During the morning of the next day (May 31st) I was employed in procuring specimens and seeds of various plants, and in the afternoon we all resumed our preparations for starting, as we expected Mr. Kennedy back next day. He however did not arrive in the camp, and on the following afternoon I obtained specimens of a very pretty plant of the natural order Onagrariae, with opposite, oblong, simple leaves, and large purple flowers.
The following day (June 3rd) Mr. Kennedy and his party returned to the camp, with the intelligence that it was impossible to proceed in a north or north-westerly direction, in consequence of the swamps. Mr. Kennedy had penetrated them in some places, where the scrub was not too thick; but could not get through them in any place, on account of the water, and the dense scrub. He informed us that he found we should be obliged to cross a river on the beach to the south-west of the camp before we could hope to make any progress.
The two following days were occupied with completing our arrangements for starting; as it was determined on the following morning to strike our tents and proceed at once on our expedition.
As I may now consider our expedition as fairly begun, it may, for the sake of clearness and arrangement, be advisable to continue my narrative in the form of a journal; detailing from day to day the various occurrences which took place. It must be remembered, however, that in narrating the particulars of our journey, I am obliged to trust largely to memory, and to very imperfect memoranda; and to these difficulties must I refer, in excuse for the defects, with which I am well aware this narrative abounds.
Up to the present time, the whole of the party, and especially its unfortunate leader, had remained in good spirits, and, buoyed up with sanguine hopes of success, were eager to set out on their pilgrimage of discovery.
June 5.
We breakfasted at an early hour this morning, and proceeded at once to harness our horses to the carts, three to each cart. The carts contained about seven hundredweight each. This business having been completed, and the packhorses saddled and loaded, we started at nine o'clock A.M., and proceeded along the beach. Mr. Kennedy and Jackey rode in front, followed by the three carts. After Wall, riding one horse and leading two packhorses, came Goddard, Douglas, Mitchell, and Dunn, leading three packhorses, then Niblet in the rear, riding one and leading two horses, followed by Carpenter driving the sheep, and myself on foot, carrying Mr. Kennedy's mountain barometer, which he had given into my charge during the journey; and I was also to take the time for that gentleman, in his observations.
After travelling in this order about two miles, we came to a large river,* emptying itself into Rockingham Bay. This river was about one hundred and fifty yards wide, and although the tide ran up it about a mile, fresh water was procurable from it considerably nearer the sea.
(*Footnote. Mackay River of the Admiralty chart of Rockingham Bay.)
At nearly high-water I tasted fresh water on one side of the river, and salt on the other, and about two hours after high-water, there was no difficulty in obtaining plenty of excellent water on either side of the river, in different places. There is a great deal of fresh water running into the sea here, and at the same distance from the sea as the mouth of the river, it is in some places mixed with salt water, whilst in others it is quite fresh. The banks of this river are low and sandy, and a short distance above where we joined it, it is skirted on either side by a thick mangrove swamp, for the distance of about a mile, where it joins the freshwater swamps, covered with thick scrub. On my proceeding up the river, it became narrower in its channel as it approached the swamps, from which it appeared to be principally supplied. It had a tortuous course, and when I left it, was turning to the westward.