In the evening the whole of the party went
fishing for the pot, there being no meat left. (Camp XII.) Distance
11 miles. The weather to-day was cloudy for the first time, shewing
appearance of rain.
'October' 22. - The river was travelled down for 10 miles, through
similar and better country than that of yesterday's stage, and the
camp established on a deep narrow well-watered creek,
three-quarters-of-a-mile from its junction with the river. Here the
Leader determined to halt for a few days to recruit the strength of
the horses and cattle, the feed being good; many of the cattle were
lame, two of the hacks were knocked up, and several of the
pack-horses had very sore backs, so that a "spell" was a necessity.
They were now 120 miles from Macdonald's station, having averaged ten
miles a-day since the start
'October' 23. - The camp was established at this point (Camp XIII.)
pending a reconnaissance by the Leader and his brother to find the
Lynd of Leichhardt, and determine the best line of road for the
stock. A couple of calves were killed, cut up, and jerked, whilst
some of the party employed themselves in the repairs to the saddlery,
bags, etc., and Alexander Jardine took a look at the country back
from the river. Mr. Richardson plotted up his course, when it was
found that it differed from that of the brothers by only one mile in
latitude, and two in longitude; he also furnished the Leader with his
position on the chart, telling him that the Lynd must be about ten
miles N.E. of them, their latitude being 17 degrees 34 minutes 32
seconds S.*
[footnote] *In Mr. Richardson's journal he mentions the distances as
18 to 20. He also explains that he had two maps, in which a
difference of 30 miles in longitude existed in the position of their
starting point. Not having a Chronometer to ascertain his longitude
for himself, he adopted that assigned by the tracing furnished from
the Surveyor-General's Office.
'October' 24. - The brothers started this morning, taking with them
Eulah, as the most reliable of the black-boys; they were provisioned
for five days. The cattle were left in charge of Mr. Scrutton: the
feed being good and water plentiful, the halt served the double
purpose of recruiting their strength, and allowing the Leader to
choose the best road for them. Steering N.E. by E. at a mile, they
passed through a gap in the low range of table-topped hills of red
and white sandstone which had been skirted on the way down: through
this gap a small creek runs into the river, which they ran up,
N.N.E., 3 miles further, on to a small shallow creek, with a little
water in it.
