44 
we found ourselves amongst low stony rises thickly covered with 
porcupine and densely timbered with mulga. Changing then the 
course to 92° 20’ we crossed numerous small gum creeks trending 
southward and eventually flowing into the Finke river. At one 
and three-quarter miles struck a bush track, which we followed on 
a bearing of 124° 30’ for two miles between two low porcupine 
ridges, and then, some two hours after sundown, we camped, having 
travelled twenty-two miles. 
Tuesday, June 26th.—Camp No. 39, Mount Zeil; bar. 27-62in., 
ther. 26°; height 2,249ft.; lat. 23° 35’ S. I had arranged with 
Mr. Cowle prior to his departure for Ayers Rock that the members 
of the expedition under his charge should rejoin me to-day at Glen 
Helen Station. I, therefore, sent the pack train in charge of 
Professor Tate with instructions to follow the track and camp at 
the station, distant one and a half miles from our camp. Half an 
hour after Professor Tate reached this place Mr. Cowle arrived 
there with Professor Spencer, Mr. Watt, and Mr. Belt, all well, 
having been absent just fourteen days. Professor Spencer reports 
that he has succeeded in obtaining photographs of both Ayers Rock 
and Mount Olga. Mr. Cowle is deserving of the greatest com- 
mendation for the able manner in which he has performed this 
journey. The party under his guidance were compelled to travel 
from dawn until sundown, covering a distance of between eighty- 
five miles and ninety miles over continuous porcupine sandridges. 
They were without water—a fact entailing additional anxiety—and 
Mr. Cowle’s achievement in arriving at the rendezvous almost to 
the hour agreed upon cannot be allowed to pass without special 
record. Added to the voluntary assistance rendered by Mr. Cowle 
I may mention that several of the horses lent to the expedition for 
the journey are Mr. Dare’s private property. Professor Tate, on 
making Glen Helen Station with the main party, found it such a 
desolate spot that he deemed it advisable to send to me for further 
instructions before camping; I thereupon advised him to proceed 
to Mount Sonder. Dr. Stirling remained with me and assisted in 
measuring an extensive baseline, which will enable me to determine 
the position and altitude of Mount Zeil and Mount Heughlin. The 
doctor, I may remark, has a natural aptitude for this kind of work, 
and it is due to his assistance on this and other occasions that I 
have been able to determine the exact heights of the several 
mountains in this part of the Macdonnell Ranges; we were thus 
engaged until noon. I then made a traverse to a rain water hole 
near Mount Sonder, at which the whole party afterwards camped. 
Starting on a bearing of 128° we crossed the Finke river, here 
called the Davenport, at half a mile, and arrived at Glen Helen 
