country is now all burnt. I am obliged to stop where I can
get feed for the horses. One of the channels comes close to the bank,
east side, about six yards wide and two feet deep; bed sandy. The main
channel must be in the middle of the plain. The hill I ascended to-day
has been under the influence of fire; it is composed of quartz, and a
hard dark-coloured stone; the quartz runs in veins throughout it, in
places crystalline, and formed into spiral and many-sided figures; in
places there is a crust of iron, as if it had been run between the
stones, that is also crystalline. Wind, south-east. Latitude, 13 degrees
17 minutes 22 seconds.

Wednesday, 16th July, The Mary, Adelaide River. Started at 7.40, course
north. The river runs off again to the north-west, and I have passed over
an undulating country, all burnt, but the soil of the richest
description. The rises are comprised of quartz and a hard white stone,
with occasionally a little ironstone. At three miles crossed a creek with
water holes. At five miles crossed another. At seven miles came close to
a high hill--ascended it; at the foot it is composed of a hard slaty
stone covered with a cake of iron; about the middle is quartz, and on the
top conglomerated quartz. The view from south-west to north-west is
extensive, but this not being the highest hill, the rest is hidden. To
the west is a high hill, bluff at both ends, seemingly the last hill of
the range; its course apparently north-west and south-east. At this bluff
hill the range seems to cease, or drops into lower hills. A branch of the
river lies between it and me, but there are still a number of stony hills
before I can reach it. To the north-west and north there are high and
stony hills. The river now seems to run to the west, on a bearing of 30
degrees north of west. From twenty to twenty-five miles distant is
another range, at the foot of which there is a blue stripe, apparently
water, which I suppose to be the main stream of the Adelaide. Descended,
as the country is too rough and stony to continue either to the north or
north-west. I changed to 3 degrees north of west, crossed some stony
hills and broad valleys with splendid alluvial soil, the hills grassed to
the top. On that course struck the branch of the river. Still very thick
with the same kind of timber already mentioned. Most of the bamboos are
dead. I suppose the fire has been the cause of it. I again find it
running to the north; I turn to that