all e\ents kept away from water during 

 the cold nights. 



After crossing tlie Palmer we divided next morning into two parties ; the 

 main camel train, with Messrs. Winnecke and Watt, went south-west into th(> 

 Le\i Range, while Professor Tate, Dr. Stirling and myself fnllowed up the Walker 

 Pi\-er, which here joined the Palmer, to Tempe Downs — a cattle station then in 

 the possession of I\Ir. F. Thornton, liy whom we were most kindly receixcd and 

 entertained. Tempe Downs is the most westerly of the few stations or, to speak 

 more correctly, cattle runs in the central district ; of late years drought and low 

 prices iiave cond)ined to reiuler the entei'pi-ise of those who ha\e attempted to 

 utilise the land of the far interior a somewhat hazardous undei-taking. The 

 outlying runs are managefl hy one or two white men aided Ity hlack " hoys." 

 Occasionally there has heen t-rouhle with the natives, to whom, in hard limes, the 

 sight of cattle must he a great temptation ; but by kindly treatuienl- of them 

 Mr. Thornton has had comparatively little trouble with the aborigines. Tl- is not 

 difficult to reali.se that it must appear exceedingly strange to the blacks that 

 wdiilst the white man can shoot down the emus and kangaroos he, the lilai'kfellow, 

 is not allowed to spear the cattle. 



Tempe Downs is situated in a long valley (in fact it is, strictly speaking, 

 the valley to which the name given by (Jiles applies) not more than a mili^ in 

 width, open towards the west end Init completely closed eastwards except just at 

 one spot whei'C the Walker River, wdiicli luns along the valley, breaks in :\. deep 

 gorge through the mountain range, closing in the valley on the i\orth. ]'>y 

 running a fence across the valley to the west and another across the narrow gorge 

 of the Walker there is formed a paddock many miles in length in which, if need 

 be, all the cattle can be kept securely. 



From the Station Range on the south, which rises ti\e hundred feet aliove 

 the valley, which is itself 1(170 feet above sea level, we hafl a tine and charnc-ter- 

 istic view. 



To the north of us was range after range of liills running east and west and 

 separated fi-om one another by a .series of parallel valleys ; a mile to the east the 

 Walker broke through the near(>st range to continue its e;i,sterly coui'se Id the 

 Pnliner in the valley just Ix^yond. 'I'he hill on which we stuod was cut through 



