Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt, logbook of a journey from Port Stephens to Peak Range, 1 October 1846-3 November 1847 - Page 106

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with a fine supply of water and several fine lagoons we past an undulating silver leaved Ironbark forest, until we came near the foot of the range which now extended with some openings much further to the westward. We had to cross here very rocky creeks and gullies and a more grassy watercourse but soon entered again the scrub. I kept now a NW direction, but my companions getting weak, I changed to the SW in order to come to water and came soon to what we afterwards made out an ana branch of the river. Here we camped at the edge of a waterhole in the bed of a creek, for we were all too weak to carry the water up the steep banks. My sick companions dropt down on the ground as soon as their saddles were taken off, and I weak as I was myself had to attend to the kitchen. [?] We had some cold boilt meat with us and I was so ravenously hungry that I at once swallowed several handfuls of the loose meat. The others found by and by equally their appetite. Wommai and Bouking [?] had not come in with the cattle and I despaired of seeing them that day. However after sunset they came with one part of it the next morning. Wedn. 7th April: After having found the goats after much trouble I moved on about 4 miles to find a better camp for my companions. I felt that it was out of my power to continue my journey without the slightest assistance of a blackfellow in finding the goats or any of the party in the [indecipherable] of the kitchen. I resolved therefore upon returning with Wommai, the more so as the cattle which had been brought in the day before, had returned. We followed their tracks round the openly timbered foot of the rocky range into the scrub where they joined our goats track. They had retraced their steps for about 5 miles

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