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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13033 ***
+
+THREE EXPEDITIONS
+
+INTO THE INTERIOR OF
+
+EASTERN AUSTRALIA;
+
+WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE RECENTLY EXPLORED REGION OF
+
+AUSTRALIA FELIX,
+
+AND OF THE PRESENT COLONY OF
+
+NEW SOUTH WALES:
+
+BY MAJOR T.L. MITCHELL, F.G.S. & M.R.G.S.
+
+SURVEYOR-GENERAL.
+
+
+
+SECOND EDITION, CAREFULLY REVISED.
+
+...
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+VOLUME 2.
+
+
+LONDON:
+T. & W. BOONE, NEW BOND STREET.
+
+
+...
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME 2.
+
+
+EXPEDITION TO THE RIVERS DARLING AND MURRAY, IN THE YEAR 1836.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.1.
+
+Route proposed.
+Equipment.
+List of the Men.
+Agreement with a native guide.
+Livestock.
+Corrobory-dance of the natives.
+Visit to the Limestone caves.
+Osseous breccia.
+Mount Granard, first point to be attained.
+Halt on a dry creek.
+Break a wheel.
+Attempt to ascend Marga.
+Snakes.
+View from Marga.
+Reach the Lachlan.
+Find its channel dry.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.2.
+
+Continue the journey.
+Acacia pendula.
+Ascend Mount Amyot.
+Field's Plains.
+Cracks in the surface.
+Ascend Mount Cunningham.
+Mr. Oxley's tree.
+Rain.
+Goobang Creek.
+Large fishes.
+Heavy rain.
+Ascend Mount Allan.
+Natives from the Bogan.
+Prophecy of a Coradje.
+Poisoned waterhole.
+Ascend Hurd's Peak.
+Snake and bird.
+Ride to Mount Granard.
+Scarcity of water there.
+View from the summit.
+Encamp there.
+Ascend Bolloon, a hill beyond the Lachlan.
+Natives refuse to eat emu.
+Native dog.
+Kalingalungaguy.
+Mr. Stapylton overtakes the party.
+Of the plains in general.
+Character of the Goobang and Bogan.
+Cudjallagong or Regent's Lake.
+Nearly dry.
+Dead trees in it.
+Rocks near it.
+Trap and tuff.
+Natives there.
+Women.
+Men.
+Their account of the country lower down.
+Oolawambiloa.
+Gaiety of the natives.
+Colour light.
+Mr. Stapylton surveys the lake.
+Campbell's Lake.
+Piper obtains a gin.
+Ascend Goulburn range.
+View from the summit.
+Warranary.
+A new Correa.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.3.
+
+North arm of the Lachlan.
+Quawys.
+Wallangome.
+Wild cattle.
+Ascend Moriattu.
+Leave the Lachlan to travel westward.
+No water.
+Natives from Warranary.
+Course down the Lachlan resumed.
+Extensive ride to the westward.
+Night without water.
+Continue westward, and south-west.
+Sandhills.
+Atriplex.
+Deep cracks in the earth.
+Search for the Lachlan.
+Cross various dry channels.
+Graves.
+Second night without water.
+Native tumulus.
+Reedy swamp with dead trees.
+Route of Mr. Oxley.
+Dry bed of the Lachlan.
+Find at length a large pool.
+Food of the natives discovered.
+Horses knock up.
+Scenery on the Lachlan.
+Character of the different kinds of trees.
+Return to the party.
+Dead body found in the water.
+Ascend Burradorgang.
+A rainy night without shelter.
+A new guide.
+Native dog.
+Branches of the Lachlan.
+A native camp.
+Children.
+A widow joins the party as guide.
+Horse killed.
+The Balyan root.
+How gathered.
+Reach the united channel of the Lachlan.
+No water.
+Natives' account of the rivers lower down.
+Mr. Oxley's lowest camp on the Lachlan.
+Slow growth of trees.
+A tribe of natives come to us.
+Mr. Oxley's bottle.
+Waljeers Lake.
+Trigonella suavissima.
+Barney in disgrace.
+A family of natives from the Murrumbidgee.
+Inconvenient formality of natives meeting.
+Rich tints on the surface.
+Improved appearance of the river.
+Inhabited tomb.
+Dead trees among the reeds.
+Visit some rising ground.
