°26 WALK ACROSS TO SHOALWATER BAY. 



clouds of musquitoes and sand-flies that we deter- 

 mined, leaving the men to guard the boat, to shift 

 our quarters to a higher spot in hopes of escaping 

 them. We accordingly selected a spot some distance 

 up the ridge, but within hail of the boat, and taking 

 our two dogs we lay down on our blankets. Here, 

 however, we could get no sleep until we had lighted 

 a large fire under the lee, and in the smoke of 

 which we, in some measure, eluded our insect pests. 

 At four in the morning, we went down and got 

 some tea and bread ; and just as the day broke we 

 heard a long drawn " coey" or native cry at a dis 

 tance. It had a fine harmonic tone, as if proceeding 

 from several voices. 



Feb, 21. — Leaving two men with directions to 

 get everything into the boat, and shove off into the 

 middle of the stream, we set off at daylight along 

 the native path to the northward, but shortly left it 

 and struck up some low rocky hills on our left hand. 

 We found much of the wood had been recently 

 burnt, leaving the rocks all bare. These were en- 

 tirely porphyry. We kept along the summit of a 

 ridge leading to the westward, and shortly, at the 

 head of a deep little valley on our right hand, started 

 two large kangaroos. Our only kangaroo dog, 

 however, was too much out of condition to catch 

 either, though very near it at one time. Descend- 

 ing from the rocky ridge, we crossed a sandy flat 

 very thinly covered with grass, the wood, both here 

 and on the hills was small, principally gum-trees, 



