March 5.--I sent Mr. Gilbert and Charley up the river, which, according to Mr. Roper's account, came through a narrow mountain gully, the passage of which was very much obstructed by tea-trees. They passed the mountain gorge, and, in about eight miles north, came to the heads of the Isaacs, and to those of another system of waters, which collected in a creek that flowed considerably to the westward. The range through which the Isaacs passes is composed of sandstone, and strikes from north-west to south-east. In its rocky caves, wallabies, with long smooth tails, had been seen by Brown; they were quite new to him, and, as he expressed himself, "looked more like monkeys than like wallabies." Mr. Gilbert and Charley came on two flocks of emus, and killed two young ones; and Charley and John Murphy hunted down another; Charley fell, however, with his horse, and broke a double-barrelled gun, which was a very serious loss to us, and the more so, as he had had the misfortune to break a single-barrelled one before this.
The weather continued showery; loose scud passed over from the east and south-east, with occasional breaks of hot sunshine. The Corypha palm is frequent under the range; the Ebenaceous tree, with compound pinnate leaves and unequilateral leaflets, is of a middle size, about thirty feet high, with a shady and rather spreading crown.
We have travelled about seventy miles along the Isaacs. If we consider the extent of its Bastard-box and narrow-leaved Ironbark flats, and the silver-leaved Ironbark ridges on its left bank, and the fine open country between the two ranges through which it breaks, we shall not probably find a country better adapted for pastoral pursuits. There was a great want of surface water at the season we passed through it; and which we afterwards found was a remarkably dry one all over the colony: the wells of the natives, however, and the luxuriant growth of reeds in many parts of the river, showed that even shallow wells would give a large supply to the squatter in cases of necessity; and those chains of large water-holes which we frequently met along and within the scrubs, when once filled, will retain their water for a long time. The extent of the neighbouring scrubs will, however, always form a serious drawback to the squatter, as it will be the lurking place and a refuge of the hostile natives, and a hiding place for the cattle, which would always retire to it in the heat of the day, or in the morning and evening, at which time the flies are most troublesome.
March 7.--I moved my camp through the mountain gorge, the passage of which was rather difficult, in consequence of large boulders of sandstone, and of thickets of narrow-leaved tea-trees growing in the bed of the river. To the northward, it opens into fine gentle Ironbark slopes and ridges, which form the heads of the Isaacs. They seem to be the favourite haunts of emus; for three broods of them were seen, of ten, thirteen, and even sixteen birds. About four miles from the gorge, we came to the heads of another creek, which I called "Suttor Creek" after --Suttor, Esq., who had made me a present of four bullocks when I started on this expedition; four or five miles farther down we found it well supplied with fine water-holes. Here, however, patches of scrub again appeared. The ridges were covered with iron-coloured quartz pebbles, which rendered our bullocks footsore. The marjoram was abundant, particularly near the scrubs, and filled the air with a most exquisite odour. A mountain range was seen to the right; and, where the ranges of the head of the Isaacs abruptly terminated, detached hills and ridges formed the south-western and southern barrier of the waters of Suttor Creek.
March 8.--As we followed the creek about nine miles farther down, it became broader, and the Casuarinas were more frequent. Its bed was sandy, occasionally filled with reeds, and contained numerous water-holes, particularly where the sandstone rock formed more retentive basins.
During the last two days we had drizzling rain, which cleared up a little about noon and at night. The weather was delightfully cool; the wind was very strong from the eastward. I sent Mr. Roper forward to look for water, of which he found a sufficient supply. He stated that the country to the westward opened into fine plains, of a rich black soil; but it was very dry. The bluff terminations of the left range bore E. by S., and that on the right E.N.E.
March 9.--We moved to the water-holes found yesterday by Mr. Roper. On our way we crossed a large scrub creek, coming from the northward and joining Suttor Creek, which turned to the westward, and even W. by S. and W.S.W.
Mr. Gilbert and Charley made an excursion to the westward, in which direction Mr. Roper had seen a distant range, at the foot of which I expected to find a large watercourse. Wind continued from the east and south-east; about the middle of last night we had some rain.
A slender snake, about five feet long, of a greyish brown on the back, and of a bright yellow on the belly, was seen nimbly climbing a tree. The head was so much crushed in killing it that I could not examine its teeth.
Mr. Roper and John Murphy succeeded in shooting eight cockatoos, which gave us an excellent soup. I found in their stomachs a fruit resembling grains of rice, which was slightly sweet, and would doubtless afford an excellent dish, if obtained in sufficient quantity and boiled.