+View northward.
+Difficulties in finding either of the rivers or any water.
+Search for the Murrumbidgee.
+A night without water.
+Heavy fall of rain.
+Two men missing.
+Reach the Murrumbidgee.
+Natives on the opposite bank.
+They swim across.
+Afraid of the sheep.
+Their reports about the junction of the Darling.
+Search up the river for junction of Lachlan.
+Course of the Murrumbidgee.
+Tribe from Cudjallagong visits the camp in my absence.
+Caught following my steps.
+Piper questions them.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.4.
+
+The Murrumbidgee compared with other rivers.
+Heaps of stones used in cooking.
+High reeds on the riverbank.
+Lake Weromba.
+Native encampment.
+Riverbanks of difficult access.
+Best horse drowned.
+Cross a country subject to inundations.
+Traverse a barren region at some distance from the river.
+Kangaroos there.
+Another horse in the river.
+Lagoons preferable to the river for watering cattle.
+High wind, dangerous in a camp under trees.
+Serious accident; a cartwheel passes over The Widow's child.
+Graves of the natives.
+Choose a position for the depot.
+My horse killed by the kick of a mare.
+Proceed to the Darling with a portion of the party.
+Reach the Murray.
+Its breadth at our camp.
+Meet with a tribe.
+Lake Benanee.
+Discover the natives to be those last seen on the Darling.
+Harassing night in their presence.
+Piper alarmed.
+Rockets fired to scare them away.
+They again advance in the morning.
+Men advance towards them holding up their firearms.
+They retire, and we continue our journey.
+Again followed by the natives.
+Danger of the party.
+Long march through a scrubby country.
+Dismal prospect.
+Night without water or grass.
+Heavy rain.
+Again make the Murray.
+Strange natives visit the camp at dusk.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.5.
+
+New and remarkable shrub.
+Darling tribe again.
+Their dispersion by the party.
+Cross a tract intersected by deep lagoons.
+Huts over tombs.
+Another division of the Darling tribe.
+Barren sands and the Eucalyptus dumosa.
+Plants which grow on the sand and bind it down.
+Fish caught.
+Aspect of the country to the northward.
+Strange natives from beyond the Murray.
+They decamp during the night.
+Reach the Darling and surprise a numerous tribe of natives.
+Piper and his gin explain.
+Search for the junction with the Murray.
+Return by night.
+Followed by the natives.
+Horses take fright.
+Break loose and run back.
+Narrow escape of some men from natives.
+Failure of their intended attack.
+Different modes of interment.
+Reduced appearance of the Darling.
+Desert character of the country.
+Rainy morning.
+Return of the party.
+Surprise the females of the tribe.
+Junction of the Darling and Murray.
+Effect of alternate floods there.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.6.
+
+Return along the bank of the Murray.
+Mount Lookout.
+Appearance of rain.
+Chance of being cut off from the depot by the river floods.
+A savage man at home.
+Tributaries of the Murray.
+A storm in the night.
+Traverse the land of lagoons before the floods come down.
+Traces of many naked feet along our old track.
+Camp of 400 natives.
+Narrow escape from the floods of the river.
+Piper overtakes two youths fishing in Lake Benanee.
+Description of the lake.
+Great rise in the waters of the Murray.
+Security of the depot.
+Surrounded by inundations.
+Cross to it in a bark canoe made by Tommy Came-last.
+Search for the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray.
+Mr. Stapylton reaches the junction of the rivers.
+Reception by the natives of the left bank.
+Passage of the Murray.
+Heavy rains set in.
+Row up the Murray to the junction of the Murrumbidgee.
+Commence the journey upwards, along the left bank.
+Strange animal.
+Picturesque scenery on the river.
+Kangaroos numerous.
+Country improves as we ascend the river.
+A region of reeds.
+The water inaccessible from soft and muddy banks.
+Habits of our native guides.
+Natives very shy.
+Piper speaks to natives on the river.
+Good land on the Murray.
+Wood and water scarce.
+Junction of two branches.
+Swan Hill.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.7.
+
+Exploring through a fog.
+Lakes.
+Circular Lake of Boga.
+Clear grassy hills.
+Natives on the lake.
+Scarcity of fuel on the bank of a deep river.
+Different character of two rivers.
+Unfortunate result of Piper's interview with the natives of the lake.
