5 
On the morning of the 17th we prepared for the start towards 
the mountain. We had reached the last point accessible by horses, and 
thencefortli all the journey had to be done on foot. "We struck camp 
and crossed the creek at 8 o'clock in the morning, leaving one blackboy 
in charge of a tent which formed the base of supplies. On crossing 
the creek, a clear, strong stream running rapidly over and between 
large granite boulders, we began at once the ascent of Barnard's 
Spur, a long, narrow forest ridge, rising to a height of 1,700 feet. The 
timber along this spur is chiefly bloodwood, Moreton Bay ash, and the 
casuarina usually known as forest oak. Only the crest of the spur is 
bare, and the sides for a hundred feet, the forest ending suddenly in 
dense dark scrub. On the right you look down on the main creek 
between Barnard's Spur and the main range, and on the left into 
the branch which drains the western slopes of Sophia. There are 
outcrops of quartz on several parts of the spur, but none showing the 
faintest traces of gold. At 12 o'clock we reached the summit at 1,700 
feet, the site of an old blacks' camp, several of the structures still 
standing — large dome-shaped camps made from bent saplings, with 
grass roofs. From this point we could see the whole of the Bellenden- 
Ker peaks, the summit of Bartle I^rere, and Cairns, and all the Inlet 
country away to the north. 
Here was the last of the forest, there not being an acre of open 
country for all the rest of the journey to the top of the mountain. 
The temperp.ture in the shade at midday was 78 degrees. 
"We descended 700 feet along a small old blacks' track leading 
down a very steep descent into the junction of two creeks. Here is 
the point where Tringilburra Creek divides — one branch going east- 
ward draining the whole western face of Bellenden-Ker, and the other 
bringing down the water from the north slopes of Bartle Frere, the 
west end of Bellenden-Ker, and the east side of the main range. The 
S2)ur which ends in the junction runs right to the summit of the south 
peak of Bellenden-Ker, and was the route chosen for the ascent. 
All between this spur and one connecting Barnard's Spur with Mount 
Sophia is a vast concave basin, into which all the slopes and ridges of 
the mountain, from the north to the south peaks, converge in dark 
gloomy ravines covered by dense tropical vegetation. We camped on 
the 16th at the junction named, on a previous -occasion, the 
"Whelanian Pools." Plere the two creeks unite and pour their 
combined waters away to the north, down a long narrow gorge flanked 
by mountains descending sheer down on each side, the beautiful trees 
at the base hanging over the current in perpetual shade. 
We pitched our camps on the bare granite rocks, swept clean 
by the tremendous torrents that rushed down those two gorges for 
nameless centuries of tropic rains. The temperature at night was 
56 degrees ; the water in both creeks 58 degrees. Elevation, 1,000 
feet. 
On the 18th all hands were out collecting in all directions. 
About half-a-mile down the main creek is one of the loveliest 
scenes in Australia. From the main range on the west side there 
comes a large impetuous torrent which forms a series of eight magnificent 
cascades from 50 to 100 feet in height, one above the other, falling in 
sheets of snow-white foam, forming a nearly unbroken line of water to 
a height of 500 feet, the last cascade visible in the far end of the dim 
vista terminating in the dark ravines away far overhead on the face of 
