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Rh of trying the Peach again on our return. It turned out, however, that Fair Cape was the northmost point l which offered any promise of auriferous country, and I felt it my duty to represent to the Government that that point could be reached from Cooktown at a less expense in time, money and horseflesh than by recrossing the desert country which had cost us the lives of so many horses.

The two journeys, whose main incidents have now been related, if they have not added to the material wealth of the Colony, have, at least, increased our knowledge of its physical geography, and dispelled much of the mystery which has hitherto enveloped the geology of the Cape York Peninsula.

I cannot close this narrative without referring gratefully to the assistance rendered by all my companions. Perseveringly and steadily they gave their whole energies to the object of their search; and, if they did not succeed in finding payable gold, it was probably for one or other of two good reasons either it was not there to find, or the floods of the wet season put it beyond their reach.

ROBT. L. JACK.

To the Hon. the Minister for Mines, Brisbane.

1 Except some very limited areas at Cape York and the islands in Torres Strait.

By Authority : James C. Beal, Government Printer, William Street, Brisbane.