+Discovery of the Jerboa in Australia.
+Different habits of the savage and civilized.
+A range visible in the south.
+Peculiarities in the surface of the country near the river.
+Water of the lakes brackish, or salt.
+Natives fly at our approach.
+Arrival in the dark, on the bank of a watercourse.
+Dead saplings of ten years growth in the ponds.
+Discovery of Mount Hope.
+Enter a much better country.
+Limestone.
+Curious character of an original surface.
+Native weirs for fish.
+Their nets for catching ducks.
+Remarkable character of the lakes.
+Mr. Stapylton's excursion in search of the main stream.
+My ride to Mount Hope.
+White Anguillaria.
+View from Mount Hope.
+Return of Mr. Stapylton.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.8.
+
+The Party quits the Murray.
+Pyramid Hill.
+Beautiful country seen from it.
+Discovery of the river Yarrayne.
+A bridge made across it.
+Covered by a sudden rise of the river.
+Then cross it in boats.
+Useful assistance of Piper.
+Our female guide departs.
+Enter a hilly country.
+Ascend Barrabungalo.
+Rainy weather.
+Excursion southward.
+The widow returns to the party.
+Natives of Tarray.
+Their description of the country.
+Discover the Loddon.
+The woods.
+Cross a range.
+Kangaroos numerous.
+The earth becomes soft and impassable, even on the sides of hills.
+Discover a noble range of mountains.
+Cross another stream.
+Another.
+General character of the country.
+Proposed excursion to the mountains.
+Richardson's creek.
+Cross a fine stream flowing in three separate channels.
+A ridge of poor sandy soil.
+Cross another stream.
+Trap-hills and good soil.
+Ascend the mountain.
+Clouds cover it.
+A night on the summit.
+No fuel.
+View from it at sunrise.
+Descend with difficulty.
+Men taken ill.
+New plants found there.
+Repose in the valley.
+Night's rest.
+Natives at the camp during my absence.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.9.
+
+Plains of stiff clay.
+The Wimmera.
+Difficult passage of its five branches.
+Ascend Mount Zero.
+Circular lake, brackish water.
+The Wimmera in a united channel.
+Lose this river.
+Ascend Mount Arapiles.
+Mr. Stapylton's excursion northward.
+Salt lakes.
+Green Hill lake.
+Mitre lake.
+Relinquish the pursuit of the Wimmera.
+The party travels to the south-west.
+Red lake.
+Small lakes of fresh water.
+White lake.
+Basketwork of the natives.
+Muddy state of the surface.
+Mr. Stapylton's ride southward.
+Disastrous encounter of one man with a native.
+A tribe makes its appearance.
+More lakes of brackish water.
+Escape at last from the mud.
+Encamp on a running stream.
+Fine country.
+Discovery of a good river.
+Granitic soil.
+Passage of the Glenelg.
+Country well watered.
+Pigeon ponds.
+Soft soil again impedes the party.
+Halt to repair the carts and harness.
+Natives very shy.
+Chetwynd rivulet.
+Slow progress over the soft surface.
+Excursion into the country before us.
+Beautiful region discovered.
+The party extricated with difficulty from the mud.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.10.
+
+Cross various rivulets.
+Enter the valley of Nangeela.
+Native female and child.
+Encamp on the Glenelg.
+Cross the Wannon.
+Rifle range.
+Mount Gambier first seen from it.
+Sterile moors crossed by the party.
+Natives numerous but not accessible.
+Again arrive on the Glenelg.
+Indifferent country on its banks.
+Breadth and velocity of the river.
+Encamp on a tributary.
+Difficult passage.
+The expedition brought to a stand in soft ground.
+Excursion beyond.
+Reach a fine point on the river.
+The carts extricated.
+The whole equipment reaches the river.
+The boats launched on the Glenelg.
+Mr. Stapylton left with a depot at Fort O'Hare.
+Character of the river.
+Ornithorynchus paradoxus.
+Black swans.
+Water brackish.
+Isle of Bags.
+Arrival at the seacoast.
+Discovery bay.
+Mouth of the Glenelg.
+Waterholes dug in the beach.
+Remarkable hollow.
+Limestone cavern.
+One fish caught in the Glenelg.
+Stormy weather.
+Return to the depot.
+Difference in longitude.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.11.
