The Starry Heavens — Substitute for Coffee — Sawfish — Two–Storied Gunyas of the Natives — The Mitchell — Murphy’s Pony Poisoned — Green Tree–Ant — New Beverage — Crocodile — Audacity of Kites — Natives Not Friendly — The Camp Attacked at Night by Them — Messrs. Roper and Calvert Wounded, and Mr. Gilbert Killed.
June 1.— Mr. Gilbert and Charley made an excursion down the river last night, to look for water, but, as they did not return in the morning, and as water had been found, after they left, about four miles lower down, we started to meet them. Observing a swarm of white cranes circling in the air, and taking their flight down the river, I concluded that we should meet with a good supply of water lower down, and, therefore, passed the nearest water-hole; but, the country and the bed of the river being exceedingly rocky, our progress was very slow. After proceeding about eight miles, we came to the junction of a river from the south-west with the Lynd; and encamped at some small pools of water in latitude 17 degrees 45 minutes 40 seconds: having travelled, during the last two stages, in a west-north-west direction.
June 2.— When we left our camp this morning, Mr. Gilbert and Charley returned from their ride; they had come on our tracks last night, but, surrounded as they were by rocky hills and gullies, had been compelled to encamp. We travelled about seven miles and a half, and crossed three good sized creeks, joining the Lynd from the north east. The river divided several times into anabranches, flowing round, and insulating rocky hills and ridges. It was much better supplied with water, and contained several large reedy lagoons. An elegant Acacia, about thirty or thirty-five feet high, grew on its small flats: it had large drooping glaucous bipinnate leaves, long broad pods, and oval seeds, half black, and half bright red.
June 3.— We continued our journey down the river, about seven or eight miles. The first three miles were very tolerable, over limited box-flats near the river. As we approached the ranges again, the supply of water increased; and we passed one large poel, in particular, with many ducks and spoonbills on it. But the ranges approached the banks of the river on both sides, and formed either precipitous walls, or flats so exceedingly rocky, that it was out of the question to follow it. We, therefore, ascended the hills and mountains, and with our foot-sore cattle passed over beds of sharp shingles of porphyry. We crept like snails over these rocky hills, and through their gullies filled with boulders and shingles, until I found it necessary to halt, and allow my poor beasts to recover. During the afternoon, I examined the country in advance, and found that the mountains extended five miles farther, and were as rocky as those we had already passed. But, after that, they receded from the river, and the country became comparatively level. To this place I brought forward my party on the 4th June, and again descended into the valley of the river, and encamped near a fine pool of water in its sandy bed, in latitude 17 degrees 34 minutes 17 seconds. Here, last night, I met a family of natives who had just commenced their supper; but, seeing us, they ran away and left their things, without even making an attempt to frighten us. Upon examining their camp, I found their koolimans, (vessels to keep water) full of bee bread, of which I partook, leaving for payment some spare nose rings of our bullocks. In their dillies I found the fleshy roots of a bean, which grows in a sandy soil, and has solitary yellow blossoms; the tuber of a vine, which has palmate leaves; a bitter potato, probably belonging to a water-plant; a fine specimen of rock-crystal; and a large cymbium (a sea shell), besides other trifles common to almost all the natives we had seen. Their koolimans were very large, almost like small boats, and were made of the inner layer of the bark of the stringy-bark tree. There was no animal food in the camp.
The whole extent of the mountainous country passed in our two last stages, was of porphyry, with crystals of quartz and felspar in a grey paste; on both sides of it, the rock was granite and pegmatite; and, at the north-west side of the gorge, I observed talc-schist in the bed of the river.
The vegetation of the forest, and along the river, did not vary; but, on the mountains, the silver-leaved Ironbark prevailed.
The general course of the Lynd, from my last latitude to that of the 4th June, was north-west.
