stony ranges to get a view of the upward course of the creek; it seems to go off somewhere on a bearing of 50 degrees but I fancy will soon turn more to the north.  It is quite astonishing to see the patches of beautiful green grass on the slopes of the stone hills in the small watercourses that fall down their sides; in fact the only thing like feed I have seen for some time, and what little there is, is in the bed of the creeks.  The creek here has an anabranch that leaves it about half a mile above and joins again about half a mile below; width of island half a mile.

Thursday, February 27.

Rained heavily and steadily all night from the east-north-east; the ground at daylight a perfect bog.  From the severity of the night some of our sheep got adrift but were recovered during the day.  The creek, nine-tenths of which was yesterday dry, is now running a strong stream and momentarily increasing.  Got all the animals across to this side during the forenoon as the rain appeared likely to continue; and now that it has set in will most likely inundate all the low flats and completely put a stop to further progress up the creek until the ground hardens a little.  At such times the only place of safety hereabouts are the sandhills or stony hills; the latter I prefer, and will shift to one in the event of the rain continuing another night as steadily as it did last night as there, and there only, is there any feed to be had for our animals.  They have fallen off considerably of late from the hot weather and the scantiness of good feed.  As soon as they were taken over the creek they were taken out to one of the stone-ridges and there left in tolerable feed but not very abundant.  The water is lying all over the flat in sheets and the creek rising rapidly.  It must have been a very long time since this part of the country has been similarly visited with rain, as the country generally, the flats principally, had not any vegetation upon them of any useful kind.  As I said before the stone hills, or rather the small creeks on their slopes, are the only places where there was any feed excepting in the bed of the creek, and now that last supply was gone, as the creek by this afternoon was swimmable.

Friday, February 28.

Raining all night but not quite so heavily; still very considerably.  Our camp is like a stockyard in the southern districts much used in the wet weather—­over our boots in mud and water; although on some of the highest ground just about here pounds of mud and rubbish adhere to your boots every time you lift your feet.  Creek considerably more swollen; and as every place is so saturated with water and mud will not move out of this till tomorrow morning.  In the meantime, in hopes that it will clear up a little and make the ground firm enough to bear the weight of the animals.  It is well we left the cart or we should not have been able to move it from this, and every probability of its being carried away by the flood now rapidly approaching.