+
+Leave the Glenelg and travel eastward.
+Cross the Crawford.
+Boggy character of its sources.
+Recross the Rifle range.
+Heavy timber the chief impediment.
+Travelling also difficult from the softness of the ground.
+Excursion southward to Portland Bay.
+Mount Eckersley.
+Cross the Fitzroy.
+Cross the Surry.
+Lady Julia Percy's Isle.
+Beach of Portland Bay.
+A vessel at anchor.
+House and farming establishment there.
+Whale fishery.
+Excursion to Cape Nelson.
+Mount Kincaid.
+A whale chase.
+Sagacity of the natives on the coast.
+Mount Clay.
+Return to the camp.
+Still retarded by the soft soil.
+Leave one of the boats, and reduce the size of the boat carriage.
+Excursion to Mount Napier.
+Cross some fine streams.
+Natives very timid.
+Crater of Mount Napier or Murroa.
+View from the summit.
+Return to the Camp.
+Mr. Stapylton's excursion to the north-west.
+The Shaw.
+Conduct the carts along the highest ground.
+Again ascend Murroa and partially clear the summit.
+Mount Rouse.
+Australian Pyrenees.
+Swamps harder than the ground around them.
+Again reach the good country.
+Mounts Bainbrigge and Pierrepoint.
+Mount Sturgeon.
+Ascend Mount Abrupt.
+View of the Grampians from the summit.
+Victoria range and the Serra.
+Mud again, and a broken axle.
+Mr. Stapylton examines the country before us.
+At length get through the soft region.
+Cattle quite exhausted.
+Determine to leave them in a depot to refresh while I proceed forward.
+Specimens of natural history.
+Situation of depot camp at Lake Repose.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.12.
+
+Parting of The Widow and her child.
+We at length emerge on much firmer ground.
+River Hopkins.
+Mount Nicholson.
+Cockajemmy salt lakes.
+Natives ill disposed.
+Singular weapon.
+Treacherous concealment of a native.
+Contents of a native's basket and store.
+A tribe comes forward.
+Fine country for colonisation.
+Hollows in the downs.
+Snakes numerous.
+Native females.
+Cattle tracks.
+Ascend Mount Cole.
+Enter on a granite country.
+Many rivulets.
+Mammeloid hills.
+Lava, the surface rock.
+Snakes eaten by the natives.
+Ascend Mount Byng.
+Rich grass.
+Expedition pass.
+Excursion towards Port Phillip.
+Discover and cross the river Barnard.
+Emus numerous and tame.
+The river Campaspe.
+Effects of a storm in the woods.
+Ascend Mount Macedon.
+Port Phillip dimly seen from it.
+Return to the camp.
+Continue our homeward journey.
+Waterfall of Cobaw.
+Singular country on the Barnard.
+Cross the Campaspe.
+An English razor found.
+Ascend Mount Campbell.
+Native beverage.
+Valley of the Deegay.
+Natives exchange baskets for axes.
+They linger about our camp.
+Effect of fireworks, etc.
+Arrival at, and passage of, the Goulburn.
+Fish caught.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.13.
+
+Continue through a level forest country.
+Ascend a height near the camp, and obtain a sight of snowy summits
+ to the eastward.
+Reach a swampy river.
+A man drowned.
+Pass through Futter's range.
+Impeded by a swamp among reeds.
+Junction of the rivers Ovens and King.
+Ascend granitic ranges.
+Lofty mass named Mount Aberdeen.
+Reach the Murray.
+The river very difficult of access.
+A carriage track discovered.
+Passage of the river.
+Cattle.
+Horses.
+Party returning to meet Mr. Stapylton.
+A creek terminating in a swamp.
+Mount Trafalgar.
+Rugged country still before us.
+Provisions nearly exhausted.
+Cattle tracks found.
+At length reach a valley leading in the desired direction.
+Cattle seen.
+Obliged to kill one of our working bullocks.
+By following the valley downwards, we arrive on the Murrumbidgee.
+Write my despatch.
+Piper meets his friends.
+Native names of rivers.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.14.
+
+Agreeable travelling.
+Appearance of the country on the Murrumbidgee.
+Jugion Creek.
+Brunonia abundant.
+Yass plains.
+The Gap, an inn.
+Bredalbane plains.
+Lake George.