Sleeping in the open air at night, with a bright sky studded with its stars above us, we were naturally led to observe more closely the hourly changes of the heavens; and my companions became curious to know the names of those brilliant constellations, with which nightly observation had now, perhaps for the first time, made them familiar. We had reached a latitude which allowed us not only to see the brightest stars of the southern, but, also of the northern hemisphere, and I shall never forget the intense pleasure I experienced, and that evinced by my companions, when I first called them, about 4 o’clock in the morning, to see Ursa Major. The starry heaven is one of those great features of nature, which enter unconsciously into the composition of our souls. The absence of the stars gives us painful longings, the nature of which we frequently do not understand, but which we call home sickness:— and their sudden re-appearance touches us like magic, and fills us with delight. Every new moon also was hailed with an almost superstitious devotion, and my Blackfellows vied with each other to discover its thin crescent, and would be almost angry with me when I strained my duller eyes in vain to catch a glimpse of its faint light in the brilliant sky which succeeds the setting of the sun. The questions: where were we at the last new moon? how far have we travelled since? and where shall we be at the next?— were invariably discussed amongst us; calculations were made as to the time that would be required to bring us to the end of our journey, and there was no lack of advice offered as to what should, and ought to be done.
At several of our last camps the cry of the goat suckers, and the hooting of owls, were heard the whole night; and immediately after sunset, the chirping of several kinds of crickets was generally heard, the sound of which was frequently so metallic, as to be mistaken for the tinkling of our bell. At Separation Creek, we first met with the ring-tailed opossum; and, on the table land, often heard its somewhat wailing cry.
June 5.— We travelled, in a direct line, about nine miles west by north, down the river, although the distance along its banks was much greater; for it made a large bend at first to the northward, and afterwards, being turned by a fine conspicuous short range, to the westward. I named the Range after W. Kirchner, Esq., another of the supporters of my expedition. The river was here, in some places, fully half a mile broad, and formed channels covered with low shrubs, among which a myrtle was frequent. Between the ranges, the river became narrower: and, before it reached Kirchner’s Range, a large creek joined it from the eastward; and another from the southward, after it had passed the range. The flats increased on both side of the river, and were openly timbered with box and narrow-leaved Ironbark. The rock near our yesterday’s camp was talc-schist. Farther down sienite was observed, which contained so much hornblende as to change occasionally into hornblende rock, with scattered crystals of quartz. Granite and pegmatite were round some lagoons near the creek from the southward. The clustered fig tree of the Burdekin, became again more frequent; but Sarcocephalus was the characteristic tree of the river. The Acacia of Expedition Range and of the upper Lynd, grew to a comparatively large size in the open forest. We observed a cotton tree (Cochlospermum), covered with large yellow blossoms, though entirely leafless; and we could not help thinking how great an ornament this plant would be to the gardens of the colony.
As the water-holes became larger, water-fowl became more plentiful; and Brown succeeded in shooting several wood-ducks and a Malacorhyncus membranaceus. The bean of the Mackenzie was very abundant in the sandy bed of the river; we roasted and ate some of its fruit; it was, however, too heavy, and produced indigestion: Mr. Phillips pounded them, and they made an excellent substitute for coffee, which I preferred to our tea, which, at that time, was not very remarkable for its strength.
June 6.— We travelled about nine miles west by north to latitude 17 degrees 30 minutes 47 seconds. The first part of the stage was over an undulating country timbered with box and Ironbark; but the latter part was hilly and mountainous: the mountains were so rocky, where they entered the bed of the river, that we were obliged to leave its banks, and travel over a very difficult country.
On the small flats, the apple-gum grew with a few scattered Moreton Bay ash trees; on the bergues of the river we found the white cedar (Melia azedarach), Clerodendron; an asclepiadaceous shrub with large triangular seed-vessels; and, on the hills, the blood-wood and stringy-bark. The rock, as far as I examined it, was of porphyry of great hardness, and composing hills of an almost conical form.
June 7.— The same difficult country not only continued, but rather increased. Charley told me last night, on his return from a walk, that he had found sandstone. To-day we travelled over porphyries like those of the last stage: but, about four miles from the last camp, steep sandstone rocks with excavations appeared on our left, at some distance from the river, from which they were separated by porphyry; but, farther on, they approached the river on both sides, and formed steep slopes, which compelled us to travel along the bed of the river itself. Two large creeks joined the river from the southward, one of which was running, and also made the river run until the stream lost itself in the sandy bed. At the end of the stage, however, the stream re-appeared, and we were fairly on the fourth flowing river of the expedition: for the Condamine, although not constantly, was raised by rains, and showed the origin of its supply, by the muddy nature of its waters; the Dawson commenced running where we left it; and the Burdekin, with several of its tributaries, was running as far as we followed it. The waters of the Dawson, the Burdekin, and the Lynd, were very clear, and received their constant supply from springs.
