Part 6 (1/2)
17TH APRIL.--The messenger returned early with two horses, one being my own second charger, which I put as leader to the cart. We then got forward on foot as fast as the men could walk, or rather as fast as they could clear a way for the cart. We pa.s.sed through much scrub, but none was of the very worst sort. The natives' marks on trees were numerous, and the ground seemed at first to fall westward as to some water-course; and, after travelling about five miles, there appeared a similar indication of water to the eastward of our route. At one place even the white-barked gum trees appeared; but, although they had the character of river trees, we found they grew on an elevated piece of clay soil. After completing about ten miles, I halted for two hours to rest the horses, where there was a patch of good gra.s.s, and we gave them some water from our stock. The mercurial column afforded no indication that we were at all higher than our camp overlooking the river, and it seemed, therefore, not improbable that we might meet with some other channel or branch of that prolific river. After resting two hours we continued, pa.s.sing through woods partly of open forest trees, and partly composed of scrub.
Towards the end of our day's journey, we crossed land covered with good gra.s.s, and having only large trees on it, so thinly strewed as to be of the character of the most open kind of forest land. Saw thereon some very large kangaroos, and throughout the day we had found their tracks numerous. We finally set up our bivouac a little before sunset, on a gra.s.sy spot surrounded by scrub. In this scrub I found the CLEOME FLAVA of Banks, and the strong-smelling AMBRINA CARINATA. A very remarkable whiteness appeared on the leaves of the EUCALYPTUS POPULIFOLIUS, which, on very close examination, appeared to be the work of an insect.[*] On the plains the SALSOLA AUSTRALIS formed a round bush, which, when loose from its very slight root, was liable to be blown about. Thermometer at sunrise, 71; at 9 P. M, 68;--with wet bulb, 64.
[* The following letter from Mr. Westwood to Dr. Lindley relates to specimens of this brought to England:--
”I am sorry that the state of the specimens from Sir Thomas Mitch.e.l.l (or rather, I should say, the time when they were gathered) does not allow me to say much about the insect by which they are formed. It is an extremely beautiful production, quite unlike any thing I have yet seen, and is, I have no doubt, the scale of a coccus. It is of a very peculiar form, resembling a very delicate, broad, and flattened valve of a bi-valve sh.e.l.l, such as the genus Iridina, the part where the hinge is being a little produced and raised, and forming the cover of the coccus which secretes the beautiful material just in the same unexplained way as the scale insects form the slender attenuated scales beneath which they are born. I could not discover any insect beneath the specimens of Sir Thomas Mitch.e.l.l's production in a state sufficient to determine what it really is, as I only found one or two exceedingly minute atoms of shrivelled up insects. It is extremely brittle, and looks more like dried, white, frothed sugar than any thing else.”]
18TH APRIL.--A pigeon had flown last evening over our camp in a N. N. E.
direction, and as the ground sloped that way, and the men believed that water was there, I rode this morning in that direction, leaving the other horses to feed in the meantime. At two miles from our bivouac I found some hollows in a scrub where the surface consisted of clay, and which evidently at some seasons contained water, although they were then dry.
Polygonum grew around them, and I doubt not that after a fall of rain water would remain there some time. On riding two miles beyond, in the same direction, I found open forest land only. The country was well covered with good gra.s.s, very open, yet finely wooded. We again proceeded north-west over some fine forest land. The soil was, however, only soft red sand, and made it very heavy work for our horses drawing the watercart.
