170 
Sir T. Mitchell's Expedition into the 
reconnoissance north-west by compass, and found in that direction, 
at the end of thirty miles, a poor, sandy, unpromising country. 
Returning to the dep6t camp, 1 proceeded on the 23rd of April 
up the river, with a party of ten men and the light carts, leaving 
the remainder in charge of Mr. Kennedy, at St. George's Bridge, 
with instructions to follow me in one month. I did not ascertain 
satisfactorily the point of junction of the Condamine with the 
Balonne, as what I saw in long. 148° 52' N., lat. 27° 47' 57" S., 
might have been only an ana-branch; neither did I see that 
of the “ Cogoon,” a small tributary from the north-west, which 
we followed up through a beautiful country, until it led me 
amongst hills where I could, by trigonometrical observations and 
back angles, survey more extensively, and be sure of the longitude. 
From a tree on the Balonne, in long. 149° E., lat. 27“ 20' S., 
open downs were discovered to the eastward, extending to the 
horizon, and in all probability watered by the Condamine. From 
Mount Abundance, in long. 148“ 40' E., lat., 26° 39' 30' S., I 
again perceived that the fine open country in which I then was, 
extended eastward as far as the eye or telescope could reach, and 
that it was watered by a river from the northward, distinctly 
marked by the smoke of natives’ fires. That river was still the 
“ Balonne” according to the natives, and from Mount Bindango 
I was able to intersect the summits of the isolated range in the 
centre of that splendid region, placing it in long, about 149“ 2' 
E., and in lat. 26° 23' 32' S. To mark the epoch of this 
discovery, I named it on my map the Fitz Roy Downs, and the 
range in the midst of them I distinguish as the Grafton Range; 
and should your Excellency’s name not be Fitz Roy, I shall be 
content to be able to pay such a mark of respect to the late 
Governor of New Zealand. 
The little river “ Cogoon,” which I had followed up, contained 
water in ponds almost to its sources, which arise between the 
three isolated mountains of Abundance, Bindyego, and Bindango 
_the latter being connected by a low neck of grassy downs, 
with small knolls of trap rock, to one of the masses of coast 
range in which the Balonne appeared to have its source. North¬ 
ward from Bindango other waters fall to the north-west, and 1 
