The hair on the head was perfect, being long and
black; the under part of the body was not totally decayed, giving us
reason to think that he could not have been interred above six or eight
months. Judging from his hair and teeth, he might have been between
thirty and forty years of age: to the west and north of the grave were
two cypress-trees distant between fifty and sixty feet; the sides
towards the tomb were barked, and curious characters deeply cut upon
them, in a manner which, considering the tools they possess, must have
been a work of great labour and time. Having satisfied our curiosity,
the whole was carefully re-interred, and restored as near as possible to
the station in which it was found. The river fell in the course of the
day near two feet.
July 31. - Again employed in the construction of our raft, which I hope
will be completed sufficiently early to-morrow to allow us time to get
every thing over, and encamp on the other side. The river fell about two
feet in the course of the day, and still continues to fall rapidly. The
dogs were very successful, killing three emus and a small kangaroo.
August 1. - Still employed on the raft, which will be ready for use about
one o'clock. The river fell a foot during the night, but the trees that
would have been useful to us are still under water. The mean of the
different observations made here gave the following results.
Mean lat. 33 deg. 04 min. 02 sec. S.
Comp. long. 146 31 50 E.
Variation 7 23 00 E.
The series of triangles by which the longitude from our situation on the
17th of May has been computed, corresponds precisely with the bearings
taken from this station to the principal objects forming their bases,
and whose relative situation on the chart had been fixed on the 17th of
May; it was extremely satisfactory to find in so extensive a survey that
the angles should thus so completely verify our situation.
Our raft was finished and launched by one o'clock; its capability of
carrying any burden we had to put upon it fully answered our
expectations; but here its utility ended, the violence of the current
caused by the high flood or the stream rendered all our labour abortive,
as no exertions we were capable of making could enable us to get it
across the stream. We had stretched a line across the river by which to
tow it over, but the men were not able to withstand the force of the
current acting on the body of the raft; they let go their line and were
carried about three quarters of a mile down, when they were brought up
by some trees and got safe on shore, making the raft fast.