On pa.s.sing through a Casuarina scrub, we entered upon a different kind of country as to wood and gra.s.s, the soil being much the same, or still more loose and sandy. The surface bore a sterile heathy appearance, and the trees consisted chiefly of a stunted box, growing but thinly. Instead of gra.s.s, black, half-burnt roots of a wiry plant appeared, which I afterwards found in flower (SEE INFRa), and one small, shrubby, brown bush, very much resembling heath; apparently a Chenopod with heathlike leaves, and globular hairy heads of flowers. The roots of the firstmentioned plant presented much obstruction to our cart-wheels in pa.s.sing over the soft sand. As I stood awaiting the cart's arrival, some birds drew my attention, as I perceived I had attracted theirs. They descended to the lowest branches of the tree in whose shade I stood, and seemed to regard my horse with curiosity. On my imitating their chirp one fluttered down, and attempted to alight on my horse's ears. On my whistling to them, one whistled some beautifully varied notes, as soft as those of an octave flute, although their common chirp was harsh and dissonant. The male and female seemed to have very different plumage, especially about the head; that on the one having the varying tint of the Rifle bird, the head of the other more resembling in colour, that of the DACELO GIGANTEUS. They were about the size of a thrush, and seemed the sole residents of that particular spot, and I had not seen them elsewhere. The carts came slowly forward, the horses being much distressed. I continued to ride some miles ahead, and pa.s.sed through a scrub in a clay hollow, to which succeeded another open forest country with more of the soft red sand. The people with the cart could not overtake me, and I returned. Meeting them at a rather bad place, I determined to encamp at some patches of gra.s.sy ground somewhat out of our line, in lat.i.tude, 27 43' S. It is remarkable that, according to the barometer, we had not ascended higher than our depot camp on the river, at a distance of nearly forty miles from it. I had just quitted my horse's back, and had resolved to return, when two hors.e.m.e.n were seen approaching along our track. They were two of our party come from the depot to bring me a despatch, which had been forwarded by Commissioner Wright, communicating the news of Dr. Leichardt's return from Port Essington, and enclosing the Gazette with his own account of his journey.
Thus it became known to us that we could no longer hope to be the first to reach the sh.o.r.es of the Indian Ocean by land. Thermometer, at sunrise, 62; at 4 P. M., 93; at 9, 71;--with wet bulb, 64.
19TH APRIL,--I left the men with the cart, to follow while I rode forward along its track, and sat down to peruse the newspapers sent me, until the cart overtook me in the evening, the horses being quite exhausted by the heat and the heavy sand. Thermometer, at sunrise, 61; at noon, 86; at 9, 63;--with wet bulb, 59.
20TH APRIL.--The men who brought the despatches yesterday having been ordered to bring fresh horses this day from the depot, I sent our tired animals on thither at once, as we could give them but a limited quant.i.ty of water. I rode forward also to the camp, and met the fresh horses about half-way. I immediately ordered the repair of the wheels of another light cart, determined to lose no time in exploring a pa.s.sage towards the head of Carpentaria. Thermometer, at sunrise, 48; at noon, 95; at 4 P. M., 93; at 9, 63;--with wet bulb, 58.
21ST APRIL.--The cart came in about 9 A. M. The morning was cloudy, for the first time this month, and a slight shower fell. Had three or four days' rain fallen at that time, it would have enabled me to have explored by much less circuitous routes, than along the bank of this great river, the country to the north-west. In this case, the tour from which I had just returned might have been continued, as I wished and intended, had it been possible to find water, to the mountains or higher ground, whatever it might be that formed the limits to this basin on that side.
Thermometer, at sunrise, 65; at noon, 76; at 4 P. M., 77; at 9, 60; --with wet bulb, 53.
22D APRIL.--The clouds continued to lower, and a great change in the temperature accompanied this visible change in the sky, but the mercurial column remained uncommonly steady. Arrangements for a concentrated party engrossed my attention so fully this day, with the insertion also of our late work on the general map, that even the newspapers from the colony lay unread. Mr. Kennedy took a ride across the river in a S. S. E.
direction, and found a fine grazing country with open forest, as far as he went, which was about twelve miles. On the banks of the Balonne, during my absence, they had found, besides a small bearded CYPERUS, a new creeping PSORALEA [*], and a new species of Acacia, which Mr. Bentham has named A. VARIANS.[*] Thermometer, at sunrise, 41; at noon, 76; at 4 P.
M., 77; at 9, 61;--with wet bulb, 56. Mean elevation of this camp above the level of the sea, being 50 feet above the river, 623 feet.
[* P. ERIANTHA (Benth. MS.) prostrata, canescenti-p.u.b.escens, foliis pinnatim trifoliolatis, foliolis ovatis oblongisve dentatis, pedunculis elongatis multifloris, floribus inferioribus remotis superioribus approximatis, calycibus p.u.b.e molli albida dense tomentosis, legumine molliter villoso.]