We passed a camp of natives, who vere very much alarmed at the report of a gun, which Mr. Gilbert happened to fire when very near them; this he did in his anxiety to procure a pair of Geophaps plumifera, for his collection. These pretty little pigeons had been first observed by Brown in the course of our yesterday’s stage, who shot two of them, but they were too much mutilated to make good specimens. We frequently saw them afterwards, but never more than two, four, or six together, running with great rapidity and with elevated crest over the ground, and preferring the shady rocks along the sandy bed of the river. I tried several methods to render the potatoes, which we had found in the camps of the natives, eatable; but neither roasting nor boiling destroyed their sickening bitterness. At last, I pounded and washed them, and procured their starch, which was entirely tasteless, but thickened rapidly in hot water, like arrow-root; and was very agreeable to eat, wanting only the addition of sugar to make it delicious; at least so we fancied.
June 8.— We travelled about nine miles west-north-west. The country was in general open, with soft ground on the more extensive flats; although sandstone ranges approached the river in many places. Four good-sized creeks entered the river from the southward. The sandstone, or psammite, was composed of large grains of quartz mixed with clay of a whitish red or yellow colour; it frequently formed steep cliffs and craggy rugged little peaks.
The stringy-bark grew to a fine size on the hills, and would yield, together with Ironbark and the drooping tea-tree, the necessary timber for building. A new species of Melaleuca and also of Boronia were found, when entering upon the sandstone formation.
The wind for the last few days has been westerly; cumuli forming during the day, dissolved towards sunset; the days were very hot, the nights mild and dry. It was evident that we had descended considerably into the basin of the gulf.
June 9.— We travelled about ten miles north-west. Box-tree flats, of more or less extent, were intercepted by abrupt barren craggy hills composed of sandstone, which seemed to rest on layers of argillaceous rock. The latter was generally observed at the foot of the hills and in the bed of the river; it had in most places been worn by the action of water. The stringy-bark became even numerous on the flats, in consequence of the more sandy nature of the soil: but the hills were scrubby, and Mr. Gilbert reported that he had even seen the Bricklow. The grass of the Isaacs grew from twelve to fifteen feet high, in the hollows near the river, which was, as usual, fringed with Sarcocephalus; a species of Terminalia; the drooping tea-tree; and with an Acacia which perfumed the air with the fragrant odours of its flowers. We gathered some blossoms of the drooping tea-tree, which were full of honey, and, when soaked, imparted a very agreeable sweetness to the water. We frequently observed great quantities of washed blossoms of this tree in the deserted camps of the natives; showing that they were as fond of the honey in the blossoms of the tea-tree, as the natives of the east coast are of that of the several species of Banksia.
June 10.— We travelled about five miles north-north-west to latitude 17 degrees 9 minutes 17 seconds. The flats, the rugged hills, and the river, maintained the same character. Creeks, probably of no great extent, joined the Lynd from the south side of all the hills we passed both yesterday and to-day.
The weather was very fine, although exceedingly hot during the day; but the nights were mild, and without dew. An easterly and south-easterly wind blew during the whole day, moderated a little at sunset, and again freshened up after it; but the latter part of the night, and for an hour and a half after sunrise, was calm. I was induced to think that this wind originated from the current of cold air flowing from the table-land of the Burdekin down to the gulf, as the easterly winds west of New England do, and as the westerly winds of Sydney during July and August, which are supposed to be equally connected with the table-land of New England and of Bathurst. The westerly winds occurring at the upper Lynd, do not militate against such a supposition, as they might well belong to an upper current coming from the sea.
Two new fishes were caught; both were very small; the one malacopterygious, and resembling the pike, would remain at times motionless at the bottom, or dart at its prey; the other belonged to the perches, and had an oblong compressed body, and three dark stripes perpendicular to its length; this would hover through the water, and nibble at the bait. Silurus and Gristes were also caught.
