Volume II Part 22 (1/2)

June 29.

The party moved forward in the direction of Mount Hope and, leaving it on the left, we continued towards Pyramid Hill where we encamped at about three-quarters of a mile from its base. We were under no restraint now in selecting a camp from any scarcity of water or gra.s.s; for all hollows in the plains contained some water and gra.s.s grew everywhere. The strips of wood which diversified the country as seen from the hills generally enclosed a depression with polygonum bushes, but without any marks of having had any water in them although, in very wet seasons, some probably lodges there, as in so many ca.n.a.ls, and this indeed seemed to me to be a country where ca.n.a.ls would answer well, not so much perhaps for inland navigation as for the better distribution of water over a fertile country enclosed as this is by copious rivers.

PYRAMID HILL.

June 30.

Having seen the party on the way and directed it to proceed on a bearing of 215 degrees from North I ascended the rocky pyramidic hill, which I found arose to the height of 300 feet above the plain.

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY SEEN FROM IT.

Its apex consisted of a single block of granite, and the view was exceedingly beautiful over the surrounding plains, s.h.i.+ning fresh and green in the light of a fine morning. The scene was different from anything I had ever before witnessed either in New South Wales or elsewhere. A land so inviting and still without inhabitants! As I stood, the first European intruder on the sublime solitude of these verdant plains as yet untouched by flocks or herds, I felt conscious of being the harbinger of mighty changes; and that our steps would soon be followed by the men and the animals for which it seemed to have been prepared. A haziness in the air prevented me however from perceiving clearly the distant horizon from that summit, but I saw and intersected those mountains to the southward which I had observed from Mount Hope.

The progress of the party was still visible from that hill, pursuing their course over the distant plains like a solitary line of ants. I overtook it when a good many miles on; and we encamped after travelling upwards of fourteen miles in one uninterrupted straight line. Our camp was chosen on the skirts of a forest of box, having a plain on the east covered with rich gra.s.s, and where we found some small pools of rainwater.

July 1.

Proceeding still on the bearing followed yesterday we reached at three miles from our camp a fine chain of ponds. They were deep, full of water, and surrounded by strong yarra trees. Pa.s.sing them we met a small scrub of casuarinae which we avoided; and we next entered on a fine plain in which the anthisteria or oatgra.s.s appeared. This is the same gra.s.s which grows on the most fertile parts of the counties of Argyle and Murray and is, I believe, the best Australian gra.s.s for cattle: it is also one of the surest indications of a good soil and dry situation.

DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER YARRAYNE.

Beyond the plain the line of n.o.ble yarra trees, which I had observed from Mount Hope, gave almost certain promise of a river; and at 6 1/2 miles our journey was terminated by a deep running stream. The banks were steep and about twenty feet high, but covered thickly with gra.s.s to the edge of the water. The yarra trees grew by the brink of the stream and not on the top of the bank. The water had a brown appearance as if it came from melted snow but, from the equality of depth (about nine feet) and other circ.u.mstances, I was of opinion that it was a permanent running stream.

The current ran at the rate of four chains in 122 seconds, or near 1 1/2 mile per hour; thus it would appear from what we had seen that there is much uniformity in the velocity of the rivers, and consequently in the general inclination of the surface. The banks of this little river were however very different in some respects from any we had previously seen, being everywhere covered thickly with gra.s.s. No fallen timber impeded its course, nor was there any indication in the banks that the course was ever in the least degree affected by such obstructions.

A BRIDGE MADE ACROSS IT.

It was so narrow that I antic.i.p.ated little difficulty in making a bridge by felling some of the overhanging trees. Finding a large one already fallen across the stream where the slopes of the banks could be most readily made pa.s.sable, we lost no time in felling another which broke against the opposite bank and sunk into the water. No other large trees grew near but the banks were, at that place, so favourable for the pa.s.sage of the waggons that I determined to take advantage of the large fallen tree; and to construct a bridge by bringing others of smaller dimensions to it, according to the accompanying plan, and not unmindful of the useful suggestions of Sir Howard Douglas respecting temporary bridges.

July 2.

Late in the evening of this day we completed a bridge formed of short but strong sleepers, laid diagonally to the fallen tree which const.i.tuted its main support, and the whole was covered with earth from cuttings made in the banks to render it accessible to the carts. At length everything was ready for crossing and we had thus a prospect of being able to advance beyond the river into that unknown but promising land of hill and dale.

COVERED BY A SUDDEN RISE OF THE RIVER.

July 3.

This morning our bridge was no longer to be seen, the river having risen so much during the night that it was four feet under water. Yet no rain had fallen for five days previous, and we could account for this unexpected flood only by supposing that the powerful s.h.i.+ning of the sun during the last two days had melted the snow near the sources of the stream. At noon the water had risen fourteen feet. A whispering sound much resembling wind among the trees now arose from it and, however inconvenient to us, the novelty of a sudden rise in the river was quite refres.h.i.+ng, accustomed as we had been so long to wander in the beds of rivers and to seek in vain for water. Our little bridge continued to be pa.s.sable even when covered with four feet of water but, as it had no parapets, we could not prevent some of the bullocks from going over the side on attempting to cross when it was thus covered.

THEN CROSS IT IN BOATS.

The river still continuing to rise, we were compelled at last to launch the boats, and by this means we effected the pa.s.sage of the whole party and equipment before sunset; the boats having been also again mounted on the carriage the same evening. The carts and boat-carriage were drawn through the bed of the river by means of the drag-chains which reached from the carriage on one side to a strong team of bullocks on the other.

USEFUL a.s.sISTANCE OF PIPER.

This was a very busy day for the whole party, black and white; I cannot fairly say savage and civilised for, in most of our difficulties by flood and field, the intelligence and skill of our sable friends made the whitefellows appear rather stupid. They could read traces on the earth, climb trees, or dive into the water better than the ablest of us. In tracing lost cattle, speaking to the wild natives, hunting, or diving, Piper was the most accomplished man in the camp. In person he was the tallest, and in authority he was allowed to consider himself almost next to me, the better to secure his best exertions. When Mr. Stapylton first arrived Piper came to my tent and observed that ”That fellow had TWO coats,” no doubt meaning that I ought to give one of them to him! The men he despised, and he would only act by my orders. This day he rendered us much useful a.s.sistance in the water; for instance, when a cart stuck in the bottom of the river, the rope by which it was to be drawn through having broken, Piper, by diving, attached a heavy chain to it, thereby enabling the party to draw it out with the teams.

OUR FEMALE GUIDE DEPARTS.

At this place The Widow, being far beyond her own country, was inclined to go back and, although I intended to put her on a more direct and safe way home after we should pa.s.s the heads of the Murrumbidgee on our return, I could not detain her longer than she wished. Her child, to whom she appeared devotedly attached, was fast recovering the use of its broken limb; and the mother seemed uneasy under an apprehension that I wanted to deprive her of this child. I certainly had always wished to take back with me to Sydney an aboriginal child with the intention of ascertaining what might be the effect of education upon one of that race.

This little savage, who at first would prefer a snake or lizard to a piece of bread, had become so far civilised at length as to prefer bread; and it began to cry bitterly on leaving us. The mother however thought nothing of swimming, even at that season, across the broad waters of the Millewa, as she should be obliged to do, pus.h.i.+ng the child before her, floating on a piece of bark.