+Soil and rocks.
+The Wollondilly.
+Goulburn plains.
+A garden.
+Public works.
+Shoalhaven river.
+Limestone caverns there.
+County of St. Vincent.
+Upper Shoalhaven.
+Carwary.
+Vast subsidence on a mountain there.
+Goulburn township.
+Great road.
+Towrang hill.
+The Wollondilly.
+Wild country through which it flows.
+The Nattai.
+Moyengully.
+Arrive at the line of great road.
+Convict workmen.
+Berrima bridge.
+Berrima.
+Trap range.
+Sandstone country.
+The Illawarra.
+Lupton's inn.
+The Razorback.
+Ford of the Nepean.
+Campbelltown.
+Liverpool.
+Lansdowne bridge.
+Arrive at Sydney.
+General remarks on the character of the settled country.
+Fires in the woods.
+Necessity for cutting roads.
+Proportion of good and bad land.
+Description of Australia Felix.
+Woods.
+Harbours.
+The Murray.
+Mr. Stapylton's report.
+The aboriginal natives.
+Turandurey.
+My mode of communicating with Mr. Stapylton.
+Survey of the Murrumbidgee.
+Meteorological journal.
+Arrival of the exploring party at Sydney.
+Piper.
+The two Tommies.
+Ballandella.
+Character of the natives of the interior.
+Language.
+Habits of those of Van Diemen's Land the same.
+Temporary huts.
+Mode of climbing trees.
+Remarkable customs.
+Charmed stones.
+Females excluded from superstitious rites.
+Bandage or fillet around the temples.
+Striking out the tooth.
+Painting with red.
+Raised scars on arms and breast.
+Cutting themselves in mourning.
+Authority of old men.
+Native dogs.
+Females carrying children.
+Weapons.
+Spear.
+Woomera.
+Boomerang.
+Its probable origin.
+Shield or Hieleman.
+Skill in approaching the kangaroo.
+Modes of cooking.
+Opossum.
+Singeing.
+Vegetable food.
+The shovel.
+General observations.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.15.
+
+Geological specimens collected.
+Connection between soil and rocks.
+Limestone.
+Granite.
+Trap-rocks.
+Sandstone.
+Geological structure and physical outline.
+Valleys of excavation.
+Extent of that of the Cox.
+Quantity of rock removed.
+Valley of the Grose.
+Wellington Valley.
+Limestone caverns.
+Description and view of the largest.
+Of that containing osseous breccia.
+First discovery of bones.
+Small cavity and stalagmitic crust.
+Teeth found in the floor.
+A third cavern.
+Breccia on the surface.
+Similar caverns in other parts of the country.
+At Buree.
+At Molong.
+Shattered state of the bones.
+Important discoveries by Professor Owen.
+Gigantic fossil kangaroos.
+Macropus atlas.
+Macropus titan.
+Macropus indeterminate.
+Genus Hypsiprymnus, new species, indeterminate.
+Genus Phalangista.
+Genus Phascolomys.
+Ph. mitchellii, a new species.
+New Genus Diprotodon.
+Dasyurus laniarius, a new species.
+General results of Professor Owen's researches.
+Age of the breccia considered.
+State of the caverns.
+Traces of inundation.
+Stalagmitic crust.
+State of the bones.
+Putrefaction had only commenced when first deposited.
+Accompanying marks of disruption.
+Earthy deposits.
+These phenomena compared with other evidence of inundation.
+Salt lakes in the interior.
+Changes on the seacoast.
+Proofs that the coast was once higher above the sea than it is at
+present.
+Proofs that it was once lower.
+And of violent action of the sea.
+At Wollongong.
+Cape Solander.
+Port Jackson.
+Broken Bay.
+Newcastle.
+Tuggerah Beach.
+Bass Strait.
+
+...
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. VOLUME 2.
+
+
+PLATE 22: CRATER OF MURROA, OR MOUNT NAPIER, IN AUSTRALIA FELIX
+(DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT).
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. A. Picken Lith. Day & Haghe Lithographers to the
+Queen.
+
+CORROBORY-DANCE OF THE NATIVES, AS DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT.
+
+MOUNT MELVILLE (OF OXLEY), FROM MERUMBA.
+
+MOUNT CUNNINGHAM, OR BEERY BIRREE.
