Brown and Charley quarrel—­night watch—­routine of our daily life, and
habits of the members of the party—­mount Lang—­streams of lava—­A horse
breaks his leg, is killed and eaten—­native tribe—­Mr. Roper’s
accident—­Whitsunday—­big ant hill creek—­deprived of water for fifty
hours—­friendly natives—­separation creek—­the Lynd—­psychological
effects of A sojourn in the wilderness—­native camp—­salt exhausted.

May 1.—­We travelled west by north, to latitude 18 degrees 55 minutes 41 seconds, over almost a dead flat, which was only interrupted by a fine Casuarina creek, with a broad sandy bed, coming from the south-south-west.  The soil was stiff, and the forest in which the Box tree prevailed, was very open.  A species of Acacia, with narrow blunt phyllodia, about an inch long, with spinous stipules; Hakea lorea, and the Grevillea mimosoides (R.  Br.), with very long linear leaves, were frequent.  Towards the end of the journey, slight ridges, composed of flint rock, rose on our left; and the country became more undulating.  Mr. Roper saw extensive ranges about fifteen miles distant; shortly before entering the camp, we passed a singularly broken country, in which the waters rushing down from a slightly inclined table land, had hollowed out large broad gullies in a sandy loam and iron ochre, which was full of quartz pebbles.  The heavier masses had resisted the action of the waters, and remained like little peaks and islands, when the softer materials around them had been washed away.  We met with grass lately burnt, and some still burning, which indicated the presence of natives.  It was generally very warm during the hours of travelling, between eight and twelve o’clock, but the bracing air of the nights and mornings strengthened us for the day’s labour; the weather altogether was lovely, and it was a pleasure to travel along such a fine stream of water.  Easterly and north-easterly breezes still prevailed, though I expected that the direction of the winds would change as we passed the centre of York Peninsula.

Our two black companions, who until now had been like brothers—­entertaining each other by the relation of their adventures, to a late hour of the night; singing, chatting, laughing, and almost crying together; making common cause against me; Brown even following Charley into his banishment—­quarrelled yesterday, about a mere trifle, so violently that it will be some time before they become friends again.  When Mr. Calvert and Brown returned yesterday to the camp, they remarked that they had not seen the waterfall, of which Charley had spoken whilst at our last camp;