08 
westward and northward, an extensive escarpment in these 
directions of an intensely red color being its distinctive feature. 
The name ‘“Mereenie” is derived from the natives. Altered 
our course to 21°, following Carmichael’s Creek to its source 
amongst low porcupine rises. At two miles we entered a narrow 
valley scarcely a quarter of a mile in width, confined by Haast’s 
Bluff Range on the north and the Mereenie Escarpment on the 
south side. [This remarkable valley was subsequently traced and 
mapped eastward in a direct line for more than 100 miles, and 
during the whole of this distance it retained its original charac- 
teristics.| I have named it Mereenie Valley. At three and a 
half miles we crossed the watershed and arrived at the source of 
the Darwent. ‘The elevation of this, the western commencement 
of Mereenie Valley, I estimate to be about 2,800ft. above sea level. 
This in all probability is the loftiest watershed in Central Australia. 
The Darwent Creek trends eastward and occupies nearly the whole 
of Mereenie Valley, in which we discovered an extensive bed of 
fossiliferous limestone soon after crossing the watershed. Our 
course down the valley was on a bearing of 75°. The escarpment 
of the Mereenie Range continues in an unbroken line to the east- 
ward, resembling an enormous wall, the range to the north 
apparently increasing in height. At seven miles we passed an 
enormous boulder of quartzite that had fallen from the cliffs 
forming the escarpment on the south range some 800ft. above 
the valley. The weight of this enormous block of stone had 
caused it to roll into the centre of the valley, and it now forms 
a most conspicuous landmark visible for miles on either side. With 
nine and a half miles covered we found that the creek takes a 
sharp turn and forms a narrow gorge or gap in the northern range. 
A small waterhole near the entrance of the gap afforded a con- 
venient site as a camp. By its side we therefore halted. The 
native name of this place is Oolooroo. The Mereenie Escarpment 
and the northern range, we noticed, continued to the eastward as 
far as the eye can reach, while a very high mountain (Mount 
Heughlin) bears 80°. ‘The bed of fossiliferous limestone previously 
mentioned proved very extensive, and continues along the valley 
to beyond our present camp. A small gorge in the northern range 
exists about three-quarters of a mile to the eastward. This has 
been named Stokes Pass; it contains a permanent supply of water. 
Wednesday, June 20th.—Camp No. 36, bar. 27°53in., ther. 27° ; 
height 2,256ft., lat. 23° 34’ 23" 8. The expedition remained here 
to-day, in order to afford Professor Tate an opportunity of com- 
pleting his geological examination of the Mereenie Range and to 
enable me to plot up the expedition map and compute results of 
