ay).

TIMBER FOR REPAIRS OF VESSEL.

12th November.

Mr. H. Gregory, with Shewell and Dawson, accompanied Captain Gourlay to
Steep Head to cut timber for the repair of the schooner. Erected a forge
and continued the preparation of the garden, etc. Last night one of the
sheep was strangled by getting entangled in the net which formed the
sheep-pen. Received from the master of the Tom Tough a letter replying to
my queries of the 10th instant. It appears that on the 30th September,
while the schooner was aground in the lower part of the Victoria, Mr.
Wilson landed to search for fresh water at Mosquito Flat; having made
some indefinite arrangements with Mr. Elsey to signalize for a boat,
should he require it, to return to the vessel; but he omitted to acquaint
either the master of the schooner, or Mr. Baines, who was next in command
to Mr. Wilson. The result was that when the signals were made there was
some uncertainty whether they were fires lighted by Mr. Wilson as signals
for a boat, and some delay ensued in preparing the boat, when it was
found that the tide had fallen so much that there was not sufficient
water to float the boat over the intervening sand-banks, and at low water
Mr. Wilson waded across the deeper channels and walked over the dry banks
to the vessel. As the affair appeared to be complicated with some private
misunderstanding between the parties, and Mr. Wilson had neglected to
make proper arrangements with the master of the vessel, I deemed it
desirable that the investigation should not proceed any farther.

13th November.

Mr. Baines having succeeded in repairing the portable boat, I made
preparation for an excursion up the river, as the horses were still unfit
for the work of exploration, and I hoped to be able to cross the shallows
which had obstructed Captain Stokes. Richards' arm does not progress in a
favourable manner, and it is therefore necessary that Mr. Elsey should
remain at the camp to attend to his case. The party proceeding with the
boats will therefore consist of Mr. Wilson, Mr. Baines, Mr. Flood, and
myself. Men employed as before, and the general duties of the camp.

14th November.

Party employed as before. At 3.30 p.m. I left the camp and proceeded to
the creek, where the timber party were at work, reaching their bivouac at
7.30; six logs had been cut twenty to twenty-five feet long and twelve to
fourteen inches square; the timber is a melaleuca with a broad leaf
(Melaleuca l