100 IIOItN EXPEDITION NAUIiATIVE. 



When wc wore amongst thoni wo t'ouiid liowoNcr lliat tlioy worn a sorios of jiniil)l('(l 

 liills covered all over with Porcupine L;ra.ss, the tussocks IxMng so cIokc tui^etlicr 

 as to ffi\e wlien seen from a distanc(^ the appearance of a smnotli cai'pet of L;rass, 

 lint whicli in reality made travelliiii;' somewhat slow anil uncumfortalilc 



Beyond tiiis low range we could see tlu^ pealcs of higher liills, but it was dusk 

 ])efore we had made our way up and into the near Range where we camped for the 

 night. 



In the morning we passed through a narrow cleft in the hills and struck the 

 deserted Glen Helen Station at the hase of Mount Zeil within lialf an hour of the 

 time at which the main camel train had readied it. Tt was just a fortnight since 

 the two parties had separated at Reedy Creek and fluring that time we had 

 ti-avei'sed some three hundred and thirty miles. We iiad actually heen traxi'lljng 

 for twelve day.s, as a day and a half hail heen spent in camp at Ayers Rock and 

 half a day at Tempo Downs, and as there had lieen two spells of three days each 

 over waterless country and our journey had lain almost entirely over heavy 

 Porcupine sandhills and across rough, rocky ranges our horses had had hy no 

 means an ea.sy time. 



We found that the main party with the camel train had travelled from our 

 parting place at Reedy Cn^ek eastwards to Carmichael Crag which forms the 

 eastern end of the George (!ill Range and had then turned northwai'ds across the >^ 



open country to Glen Edith, and then travelling westwai'ds had struck the eastern 

 end of the McDonnell Range near to Ilaast's Bluff. After traversing for some 

 little distance the we.stern end of the narrow Horn Valley wliich stretches in an 

 unbroken line for some two hundred miles eastwards and wliich, as at the Mereenie 

 Bluff, is hemmed in l:)y very fine escarpments of rock often rising for se\eral 

 liundred feet vertically, they crossed the valley and travelled northwards towards 

 the Darwont Creek. Turning south again they then passed along the valley lying 

 to the south of the main McDonnell Range and .so reached the base of Mount 

 Sonder. 



It was during this part of the journey that the only specimens seen of the 

 rare Princess Alexandra Parrakect {^Spatlioptcriis (Polytelis) alexandrcr) were 

 secured by Mr. Keartland. Near to Glen Edith a flock of these birds was found 

 in a patch of Desert Oaks. Their long slender tail and delicate tints of green, 

 l)lue, purple and salmon-pink render them perhaps the most beautiful of our 

 Australian Parrakeets and up to the time of the Expedition, though they were 

 first discovered by W'aterhousi^ on Stuart's Expedition into f'cntivd Aust r.ili.i, only 

 ;i frw specimens had been secured. 



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