+
+NYORORONG FROM MOUNT CUNNINGHAM.
+
+OXLEY'S TREE ON THE LACHLAN (OR KALARE) RIVER.
+
+PLATE 23: Plyctolophus leadbeateri, COCKATOO OF THE INTERIOR.
+
+PLATE 24: PORTRAITS OF TURANDUREY (THE FEMALE GUIDE) AND HER CHILD
+BALLANDELLA, WITH THE SCENERY ON THE LACHLAN (10TH OF MAY 1836).
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Foggo & G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to
+Her Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+PLAN OF AN INHABITED TOMB.
+
+PLATE 25: PIPER WATCHING THE CART AT BENANEE.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. Waldeck Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+A NEW SHRUB, THE Eucarya murrayana (MIHI) AND YOUNG FRUIT.
+
+PLATE 26: THE RIVER MURRAY, AND DISPERSION OF NATIVES, 27TH MAY, 1836.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. J. Brandord & G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer
+to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 27: Choeropus ecaudatus (OGILBY), A NEW AND SINGULAR ANIMAL.
+Fore foot, natural size.
+T.L.M. del.
+Published by T. & W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 28: BACKWATER, OR FLOOD-BRANCH OF THE MURRAY, WITH THE SCENERY
+COMMON ON ITS BANK.
+Acacia exudans.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 29: Dipus mitchellii (OGILBY), A NEW ANIMAL RESEMBLING THE JERBOA.
+T.L.M. del. A. Picken Lith. Day & Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
+
+MOUNT HOPE FROM THE NORTH.
+
+PYRAMID HILL.
+
+PLATE 30: THE RIVER YARRAYNE, WITH THE SHEEP OF THE PARTY FIRST
+APPROACHING IT.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+PLAN OF TEMPORARY BRIDGE ACROSS THE YARRAYNE.
+
+PLATE 31: MITRE ROCK AND LAKE, FROM MOUNT ARAPILES.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 32: PLAN OF HILLS BESIDE GREENHILL LAKE (INTERIOR OF AUSTRALIA,
+ENGRAVED FROM A MODEL).
+Bate's Patent Anaglyptograph. Freebairn.
+Published by T. & W. Boone.
+
+MOUNT ARAPILES FROM MITRE LAKE.
+
+PLATE 33: WESTERN EXTREMITY OF MOUNT ARAPILES.
+Left: Casuarinae. Right: an altered Sandstone. Right foreground: Banksia.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. & W. Boone, London.
+
+BARBED SPEARS OF THE NATIVES.
+
+PLATE 34: FEMALE AND CHILD OF AUSTRALIA FELIX.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. Waldeck Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 35: BOAT ON THE RIVER GLENELG.
+Left foreground: Banksia. Middle distance: Limestone.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+
+YELLOW FLOWER ABUNDANT ON THE PLAINS OF AUSTRALIA FELIX.
+
+GENERAL VIEW OVER THE GRAMPIANS FROM THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT ABRUPT.
+Left: Victoria Range. Right: Mount William distant 21 1/2 miles.
+
+MOUNT ABRUPT FROM THE SOUTH.
+Williams.
+
+PLATE 36: Aquilla fucosa ? AUSTRALIAN EAGLE. PORTRAIT OF AN EAGLE THAT
+HAD BEEN WINGED (NATURAL SIZE).
+From Nature and on Stone by Major T.L. Mitchell. J. Graf Printer to Her
+Majesty.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+MOUNT WILLIAM FROM MOUNT STAVELY.
+Foreground: Forest Hills. Middle Distance: Plains.
+
+WEAPONS OF THE NATIVES.
+Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
+
+HILLS OF LAVA, OR MAMMELOID HILLS, FROM MOUNT GREENOCK.
+Horizon: Mount Byng Pass.
+
+PORT PHILLIP, 50 MILES DISTANT, AS SEEN THROUGH A GLASS FROM MOUNT
+MACEDON.
+Left to right: B, River, Indented Head, A, Woody Hill.
+
+PLATE 37: COBAW WATERFALL, WITH NATIVES FISHING.
+All granite.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. & W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 38: GENERAL VIEW OF THE SANDSTONE DISTRICTS, FROM THE SUMMIT OF
+JELLORE.
+Left to right: Bonnum Pic, Gnowogang, Valley of Cox River, King's
+Tableland, King George's Mount, Mount Hay, Tomah.
