On the 21st September, Hann came to the Endeavour, a river well-known in the history of Australia. Whilst entangled in the scrub on the upper reaches of this stream he had the misfortune to lose one of his best horses by poison, two others having also eaten of the weed. At this point the party had terrible work to encounter; the old obstacles that had so retarded Kennedy were met with--scrub impenetrable, and steep ravines. Tracks had to be cut through the vines, and the horses led on foot down perilous descents. This went on for days, and an attempt to reach the sea coast and continue their intended route south, ended in involving them in a perfect sea of scrub, and the final conclusion that advance for white men and horses was impossible. Hann had reluctantly to make up his mind to return to the west, and abandon the fresh ground to the south of him. After many entanglements in the ranges, and the usual confusion arising from the tortuous courses of the rivers, the watershed was at last crossed, and on the 28th October they camped once more on the Palmer River. From here they returned over the country formerly traversed on the outward course, and exploring came to an end. The work had been very hard, especially during the time the party had been impeded in the scrubs of the east coast, which fully bore out the reports of the survivors of Kennedy's expedition as to the terribly toilsome nature of the labour to be undergone in cutting a track through them. Hann was lucky in not having his party attacked by sickness during his detention in such a dangerous locality; they all returned in safety. The gold discoveries on the Palmer, and the rush there which occurred soon after this expedition, led to a vast deal of exploration being done under the name of prospecting. Small parties were out in all directions on the rivers named and crossed by Hann and the heads of those named by Leichhardt, the Lynd and the Gilbert, were ransacked and searched in every direction. In 1875, the Queensland Government decided to send out an expedition to decide upon the amount of pastoral country existing to the westward of the Diamantina River, and see if it extended to the boundary of the colony. It was placed under the command of W. O. Hodgkinson, who had already seen considerable experience as an explorer, having been one of the members of the Burke and Wills party, and also a member of M'Kinlay's expedition when he traversed the continent. The second in charge was a mining surveyor and mineralogist, Mr. E. A. Kayzer. Although the expedition was organised as early as September, it was not thought politic to start so soon before the impending wet season, so the party were directed to muster at the Etheridge (goldfield), and occupy the time between then and the end of the year, in examining and reporting on the country between there and Cloncurry gold-field, on the Cloncurry River, which was to be the final point of departure.