47 
course was altered to 103°. After travelling an additional seven 
and a half miles along the valley we camped at sundown. ‘The 
total distance covered to-day was twenty-seven miles. 
Saturday, June 30th.—Camp No. 41; bar. 27-73in., ther. 25° ; 
height 1,889ft. Following upon an intensely cold and windy 
night, we started early cn a bearing of 96° 50’ and at five miles 
arrived at the Finke river, which here forms three gorges, through 
the parallel ridges to the north and south. Camped on the eastern 
side of the river near the southern ridge. The water in the river 
is still running in a strong stream, dl is so decidedly brackish 
that when boiled it Tacories undrinkable. I sent two men to open 
up a small spring about half a mile down theriver. They obtained 
a sufficient quantity of good water for our purposes. ‘Teatree grows 
abundantly in the river bed near the camp. In the afternoon I 
visited the Finke Gorge with Professor Spencer, Dr. Stirling, and 
Mr. Belt. There are two immense and extremely steep ridges 
north of our present camp, through which the Finke river has 
forced its course. The gap in the first of these is only a quarter 
of a mile off. Numerous fossils were discovered here by Mr. Watt 
in the quartzite rocks. The second, or Finke Gorge, is one and a 
quarter miles north of the camp. A large and deep permanent 
waterhole completely fills up the space between the high perpen- 
dicular rocks constituting the sides of the gorge. I sent Harry to 
the north side of the range to obtain additional specimens of a 
new plant discovered by Mr. Cowle. Several charges of dynamite 
were exploded in the waterhole, and a quantity of small fish secured 
for Professor Spencer’s collection. The waterhole, however, proved 
to be too large to render this method effective with the large fish. 
Sunday, July Ist—Camp No. 42, Finke river; bar. 27:92in., 
ther. 29°; height 1,739ft. Professors Spencer and Tate examined 
the river and Mr. Watt the ranges in the vicinity of the camp. 
I ascended a high range one and a half miles north of the camp, 
and obtained bearings to the mountains and hills previously 
noticed. In the afternoon I brought the expedition map, &c., up 
to date, computed the elevation and distance of various hills, and 
obtained an extensive series of magnetic (dip circle) and other 
observations. Several natives are camped in the creek, but no 
information or article of importance was acquired from them. 
Through an old native, sent by Mr. Cowle from the mission station, 
we received our first letters since leaving the overland telegraph 
line. 
Monday, July 2nd.—Bar. 27°79in., ther. 25°. Our departure was 
somewhat delayed this morning owing to the camels having 
strayed. Once started, we followed the Finke southward, passing 
