Part 16 (1/2)
The natives had surrounded the water-hole on which we enca only one opening to allow the emus to approach the water Near this the natives probably kept themselves concealed and waited for the emus; which in these parts were remarkably numerous On the 11th, John, Charley, and Brown, rode down three birds, and, on the 14th, they obtained four more, two of which were killed by John Murphy, who rode the fleetest horse and was the lightest weight The possibility of riding emus down, clearly showed in what excellent condition our horses were Even our bullocks although foot-weary upon arriving at the ca steers in the grassy shady bed of the creek, lifting their tails, scratching the ground with their fore feet, and shaking their horns at us, as if to say, we'll have a run before you catch us
The latitude of these water-holes was 18 degrees 4 minutes 27 seconds, and they were about nineplace of the river, which I calculated to be in longitude 139 degrees 20 minutes (appr) The plains were covered with flocks of suinea, GOULD) which Mr Gilbert had ton: their cry was rather plaintive, and less une cockatoo; nor were they so shy and wary, particularly when approaching the water
August 15--Our beasts were so heavily laden with the meat of two bullocks, that I found it rather difficult to carry the additional meat of the emus We, however, divided every ehs--and suspended each of the latter to one of the four hooks of a packsaddle; the re parts were carried on our horses
We travelled about eight miles north-north-west, over a succession of plains, interrupted by soood sized creek At the end of the day's stage, we found a small pool of water in a little creek which we had followed down According to Charley's account, salt-water existed a h our arrival at the camp was very late, we set immediately to work, and cut up the four emus, which I put on ropes and branches to dry Fortunately, a cold dry south-east wind set in, which veryThe sea breeze was strong, as usual, during the day; clouds gathered very suddenly about 11 o'clock, P M to the southward and south-east, and rose very quickly with a strong south-east wind; they passed as quickly as they came; when the wind ceased Another mass of clouds for passed, the sky beca wind set in from the south-east, which lasted for the next two days, and rendered the nights of the 16th and 17th August cold, dry, and dewless
We had forgotten to drive our bullocks to the water, which they had passed not five yards off, and in sight of which they had been unloaded; the poor brutes, however, had not the instinct to find it, and they strayed back Charley started after the that the bullocks had taken that direction; but they had not done so; they had wandered about seven ust 16--We travelled about twelve miles west-north-west, first over plains, but afterwards, and for the greater part of the stage, over openly tirassed box-flats, which seemed to bound the plains to the southward; they were drained by no watercourse, but contained ed ain crossed a succession of plains, separated by hollows These holloere covered with thickets of small trees, principally raspberry-jaular chains or scattered They, no doubt, formed the heads of creeks; as we invariably came on decided watercourses whenever we followed hollows of this character down to the northward After sunset, we came to a dry creek, and were compelled to encamp without water We took care, however, to watch our bullocks, and hobble and tether our horses, which enabled us to start early in theof the 17th, e followed the creek about seven miles north-east, and there found sorees 51 minutes, at which we encamped, to allow our cattle to recover; for they had had very little water during the two last days Smoke was seen to the north-west, north, and north-east Charley shot two more emus, and I felt the loss of our bullock very much, as it became difficult to carry the additional meat, which, however, was too valuable to be wasted or throay Although we had followed the creek for seven miles, we did not find it joined by any of those holloe had crossed the day before; and it would appear that the intervening plains extended far to the north-ward, and that the hollows and creeks converged only very gradually towards each other
August 18--Last night ere busily e our two eht breeze from the south-east As we had no fat nor emu oil to fry the meat with, I allowed a sufficient quantity of rill theht over a well grilled emu bone with so much satisfaction, that a frequenter of the Restaurants of the Palais Royal would have been doubtful whether to pity or envy us
We travelled to the north-west, because, whenever I kept a westerly course, I had almost always to follow creeks down to the northward to obtain water; and, notwithstanding a north-west course, had, on previous occasions, generally brought us to salt-water
For the first three miles, we passed several plains, and crossed a creek in which we recognised a Casuarina, which tree we had not seen since we left the Mitchell We then came to a river from thirty to forty yards broad, and apparently very deep; the water was very soft, but not brackish, although affected by the tide, which caused it to rise about two feet A narrow belt of brush, with drooping tea-trees, the Corypha pal the water's edge The box, the broad-leaved Tera ullies which ca the river We proceeded four or five miles up the river, in a south-west direction, in order to find a crossing place Large plains occupied both sides, on which nurass had been lately burnt; which indicated the presence of natives Fish were very plentiful, and Charley said he had seen a crocodile The plains and banks of the river ell grassed, and adapted for cattle and horses We encarees 57 rees 57 rees 52 ust 19--The river was joined by a running creek from south-south-west, which we had to follow up about five miles, where it formed a very narrow channel between thickets of pal tea-trees, Sarcocephalus, and particularly Pandanus, which crowded round the tiny streaain travelled north-west, over several plains, separated by belts of timber, and, at the end of about five miles, came to a fine brook, whose pure limpid waters flowed rapidly in its deep but rather narrow channel, over a bed of rich green long-leaved water plants
Magnificent tea-trees, Casuarinas, and Ter shade, and Pandanus and Corypha palms added to the beauty of the spot
The plains ell-grassed, but full ofto the Sapindaceae, with pinnate and rather drooping leaves, with a light grey bark, exuding a good eatable gument of the liberal support I received froain enjoyed here the young shoots of the Corypha palust 20--We crossed Beames's brook without difficulty, and travelled about two miles north-west, over a plain, e caroith large drooping tea-trees
Its stream was five or six yards broad and very shallow Parallel lines of deep lagoons covered with Nyue between the river and the lagoons was covered with bloodwood and leguoons
