September 25.
As three of the horses could not be found this morning, four men were left behind to search for them while the rest of the party travelled on. They had not come up with us at about four o'clock, and being anxious to find water before dark, we proceeded along a narrow open valley covered with long grass and large pandanus trees, skirted on each side by rather scrubby forest land. At dark we reached a large waterhole. One of the men left behind shortly arrived, and stated that the rest had halted for the night. Mr. Kennedy being anxious to bring all the horses to water, and to have the party together, sent me back to conduct them to the camp, which I very soon did, even though it was dark, the track being very plain. We collected a great many nondas to-day and baked some of them with our bread, which was the only way we could eat them cooked; they were much better fresh from the trees, but we found them rather astringent. Spring, our best kangaroo dog, was unable to come up to the camp this day, being overpowered by the heat of the sun, a circumstance we all regretted, as he was a most excellent watchdog.
September 26.
We travelled a good stage this morning before we found water--in a sandy creek, where the country seemed to fall slightly to the north-east. We still hoped to find a river running into Princess Charlotte's Bay.
September 27.
We proceeded North-East over alternating sandy ridges and marshy flats; the latter, though dry where we passed over them, presented the appearance of being generally inundated. We camped by the side of a rocky creek, containing very little water.
September 28.
Just as we were about to start this morning, two natives, carrying a bundle of reeds and a basket, passed within a short distance of our camp, and seemed to take no notice of us. Our sheep were not to be found, having rambled to a distance: although without a sheepfold, this was the first instance in which the sheep had strayed; they generally remained by the fire, towards which they were driven at night, till morning.
We had never seen a wild native dog during the journey. Our dog that we had left behind came into the camp to-night, very much exhausted, having travelled about thirty miles; he must have subsisted on nondas, as it was impossible he could have caught anything, and we had seen him eat them before. He died the following morning.
September 30.