Part 15 (1/2)
Mr Calvert had happily recovered sothe fatigues of the last long stage, Mr
Roper had slightly iht was beautifully clear and calht, when a cold south wind set in, which made us all shi+ver with cold I had not felt it so ht of Mr Gilbert's death, nor since we left the upper Lynd and the table land of the Burdekin The as equally strong in thefrom the south-east, and veered in the course of the day to the south and south-west
We travelled about eight rees 50over a scrubby country, which changed into box flats e approached the waterless creek, at which we encaht of the 20th To the ard of this creek, box flats alternated with tea-tree thickets; and opened at last into a large plain, which we crossed at its southern termination, where it was three miles broad; it appeared boundless to the northward Plains of the sah the open forest to the northward, for some time before we came to the one we crossed This was not covered with the stiff grass, nor the dry wind-grass of the plains north of the Staaten; but it bore a fine crop of tender grasses, which rendered them infinitely more valuable for the pasture of horses and cattle At the west side of the plain, we found a chain of fine long lagoons, surrounded by Polygonum, and apparently well stocked with fish
Charley and Brown caught an e, which became every day more valuable to us
Since Mr Gilbert's death, the arrangeed I now select an entirely open space, sufficiently distant froo a considerable distance for water Our pack-saddles are piled in two parallel lines close together, facing that side froht be expected We sleep behind this kind of bulwark, which of itself would have been a sufficient barrier against the spears of the natives Tired as we generally are, we retire early to our couch; Charley usually takes the first watch, from half-past six to nine o'clock; Brown, Calvert, and Phillips follow in rotation; whilst I take that portion of the nightthe altitude John Murphy has his watch froenerally tethered three horses, and kept one bridled; and, with these arrangements, we slept as securely and soundly as ever; for I felt sure that we had nothing to fear, as long as our tinkling bell-horse, and perhaps a second horse, was e dogs, and had frequently asked whether they would bite (which I affirmed, of course); so that they themselves furnished us with a protection, which otherwise I should not have thought of inventing
July 23--When Charley returned thiswith the horses, he told ain before us I kept, therefore, at once to the southward, and feared that I should have to go far in that direction before being able to ford it After travelling about two ht of it It was broad and deep, with low rocky banks Salicornia grew along the s stuntedthe right side of the river were occupied by a scanty vegetation, consisting of Phyllanthus shrubs, scattered box, and the raspberry-jam trees We had travelled, however, more than a mile on its bank, e ca across the river, over which a small stream of brackish water rippled, and, by ain north-west by west, and passed at first sooons, and for the next six miles, over an immense plain, apparently unliain found Polygonu with ducks, (particularly Malacorhynchus membranaceus), and teal (Querquedula) Box, raspberry-jaa oons, which continued towards the south-east Their latitude was 17 degrees 49 minutes 35 seconds
Smoke was visible in every part of the horizon Charley, Brown, and John, shot fourteen ducks, and increased this nu to forty-six ducks, five recurvirostris, one small red-shank, and two spoon-bills: the latter were particularly fat, and, when ready for the spit, weighed better than three pounds; the black ducks weighed a pound and three-quarters The Malacorhynchus was sood condition, and the fat seemed to accumulate particularly in the skin of the neck
The south wind, as usual, visited us again last night, andto the large plains, over which the wind passes We were never sothe last two days; it was iet rid of them by any means
July 24--We travelled about six rees 48 minutes, and crossed several plains separated by belts of open forest, and came to a fine salt-water river; the banks were steep but not high, and stunted e: the raspberry-jam tree covered the approaches to the river Salicornia and Binoe's Trichiniu the sood crossing place at a fishery of the natives; who--to judge by the nue camps on both sides of the river, which were covered with fish-bones--must be very numerous We continued our journey for about a rassy fresh-water lagoons, although the Salicornias at firstthis ,a brood of thirteen emus, on the plain which ere about to cross John, Charley, and the dog pursued them, and killed the old one; which, however, severely wounded poor Spring in the neck When we ca ones had returned in search of their , and killed two This was the greatest sport we ever had had on our journey Uponour careen hide ropes; the bones, heads, and necks were stewed: forizzards, and feet away, but necessity had taught us econo eood and tender as cow-heel I collected some salt on the dry salt ponds, and added it to our stew; but my companions scarcely cared for it, and almost preferred the soup without it The addition, however, rendered the soup far more savoury, at least to rees W and, at two miles, reached a salt-water creek, which we crossed at a fishi+ng place of the natives
Soon afterwards we came on other shallow half dry salt-water creeks, the dry parts of which were covered with thick incrustations of salt, soged in crossing one of they channels, we entered upon an i here and there in the distance It ell grassed, but its sandy patches were covered with Salicornia This plant abounded particularly where the plain sloped into the system of salt-water creeks; the approaches of which were scattered over with the raspberry-jam tree A west-north-west and west course led e expanse of it in the distance, which Charley, to whose superior sight all deference was paid, considered to be the sea I passed some low stunted forest, in which a small tree was observed, with stiff pinnate leaves and a round fruit of the size of a sh stone, and a very nauseous rind, at least in its unripe state To the ard of this belt of forest, we crossed extensive rass, and surrounded by low Ironstone ridges, openly tiums, and Hakea lorea, R
