A small private expedition, under the charge of J. G. Macdonald, started from Bowen, on the east coast of North Queensland, in 1864, for the purpose of discovering a practicable route for several mobs of cattle then being sent towards the Flinders or westward for the occupation of new country. The party consisted of Mr. Macdonald, G. Robertson, Robert Bowman, and Charlie, a native of Brisbane, with seventeen horses, and two months rations. The starting point was from Carpentaria Downs, on the Einasleigh River, then the farthest out settlement, the latitude being 18 deg. 37 min. 10 sec. S., long. 144 deg. 3 min. 30 sec. E. The course generally was westward, following down the Gilbert River, and thence to the Flinders and Leichhardt Rivers. These they crossed, and then travelled on to the Gregory, which was followed down to the Albert. The object of the expedition having been achieved, and the country deemed suitable for stocking, the party commenced their return journey, crossing the Leichhardt River at a rocky ford, where the scenery was beautiful and the site admirably adapted for a head station. Eventually one was formed there, but was swept away in the disastrous flood of 1870, when the waters covered all the surrounding country to a great depth. The journey home was uneventful, the only occurrence being the finding of the skeleton of a horse they had left on their outward journey at the Gilbert River, and which had been killed by the blacks and eaten. The stages made were somewhat astonishing for an exploring party. The time taken by the journey outwards and the return was fifty-three days to Carpentaria Downs, and to Bowen seventy-one days in all; this trip proves what can be done with a lightly-equipped party, in contrast to many of the unwieldy expeditions fitted out in the south. Mr. Macdonald's favourable report of the country was the direct means of a good deal of settlement on the Gulf. Mr. Macdonald, in conjunction with Mr., afterwards Sir, John Robertson, and Captain Towns, of Sydney, took up many stations on the Gulf waters and expended large sums of money in stocking them. They also despatched the first vessel with loading to the Albert, bringing consigned goods to settlers, as well as supplies for their own consumption. This vessel was the "Jacmel Packet," which arrived in the Albert River from Sydney in 1865, thus leading to the establishment of Burketown. Sir John Robertson personally visited the Gulf in 1868, travelling overland from the east coast as far as Normanton and Burketown, and returning the same way. * * * * *