timer, George Allcot, John Slater,
Richard Horton, Felix Maguire, James Stephens, Carpenters. Job Stanley,
Edward Wilson, Blacksmith. George Fowkes, Shoemaker. John Douglas,
Barometer carrier. Isaac Reid, Sailor and Chainman. Andrew Higgs,
Chainman. William Hunter, With the horses. Thomas Smith, Patrick Travers,
Carter and Pioneer. Douglas Arnott, Shepherd and Butcher. Arthur Bristol,
Sailmaker and Sailor.

8 drays, drawn by 80 bullocks; 2 boats; 13 horses; 4 private do.; and 3
light carts, comprised the means of conveyance; and the party was
provided with provisions for a year:--250 sheep (to travel with the
party), constituting the chief part of the animal food. The rest
consisted of gelatine, and a small quantity of pork.

With the exception of a few whose names are printed in italics, the party
consisted of prisoners of the Crown in different stages of probation,
with whom the prospect of additional liberty was an incentive so
powerful, that no money payment was asked by them or expected, while,
from experience, I knew that for such an enterprise as this I could rely
on their zealous services. The patience and resolution of such men in the
face of difficulties, I had already witnessed; and I had hired three of
the old hands, in order the more readily to introduce my accustomed camp
arrangements. Volunteers of all classes had certainly come eagerly
forward, offering their gratuitous services on this expedition of
discovery; but discipline and implicit obedience were necessary in such a
party to ensure the objects in view, as well as its own preservation; and
it was not judged expedient, where some prisoners were indispensable as
mechanics, to mix with them men of a different class, over whom the same
kind of authority could not be exercised.

Following the same road by which I quitted Buree, in 1835, my former line
of route across Hervey's Range lay to the left. The party thus arrived at
Bramadura, a sheep station occupied by Mr. Boyd. It was on the same chain
of ponds crossed by me on the journey of 1835, and then named Dochendoras
Creek, but now known as the Mundadgery chain of ponds. These ponds had
been filled by heavy rains which fell on Tuesday the 9th December--the
day on which I left Sydney, where the weather had been clear and sultry.
A tornado or hurricane had, on the same day, levelled part of the forest
near this place, laying prostrate the largest trees, one side of which
was completely barked by the h