Narrative Of The Overland Expedition Of The Messrs. Jardine, From Rockhampton To Cape York, Northern Queensland By Frank Jardine And Alexander Jardine
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(Camp XLVIII.) Latitude 15 degrees 2 minutes 10 seconds.
'December' 23. - All hands were up almost the whole of last night,
some engaged in watching the cattle and horses, and others in cutting
up and jerking the beast. The rain came down heavily, and a cold
bitter wind was blowing; all the tents, save the ration tent, being
like seives, the outside was rather preferable to their shelter; so
each passed the night as best they could. The cattle were started
away in the morning, leaving Scrutton and Binney to finish jerking
the meat, there being some sunshine, which was beginning to be a
rarity, for the wet season had now fairly set in. Twelve miles of
wretched country were traversed, white sandy undulating ground,
clothed with shrubs and underwood, in the place of grass, and the
camp pitched on a low stringy-bark ridge, without water, for in this
flat sandy country the ground absorbs the rain as soon as it falls.
The horses had to be watched again to-night, for there was not a
blade of grass to be got. A small quantity of water was found in a
creek about a mile-and-a-half ahead. Late in the evening the horses
and water-bags were taken to it, and sufficient water brought back
for the use of the camp. Two small unimportant creeks were crossed
to-day, sandy and dry, trending west. Distance 12 miles N.W. by N.
(Camp XLIX.)
'December' 24.
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