Brown rendered himself very useful to us in shooting ducks, which were very numerous on the water-holes; and he succeeded several times in killing six, eight, or ten, at oneshot; particularly the Leptotarsis, Gould, (whistling duck) which habitually crowd close together on the water. Native companions were also numerous, but these birds and the black cockatoos were the most wary of any that we met. Whilst travelling with our bullocks through the high grass, we started daily a great number of wallabies; two of which were taken by Charley and John Murphy, assisted by our kangaroo dog. Brown, who had gone to the lower part of the long pool of water near our encampment, to get a shot at some sheldrakes (Tadorna Raja), returned in a great hurry, and told me that he had seen a very large and most curious fish dead, and at the water’s edge. Messrs. Gilbert and Calvert went to fetch it, and I was greatly surprised to find it a sawfish (Pristis), which I thought lived exclusively in salt water. It was between three and four feet in length, and only recently, perhaps a few days, dead. It had very probably come up the river during a flood, for the water-hole in which the creature had been detained, had no connection with the tiny stream, which hardly resisted the absorbing power of the sands. Another question was, what could have been the cause of its death? as the water seemed well tenanted with small fish. We supposed that it had pursued its prey into shallow water, and had leaped on the dry land, in its efforts to regain the deep water. Charley also found and brought me the large scales of the fish of the Mackenzie, and the head-bones of a large guard-fish.
June 11.— We travelled about eight miles due north. The bed of the river was very broad; and an almost uninterrupted flat, timbered with box and apple-gum, extended along its banks. We were delighted with the most exquisite fragrance of several species of Acacia in blossom.
June 12.— We travelled about nine miles N.N.W. to lat. 16 degrees 55 minutes. The flats were again interrupted by sandstone ranges. One large creek, and several smaller ones joined the river.
June 13.— We accomplished nine miles to-day in a N.N.W. direction. The country was partly rocky; the rock was a coarse conglomerate of broken pieces of quartz, either white or coloured with oxide of iron; it greatly resembled the rock of the Wybong hills on the upper Hunter, and was equally worn and excavated. The flats were limited, and timbered with apple-gum, box, and blood-wood, where the sand was mixed with a greater share of clay; and with stringy-bark on the sandy rocky soil; also with flooded-gum, in the densely grassed hollows along the river. The Severn tree, the Acacia of Expedition Range, and the little bread tree, were frequent along the banks of the river. A species of Stravadium attracted our attention by its loose racemes of crimson coloured flowers, and of large three or four ribbed monospermous fruit; it was a small tree, with bright green foliage, and was the almost constant companion of the permanent water-holes. As its foliage and the manner of its growth resemble the mangrove, we called it the Mangrove Myrtle.
Brown shot fifteen ducks, mostly Leptotarsis Eytoni, Gould.; and Charley a bustard (Otis Australasianus), which saved two messes of our meat.
The river was joined by a large creek from the south-west, and by several small ones; we passed a very fine lagoon, at scarcely three miles from our last camp.
June 14.— We travelled nine miles north by west, to lat. 16 degrees 38 minutes. The box-tree flats were very extensive, and scattered over with small groves of the Acacia of Expedition Range. The narrow-leaved Ironbark had disappeared with the primitive rocks; the moment sandstone commenced, stringy-bark took its place. We passed some lagoons, crossed a good sized creek from the south-west, and saw a small lake in the distance. At the latter part of the stage the country became more undulating. The edges of the stiff shallows were densely covered with the sharp pointed structures of the white ants, about two or three feet high. They were quite as frequent at the upper part of the river, where I omitted to mention them. We saw a very interesting camping place of the natives, containing several two-storied gunyas, which were constructed in the following manner: four large forked sticks were rammed into the ground, supporting cross poles placed in their forks, over which bark was spread sufficiently strong and spacious for a man to lie upon; other sheets of stringy-bark were bent over the platform, and formed an arched roof, which would keep out any wet. At one side of these constructions, the remains of a large fire were observed, with many mussel-shells scattered about. All along the Lynd we had found the gunyas of the natives made of large sheets of stringy-bark, not however supported by forked poles, but bent, and both ends of the sheet stuck into the ground; Mr. Gilbert thought the two-storied gunyas were burial places; but we met with them so frequently afterwards, during our journey round the gulf, and it was frequently so evident that they had been recently inhabited, that no doubt remained of their being habitations of the living, and constructed to avoid sleeping on the ground during the wet season.
