y eighteen armed natives. Everyone sprang to their
arms in a moment, which caused the intruders to fall back. I tried to
make them comprehend that we did not approve of the horses being hunted;
but as they would not go away, and they had a strong party concealed in
the brushwood, I fired at a tree to show them the use of our arms. The
moment they heard the report of the rifle and saw the splinters fly, they
took to their heels and did not again trouble us. We afterwards found a
spear sticking in the ground in the track of the horses, having evidently
be thrown while in pursuit. Camp 88.

Latitude 20 degrees 25 minutes; longitude 119 degrees 21 minutes.

23rd September.

The river soon passed round the southern foot of a range of hills of 400
or 500 feet elevation, the country to the south again becoming very
fertile, and clothed with a rich sward of kangaroo-grass; at ten miles we
struck the Shaw River, coming from the south-east, with a broad, deep,
and well-defined channel, in which were many fine pools of water. Below
the confluence of the rivers the DeGrey widened out considerably, turning
rather more to the northward, and seven miles further was joined by the
Strelley, in latitude 20 degrees 16 minutes, and longitude 119 degrees 5
minutes east; the river being diverted to the northward by a rugged range
of volcanic hills; its course being now direct for Breaker Inlet, which
was distant about eighteen miles. Camp 89.

MAGNETIC ROCKS RENDER THE COMPASS USELESS.

24th September.

As it was very important that I should obtain a round of bearings before
proceeding any further, the country having for some days past been too
flat to afford many opportunities for triangulation. I to-day started
with Messrs. Harding and Brown to ascend the ranges that lie to the west
of the river. A scramble of three miles over very rugged rocks brought us
to the highest point, which was found to be not more than 500 feet above
the sea; our journey, however, turned out to be fruitless, the magnetic
attraction of the volcanic rocks of which the hills are composed being so
great as to reverse the needle, which varied so much that I could not
even make use of the compass to take angles, and I had omitted to bring a
sextant. Kangaroos were numerous among these hills, but we did not
succeed in shooting any; they appear to be similar to those seen on the
plains near the Sherlock. The view we had of the country was very
extensive. To the sou