Br in full blossoh Grevillea enerally associated, had been our constant coain on salt-water creeks, and saw sheets of sand, which looked like the sea from the distance I turned to the south and even south-east; and, finding no water, ere co stage Whilst ere occupied in tethering and hobbling our horses, and eating our supper, Charley, whose watch it was, allowed the bullocks to stray in search of water, and the nextfor theht it advisable to send them back to our last camp with asalone to guard the rest of our property They found three of the bullocks on the plain, in thewith four others, which hadall the salt-water creeks My coh to find a fresh water lagoon about three miles west of our last camp John and Charley returned after moon-rise, with three pack-horses, and arrived atI had been in a state of the most anxious suspense about the fate of our bullocks, and was deeply thankful to the Alhty when I heard that they were all safe I had suffered ht hours without water, and which had been increased by a run of two miles after my horse, which attempted to follow the others; and also from a severe pain in the head, produced by the i with its hobbled forefeet onasleep with the bridle inthree quarts of cold tea which John had brought with him, I soon recovered, and assisted to load our horses with the ree, e returned to join our co the day, but a cool breeze ht, as usual, was very cold
Yesterday , John and Brown rode down to a hollow to look for water, whilst aiting for the bullocks At their return, they stated that they had come to two salt-water creeks, all full of salt, of which they brought several lumps I started ih! I found the broad bed of a creek one mass of the purest and whitest salt Lurasses which the wind had blown into the water A little higher up the creek, a large pool of water was full of these lumps, and in less than ten minutes we collected more than sufficient to supply us for the rest of the journey shi+p loads of pure salt could have been collected here in a very short ti, until it could be removed Its appearance was quite new and wonderful tothe incrustations full of mud from the dry beds of the creeks
Yesterday, Brown shot a black-winged pelican; the pectoral ; but the inside and the fat were of a nauseously fishy taste Charley shot a bustard, and John a black ibis The smoke of the Black-fellows' fires was seen to the southward The fresh grass of recent burnings extended over all the plains, and even near our waterle encaht verdure made us believe that we approached a fresh water swamp
July 27--I stopped at this caue; intending afterwards to proceed up the river until I came into the zone of fresh water, which we had left, and then to continueour stay in this place, Mr
Calvert found a piece of pack canvass, rolled round some utensils of the natives
July 28--We travelled about ten miles south by east; but were soon compelled by the salt-water creeks to leave the river, which seerove creeks, one of which contained a weir fory to be forded in any part where the tide reached, and we had to follow theoons Here the drooping tea-tree re-appeared, which I considered to indicate the presence of fresh water, at least for a part of the year I found them, however, at times, on salt-water rivers, not on the level of the salt water, but high on the banks within the reach of the freshes during the rainy season In turning again towards the river, we crossed a large plain, froreen belt of raspberry-jam trees which covered the approaches to the river
After passing some forest of Moreton Bay ash, bloodwood, clustered box, Acacia (Inga moniliformis), and a few Bauhinias, we came to another salt-water creek, with a sandy bed and deposits of fine salt Very narrow flats extended along both sides of the creek, and rose by water-torn slopes into large treeless plains The slopes were, as usual, covered with raspberry-ja towards it, we caoon of fresh water in the bed of the creek
July 29--We travelled about five miles and a half south-south-east up the creek, and encarees 2 minutes The character of the country was the same When about two miles fro in a water-hole, near which a considerable quantity of large and small fish was heaped The htened our bullocks, and hastened to the place where their gins were The latter, a as a remarkably tall one, decamped at our approach A fine shell of Doliuh After we had passed by, the natives followed us; upon which I returned towards the on the branch of a sn of friendly disposition on my side, emboldened them to approach me and demand a parley I, therefore, dismounted, and, acco theether fine st the handsoh his nose, calling him ”Yappar” He was probably a youth of the Yappar tribe who had been sent forward as apassed that country Seeing my watch, they pointed to the sun; and appeared to be well acquainted with the use of ain saw sounyas of the natives
July 30--We travelled about ten miles west by south, over an immense plain, with here and there a solitary tree, or a small patch of forest
It was full of melon-holes, and much resembled the plains of the Conda At the west side of the plain, a green belt of forest stretched from north to south
Before we entered into it, and into the valley of the creek, along which it extended, we passed some open forest of stunted silver-leaved Ironbark On the slopes of the plains we met, as usual, the raspberry-ja the creek, the clustered box; whilst, on the banks of the creek, grew the broad-leaved Ter the creek up about half a mile, we found a fine rocky water-hole The rock was a clayey Ironstone
When entering upon the plain in the rass Brown and Charley gave chase to them; but Brown's horse stumbled and threw him, and unfortunately broke the stock of the double barrelled fowling piece, and bent the barrels Spring took hold of the eoon we had left, pursued by Charley on foot The e and Charley a good ducking, h Three harlequin pigeons, and six rose-breasted cockatoos (Cocatua Eos, GOULD), were shot on the plains
The weather was delightful; a fine breeze from the east cooled the air