Narrative Of The Overland Expedition Of The Messrs. Jardine, From Rockhampton To Cape York, Northern Queensland By Frank Jardine And Alexander Jardine
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As might
have been expected, the poor hungry creatures had strayed back
towards the good feed on Cawana Swamp, and were found 5 miles from
the camp. The day's stage was the worst they had yet had. The
country down Parallel Creek has already been described, and it took
six of the party five hours to get the cattle over three-and-a-half
miles of ground: the bed of the creek, by which alone they could
travel was intersected every 300 or 400 yards by bars formed of
granite boulders, some of which were from 25 to 30 feet high, and
their interstices more like a quarry than anything else; over these
the cattle had to be driven in two and sometimes three lots, and were
only travelled 8 miles with great difficulty. There were several
casualties; "Lucifer," one of the best of the horses cut his foot so
badly, as to make it uncertain whether he could be fetched on; and
two unfortunate cows fell off the rocks, and were smashed to pieces.
The cows were beginning to calve very fast, and when the calves were
unable to travel, they had to be destroyed, which made the mothers
stray from the camp to where they had missed them; one went back in
this manner the previous night, but it was out of the question to
ride thirty miles after her over the stones they had traversed. The
camp was made in the bed of Parallel Creek, at a spot where there was
a little grass, the whole stage having been almost without any.
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