June 15.— We travelled about nine miles and a half down the river, over a country like that of yesterday, the tree vegetation was, however, more scanty, the forest still more open, the groves of Acacia larger. Brown returned with two sheldrakes (Tadorna Raja), four black ducks (Anas Novae Hollandiae), four teals (Querquedula castanea); and brought the good news that the Lynd joined a river coming from the south-east, with a rapid stream to the westward.
June 16.— We left the Lynd, along which we had journeyed from lat. 17 degrees 58 minutes to lat. 16 degrees 30 minutes, and travelled about twelve miles W.N.W., when we encamped at the west side of a very long lagoon Though I did not see the junction of the two rivers myself, Mr. Roper, Brown, and Charley, informed me, that the Lynd became very narrow, and its banks well confined, before joining the new river; which I took the liberty of naming after Sir Thomas Mitchell, the talented Surveyor–General of New South Wales; they also stated that the Lynd was well filled by a fine sheet of water. The bed of the Mitchell was very broad, sandy, and quite bare of vegetation; showing the more frequent recurrence of floods. A small stream meandered through the sheet of sand, and from time to time expanded into large water-holes: the river was also much more tortuous in its course than the Lynd, which for long distances generally kept the same course. The Mitchell came from the eastward, and took its course to the west-north-west. At the sudden bends of the river, the bergue was interrupted by gullies, and occasionally by deep creeks, which seemed, however, only to have a short course, and to be the outlets of the waters collecting on the flats and stiff plains at some distance from the river. The bergue was covered with fine bloodwood trees, stringy-bark and box. At a greater distance from the river, the trees became scanty and scattered, and, still farther, small plains extended, clothed but sparingly with a wiry grass. These plains were bounded by an open forest of the Acacia of Expedition Range. This little tree gave us a good supply of a light amber-coloured wholesome gum, which we sometimes ate in its natural state, or after it had been dissolved by boiling. Towards the end of the day’s stage, we came to several very fine lagoons; one of which was several miles long, and apparently parallel to the river: it was exceedingly deep, and covered with the broad leaves of Villarsia and Nymphaea, and well stocked with numerous large fish, which betrayed their presence by an incessant splashing during the early part of the night. John Murphy caught the small striped perch of the Lynd; and another small perch-like fish, with a broad anal fin, which had already excited our admiration at the Lynd, by the beauty of its colours, and by the singularity of its movements. Charley saw the Silurus and the guardfish, and caught several of the broad-scaled fish of the Mackenzie; one of which, a most beautiful specimen, has been preserved and sent to Mr. Gould.
When we left our last camp at the Lynd, John Murphy’s pony was missing. Charley went to look for it, and did not join us before we had arrived at our camp, after an unusually long and fatiguing stage. He brought us the melancholy news that he had found the poor beast on the sands of the Lynd, with its body blown up, and bleeding from the nostrils. It had either been bitten by a snake; or had eaten some noxious herb, which had fortunately been avoided by the other horses. Accidents of this kind were well calculated to impress us with the conviction of our dependence on Providence, which had hitherto been so kind and merciful.
As all our meat was consumed, I was compelled to stop, in order to kill one of our little steers. It proved to be very fat, and allowed us once more to indulge in our favourite dish of fried liver. Although we were most willing to celebrate the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, and to revive our own ambitious feelings at the memory of the deeds of our illustrious heroes, we had nothing left but the saturated rags of our sugar bags; which, however, we had kept for the purpose, and which we now boiled up with our tea: our last flour was consumed three weeks ago; and the enjoyment of fat cake, therefore, was not to be thought of. Should any of my readers think these ideas and likings ridiculous and foolish, they may find plenty of analogous facts by entering the habitations of the poor, where I have not only witnessed, but enjoyed, similar treats of sugared tea and buttered bread.
In crossing one of the creeks we found a species of Acacia [Inga moniliformis, D. C. Prod. Vol. II. p. 440, where it is described as having been found at Timor.], with articulate pods and large brown seeds; it was a small tree with spreading branches, and a dark green shady foliage: it occurred afterwards on all the creeks and water-holes until we reached our destination.
It was at the lower part of the Lynd that we first saw the green-tree ant; which seemed to live in small societies in rude nests between the green leaves of shady trees. The passer by, when touching one of these nests, would be instantaneously covered with them, and would soon be aware............