Volume II Part 5 (2/2)

The river now took a south by west direction, for nearly two hout Towards the latter part the banks were fringed witha clipped garden shrubbery Our course again changed to south-east, entering the low range of hills bounding the south-eastern side of Whirlwind Plains It was long after dark e reached so far

We had passed the watering boats some distance further down on their way to the shi+p Our sudden ular and ro, we pushed on, and at ht were surprised by a loud call froh bank It was a strange sound, this English hail, to hear echoed in these wild hills, where only the shrill cry of the savage had been borne on the blast before!

THUNDERSTORM

I was sorry to find, that the tide did not at present rise sufficient to ad a load would have been a very long operation, had it not been for a tre every pool, and at once affording the an at South-East and drew round by east to North-West, fro for an hour The torrents of rain lasted two hours, and cooled the air so rapidly, as in that tirees

This change was so sudden, that it made those who felt it shi+ver as if it were the depth of winter, and RUSH INTO THE RIVER WATER TO KEEP THEMSELVES WARM

Noveht We started fro East-North-East, and about four e of hills, on the South-East side of the Plains The first reach led us a mile and a half in a South-East direction, and at the end of it a flat of large boulders extended; across this we dragged the boats easily

The river now took a turn from East-North-East to North, and at the end of a mile we came to another extensive flat, quite dry There was a deep pool below it, with a precipitous hill, 350 feet high, on the eastern side This we called Steep Head, and its singular dark cliffy face, frowning over the placid waters, gave an air of grandeur to the scenery

Stretched out on the face of these cliffs, we left the skin of our friend the alligator, to be taken to the shi+p by the watering boats when they returned

SHOALS IN THE RIVER

There was now heavy work before us, with the ther the boats over the large flat that iress The as made as smooth as possible, and plenty of rollers laid, but an unlucky stone found its way through the thin plank of the gig Captain Wickhae, which occupied so much time that it was dark before the boats were floated in the deep water beyond We dined on the bank, by the light of a lantern hung on a tree The tide at this place only rose two feet

SCENERY ON ITS BANKS

Nove, we moved off with the early dawn A fine sheet of water lay before us, and everything proer and richer Above the growth of acacias and drooping gu their reflection in the lihts had round summits, just beneath which, in soularly characteristic of Sea Range The very marked dip in the strata did not extend beyond the latter, and here I could not detect any Flights of large va ducks, many-coloured parakeets, and varieties of small birds, ave vivacity to the scene, and disturbed the stillness that had reigned there for years Every living thing is terrified at the sight of man This reach of the Victoria enabled Mr Bynoe to add t birds to his collection; one, a species of pigeon, but rese a small quail in its habits and size; the cerae of the nose, the beak and the feet, were a pigeon's, but the flight and the round, where it kept, were those of a quail It was found in sht or a dozen, very wild and scarce, and was only seen in this part of the river The only one ere able to get, had a very long pointed crest The colour was a light red, with a white chin and a black band across the throat; the tips of the wings were slightly bronzed It is figured in Mr Gould's work, from this specimen, as Geophaps plumifera

SINGULAR BIRD

The other bird was of a species, that at first sight appeared to be a teal It went in s shrill plaintive kind of note The deep glossy rifle-green colour of their back, and the transparent streak of white across the wing, gave them a most beautiful appearance, as the sun's rays lit up their rich pluht round the boat Their number did not exceed twenty, and they too were only seen on this part of the river

They were also very wary, which is singular in the inhabitants of a wilderness, alot one specioose It was indeed quite a goose in h we never before or afterwards h of inferior plue, some time in 1840, and a specimen was obtained, from which Mr

Gould has na duck of the Adelaide River, was also only seen on this part of the Victoria

After proceeding north-east one mile and a half, and east two miles, we came to a pretty little islet covered with pale white waterlilies grew on its banks The river was now only an eighth of a mile wide, and two fathoms deep This still proed in the hope that the Victoria ht yet convey the boats many miles into the interior, when a shoal appeared

PROGRESS OF THE BOATS ARRESTED

Over this we got tolerably well, but at the end of two miles in an East-South-East direction fro farther in the boats, as for a great extent the river was ie sheet of water beyond, and then another dry patch It would therefore have been useless labour to atte the boats over any more of the dry parts Two conical-shaped hills, so much alike that we called them the Brothers, bore North by West 1/2 West one rees at noon in the shade I shot soaroos were nu Palm Island

That ere thus finally deterred fro farther with the boats, was a source of deep reat flat we had experienced so one well Each turn in the river appearednew to increase our interest; and we fondly ireat discoveries were in store for us But the fates had decreed otherwise, and ere co ascended in the boats from the shi+p above 75 miles We named this reach, in consequence, Reach Hopeless

Noveher up in the boats; a shbouring height, and thence to trace as far as possible the upward course of the river, preparatory to a pedestrian excursion along its banks Before sunrise we reached the su East-South-East 1/2 a ular ridge I again noticed the dip to the south-east: it was coreyish kind of flinty indifferent lireywacke

SINGULAR APPEARANCE OF THE RIVER