Tuesday.

Started early with the intention of reaching home by night, i.e., we were going to get from Beech Hut to Trackton in two days, whereas it took Daniel McKinnon and the writer five days to do the same distance outwards. Pushed ahead very hard, and had lunch at our old camping place at Bruce Creek, and where a clear track begins. About mid-day it commenced raining, which was very uncomfortable through bush tracks and with the speed we were hurrying. The writer had no swag the whole of this trip, or he never could have done the work in the time in his then condition. As it was, it was extremely fatiguing, but having been relieved once, he was not going to stop while the others went on so long as he could move one foot before the other. For the last four or five miles the pain in the writer's lower limbs was horrible, his knees felt like a hinge without oil, and ached most excruciatingly when going down hill or in stepping down from a fallen log lying across the track, which latter is a common occurrence. However we finally reached the camp, where we were joyfully received. We were soaking wet, tired, dirty, and hungry; and so the writer, after a bath in the Clinton river (sandflies notwithstanding), a change of borrowed clothing, (for he was now very little better off than the day he was born), and a good meal, he turned into his tent and slept as only a downright fatigued man can sleep.

N.B.—This second day's journey is too much for anyone to do in one day with any degree of comfort, especially if he has a 30lb. swag to carry. It is really from the Saddle to the Clinton mouth, or in other words, it is the full length of the Clinton, and two days should be taken, pending the com pletion of the Government track.