I called this river the ”Nicholson,” after Dr Williaenerous friendshi+p had not only enabled me to devote my time to the study of the natural sciences, but to coitude of the Nicholson was 138 degrees 55 -the river, we entered into a country covered with thickets and scrub, rarely interrupted by small patches of open forest, and travelled about fourteensun co been able to find water Just on entering the scrub,four eh a thicket of the little Severn tree, picking its bitter fruit, and throwing occasionally a wondering but distrustful glance at our approaching train Charley and Brown, accoave chase to them, and killed one, which was in most excellent condition
When we came to the camp, we secured the horses, and watched the bullocks, as was usual on such occasions, and fried and enjoyed our fresh meat as well as we could To satisfy my companions I deterht; and allowed theoons of the Nicholson, should I not have returned by 10 o'clock next ly, I started with Charley when the ive a as it declined to the ard As we advanced, the country iht when Charley, in passing a patch of thick scrub, noticed a slight watercourse, which increased rapidly into large water-holes These were dry, and covered ithered grass, but, on resu our westerly course, we came in a very short time to a creek with a succession of rocky basins It was unaccountable how these deep holes could have become so soon dry, as every one of them must have been full i the creek for about two hours, Charley ree water-holes wasabout a foot deep, a supply of water collected, abundantly sufficient for ourselves and for our horses The channel divided several times, and Charley examined one branch, and I took the other Thus separated frolance of a fire before reat nu to a cah I wished to ascertain whether they were encamped near a water-hole, or near wells, several of which we had observed higher up the creek, I thought it prudent, unarmed as I was, to wait for Charley I cooeed, which disturbed the dogs of the ca from the east, that I feared Charley would either not hear un, however, showed ain We passed the caht We examined the creek, but saw neither natives nor water Two miles lower down, however, we caood supply We stopt here for an hour, to make a pot of tea, and to allow our horses to feed We had followed the creek so far to the north-east and east, that ere, according toin Charley's almost instinctive powers, I allowed hi drowsy in consequence of a sleepless night, kept too ht, and missed our tracks As the appointed time for one back, I changed oons of the Nicholson; and ca party, which we followed to the lagoons, where my companions had already safely arrived We had been on the saddle froht, to 6 o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, and, with the exception of one hour, had ridden the whole tih the most dreary and scrubby country, and were, of course, extre, however, was the idea that all our fatigues had been to no purpose, except to show to ood day's journey parallel to the coast would invariably bring us to water
August 22--We travelled about eighteen miles NNW, to those water-holes we had found on our reconnoitring ride Their latitude was 17 degrees 39 minutes The country was so very scrubby and difficult, that we travelled fro after sunset before we reached the place The long journey had both tired and galled our bullocks and horses, and our packs had been torn into pieces by the scrub This induced ht Creek, as it had been found and explored during ht), to allow so had e our packs
The composition of the scrub depended on the nature of the soil The narrow-leaved tea-tree, in shrubs froh, and the broad-leaved tea-tree frorew on a sandy loam, with laucous Terht sandy soil with small ironstone pebbles, on which the ant-hills were rare, or entirely wanting; the raspberry-jam tree crowded round water-holes, which were frequently rocky; and the bloodwood, the leguureat quantity of Terum, and prepared it in different ways to render it more palatable The natives, whose trackseverywhere in the scrub, with frequent um--seemed to roast it It dissolved with difficulty in water: added to gelatine soup, it was a great ier, which John had still kept, and a little salt, would iative on all of us
We found the days, when travelling in the scrub, excessively hot, for the surrounding vegetation prevented us fro the sea-breeze; very cold easterly and south-easterly winds prevailed during the night
August 24--Mr Calvert and Brohom I had sent to reconnoitre the country, returned with the sad intelligence that they had found no water
They had crossed a great number of creeks of different sizes, with fine rocky water-holes, which seemed all to rise in scrubby ironstone hills, and had a course from S W to N E and E N E; but towards their heads they were dry, and lower down they contained salt water The two explorers had unfortunately forgotten their bag of provisions, and were consequently compelled to return before they could accoe, and perhaps a camp without water, I had some wallabi skins softened and tied over our quart pots filled ater, which enabled us to carry about eight quarts with us
August 25--We accordingly started early, and travelled for several h a pretty open broad-leaved tea-tree forest, fored, however, into dense scrub, which we could only avoid by keeping more to the ard, in which direction the tea-tree forest seereat distance Here we passed several tea-tree swamps, dry at this time, level, like a table, and covered with small trees, and surrounded by a belt of fine box-trees and drooping water-guain crossed the thick scrub which covered the undulations of iron-stone to the northward, and canised as one of those he had seen, but which contained only salt water lower down
We consequently continued our journey to the north-west, through tea-tree forest, and over soe tea-tree swa which we travelled until darkness compelled us to encamp It had fine water-holes, and was densely shaded with drooping tea-trees; but the holes were dry, with some few exceptions of small wells of the natives The latitude of our careat nueons and white cockatoos, and ere sure that a greater supply of water was near, as rass showed that the natives had been here very lately Next , the 26th, when Charley returned with the horses, he told us that we had passed a fine lagoon, not a mile and a half off, at the left bank of the river, which the night had prevented us fro on their tracks We oon, which was covered with Villarsia leaves, and contained a reddish water coloured by verybodies of that colour The natives had surrounded it with dry sticks, leaving an opening on one side, for the purpose of taking emus, as before described These birds were very numerous, and lived exclusively on the fruit of the little Severn tree, which was excessively bitter and imparted its quality to the , killed one of them A cockatoo was shot, which in fore white cockatoo, but was rather smaller, and the feathers of the breast were tipped with red We saw the bones of a Jew fish, and a broken shell of Cyoon