[* A. VARIANS (Benth. MS.) glabra, pallida v. glauca, ramulis subangulatis, phyllodiis oblongo-lanceolatis v. inferioribus late obovatis summisve linearibus, omnibus basi longe angustatis apice obtusis v. oblique mucronatis subimmarginatis vix obscure glanduliferis uninervibus tenuiter reticulato-penniveniis, capitulis sub 20-floris solitariis subracemosis v. in racemos foliatos dispositis, calycibus truncatis, legumine glabro cra.s.so sublignoso. Very near A. SALICINA, and possibly a mere variety; but the phyllodia are generally considerably broader, and the inflorescence different.]
Chapter IV.
ADVANCE WITH A LIGHT PARTY--LEAVING THE REMAINDER WITH THE BULLOCKS AND DRAYS TO REST THREE WEEKS AT ST. GEORGE'S BRIDGE.--DISCOVER A RIVER JOINING THE BALONNE FROM THE NORTH-WEST.--CROSS IT, AND STILL TRACE THE BALONNE UPWARDS.--FINE RIVER SCENERY.--VAST PLAINS EXTENDING TO THE EASTERN HORIZON DISCOVERED FROM A TREE.--TRIBUTARY FROM THE NORTH-WEST-- AND RICH PLAINS.--TRACE THIS SMALL RIVER UPWARDS.--EXCELLENT COUNTRY FOR GRAZING PURPOSES.--MOUNTAINS, SEEN AT LENGTH, TO THE NORTHWARD.--NATIVES AT OUR CAMP.--ASCEND MOUNT FIRST VIEW.--MOUNT INVITING.--ASCEND MOUNT RED CAP.--RIDE TO THE BORDERS OF FITZROY DOWNS, AND ASCEND MOUNT ABUNDANCE.-- THE BOTTLE TREE.--ASCEND MOUNT BINDaNGO.--DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER ”AMBY.”--DANGEROUS FOLLOWERS OF A CAMP.--RECONNOISSANCE TO THE NORTH- WEST.--ASCEND A TRAPITIC RANGE.--A GAP OR GOOD OPENING THROUGH IT FOUND FOR THE CARTS.--SMALL RIVER DISCOVERED BEYOND, CONTAINING ONE POND OF WATER.--THE CHANNEL DISAPPEARS ON OPEN FLATS.--DISCOVER THE RIVER MARAN.--SELECT A POSITION FOR A DEPoT.--RIDE OF RECONNOISSANCE TO THE NORTHWARD.--RIDE INTO THE WESTERN INTERIOR.--ASCEND MOUNT LONSDALE.-- EXTENSIVE VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.--WATER NOT VERY PLENTIFUL.--RETURN TO THE CAMP.--ASCEND A HIGH POINT TO THE EASTWARD.--VIEW THENCE OF THE SUMMITS OF A RANGE TO THE NORTHWARD.--CAMP VISITED BY HOSTILE NATIVES DURING MY ABSENCE.--ARRIVAL OF MR. KENNEDY WITH THE MAIN BODY OF THE PARTY.--HIS ACCOUNT OF THE HOSTILITY OF THE CHIEF AND TRIBE AT ”TAGANDO.”--VARIOUS PREPARATIONS MADE FOR AGAIN ADVANCING WITH A LIGHT PARTY.--DEPoT CAMP ESTABLISHED ON THE MARAN.
23RD APRIL.--Our little party started at noon. I took with me eight men, two native boys, twelve horses, besides my own two, and three light carts with provisions for ten weeks--determined, if possible, to penetrate northward, into the interior country, and ascertain where the division of the waters was likely to be found. I intended, with this view, to trace upwards the course of the Balonne, until I found mountains to the north- westward of it; then, to endeavour to turn them by the west, and thus acquire some knowledge on that most interesting point, the watershed towards the Gulf. I left instructions with Mr. Kennedy to follow my track with the drays and main body of the party, and to set out on Monday, the 4th of May, when the cattle would have had three weeks' rest.
The first few miles of this day's journey were along a clayey flat or hollow, which enabled me to avoid scrubby and sandy ground on each side.
I believed its direction (N. E.), to be about parallel to the river.
Leaving it at length to make the river, I met with rather a thick scrub; but came upon the river where the banks were very rocky and picturesque.
Its course seemed to be from N. E.; but, following another flat of firm clay, I got again into scrub so thick that I turned eastward towards the river, and travelled along its bank until I encamped in lat. 27 56' 12”
S. There was but little water in the bed of the river there; but long islands of sand, water-worn banks, with sloping gra.s.sy bergs behind. The bed, in most places, consisted of rock, the same ferruginous conglomerate, or clay ironstone, seen in the same river lower down. Gra.s.s was excellent and abundant on the bergs and near the river, but thick scrub crowned these bergs on our side. It was too late to admit of my examining the other. On our way through the scrub this day, we saw the ENOCARPUS SPARTEA of Brown, a leaf-like wing-branched shrub; and the beautiful parasite, LORANTHUS AURANTIACUS, occupied the branches of Eucalyptus. Thermometer, at sunrise, 49; at 9 P. M., 47;--with wet bulb, 41. [* The dates on the map show my camps; the Roman numerals those afterwards taken up by Mr. Kennedy, in following my track with the main body.]
24TH APRIL.--Set off early, travelling along the bank. The direction was N. N. W. and N. W. For the first few miles, the scenery was wild and very fine. Ma.s.ses of rock, lofty trees, s.h.i.+ning sands and patches of water, in wild confusion, afforded evidence of the powerful current that sometimes moved there and overwhelmed all. At this time, the outlines were wild, the tints sublimely beautiful. Mighty trees of Casuarinae, still inclined as they had been made to bend before the waters, contrasted finely with erect Mimosae, with prostrate ma.s.ses of driftwood, and with perpendicular rocks. Then the hues of the Anthistiria gra.s.s, of a redbrown, contrasted most harmoniously with the light green bushes, grey driftwood, blue water, and verdure by its margin; all these again--gra.s.s, verdure, driftwood, and water--were so opposed to the dark hues of the Casuarinae, Mimosae, and rifted rocks, that a Ruysdael, or a Gains-borough, might there have found an inexhaustible stock of subjects for their pencil. It was, indeed, one continuous Ruysdael.
”That artist lov'd the sternly savage air, And scarce a human image plac'd he there.”
May the object of our journey be successful, thought I then; and we may also hope that these beauties of nature may no longer ”waste their sweetness in the desert air;” and that more of her graces may thus be brought within the reach of art. n.o.ble reaches next extended in fine perspective before us; each for several miles, presenting open gra.s.sy margins along which we could travel on firm ground unimpeded by scrub. At length I perceived before me a junction of rivers, and could see along each of them nearly a mile. I had no alternative but to follow up that nearest to me, and found upon its bank many recent encampments of natives; at one of which the fires were still burning. The country was gra.s.sy, and so open, as almost to deserve the colonial name of ”plain.”
This channel took me a long way northward, and to the N. N. E.; but finally turned west, and at last south. Its bed was full of sand; and at length we found it quite dry, so that, when I would have encamped, I could find no water. Yet it bore all the character of a large river; marks of high floods, Mimosae, sand, and river driftwood, like the other.
It might, and probably did, finally come out of the main channel; but this seemed too remote a contingency for our wants then, and I crossed it, to look for the other. In riding eastward, I found a wide plain bounded by trees that looked like those along the river. No time could be spared for further reconnoissance: I took the party across, and made for the nearest part. My course was first N. E., then East, finally South, in following the various slopes; and it was only after travelling fifteen miles beyond the point where I met with this river, that I reached the bank of the other, at a spot distant only FOUR miles from where I had quitted it. This was only accomplished at forty minutes after 4 P. M., when we had travelled twenty-six miles. As our circuitous route was likely, if followed by Mr. Kennedy with the heavy drays, to cause delay and inconvenience, I resolved to halt next day, and write to him on the subject, explaining how he could most readily fall into my track by crossing the other channel, quitting first the other track, at a spot to be marked by Graham, who took the letter. Nevertheless, it had been imperative on me to follow it up as I had done; because, whether as a separate tributary or an ana-branch only, the right bank was likely to suit us best, provided only that water could have been found in its bed.
Near the new river, the INDIGOFERA HIRSUTA of Linnaeus, with its spikes of reflexed hairy pods, was common; and also the MOSCHOSMA POLYSTACHYUM.