+On Zinc by Major Mitchell (a Page of his Field Book). Day & Haghe
+Lithographers to the Queen.
+London, Published by T. & W. Boone.
+
+PLATE 39: PORTRAIT OF MOYENGULLY, CHIEF OF NATTAI.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Foggo Lith.
+Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 40: MAP OF EASTERN AUSTRALIA, AND NATURAL LIMITS OF THE COLONY OF
+NEW SOUTH WALES.
+London, Published by T. & W. Boone. Engraved by J. Dower, Pentonville.
+
+THE BOOMERANG, A SINGULAR MISSILE.
+
+NARROW SHIELD, OR HIELEMAN.
+
+PLATE 41: SCENERY AROUND THE ENTRANCE OF THE LARGEST CAVERN IN THE
+LIMESTONE AT WELLINGTON VALLEY.
+T.L.M. del. A. Picken Lith.
+
+PLATE 42: GEOLOGICAL MAP OF WELLINGTON VALLEY.
+From Nature and on Stone by Major T.L. Mitchell.
+Published by T. & W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 43: INTERIOR OF THE LARGEST CAVERN AT WELLINGTON VALLEY.
+Major T.L. Mitchell. Day & Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
+London, Published by T. & W. Boone.
+
+PLATE 44: VERTICAL SECTION AND GROUND-PLOT OF TWO CAVERNS AT WELLINGTON
+VALLEY.
+From Nature and on Stone by Major T.L. Mitchell.
+Published by T. & W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 45: INTERIOR OF THE CAVERN CONTAINING OSSEOUS BRECCIA AT WELLINGTON
+VALLEY.
+Major T.L. Mitchell. Day & Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
+London, Published by T. & W. Boone.
+
+PLATE 46: ROCK OF BRECCIA FOUND ON THE SURFACE ABOVE THE LARGEST CAVERN
+AT WELLINGTON VALLEY.
+T.L.M. del. A. Picken Lith. Day & Haghe Lithographers to the Queen.
+
+PLATE 47: FOSSIL REMAINS AND RECENT SPECIMENS, EACH OF THE NATURAL SIZE:
+FIGURE 1, BELONGING TO Macropus atlas, AND
+FIGURE 2, TO THE LARGEST RECENT SPECIMEN.
+FIGURES 3, 4, AND 5, TO Macropus titan.
+FIGURE 6, THE INCISOR OF A FOSSIL KANGAROO.
+FIGURE 7, THE INCISOR OF THE LARGEST NOW KNOWN.
+FIGURE 8, FOSSIL LUMBAR VERTEBRA.
+From Nature and on Stone by Major T.L. Mitchell. J. Graf Printer to Her
+Majesty.
+
+PLATE 48:
+FIGURES 1, 2, AND 3: FOSSIL REMAINS OF A NEW SPECIES OF HYPSIPRYMNUS.
+FIGURES 4, 5, AND 6: OF Phascolomys mitchellii.
+FIGURE 7: A SECTION OF THE TEETH OF THE SAME FOSSIL SPECIES OF WOMBAT.
+From Nature and on Zinc by Major T.L. Mitchell. Day & Haghe Lithographers
+to the Queen.
+London, Published by T. & W. Boone.
+
+PLATE 49:
+FIGURES 1 AND 2: FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE DIPROTODON.
+FIGURES 3, 4, 5, 6, AND 7: FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE Dasyurus laniarius.
+
+PLATE 50: MARKS OF SUBSIDENCE IN AN INNER PORTION OF THE BRECCIA CAVERN.
+Major T.L. Mitchell del. Scherf Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
+Published by T. & W. Boone, London.
+
+PLATE 51:
+FIGURE 1: FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE RADIUS AND ULNA OF A KANGAROO.
+FIGURE 2: OF THE FOOT OF A DASYURUS.
+FIGURES 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, AND 11: VARIOUS TEETH OF ANIMALS
+UNKNOWN.
+ALL THESE DRAWINGS BEING OF THE NATURAL SIZE.
+FIGURES 12 AND 13, REPRESENT, ON A REDUCED SCALE, THE LARGE BONE WHICH M.
+CUVIER SUPPOSED TO HAVE BELONGED TO A YOUNG ELEPHANT.
+
+ROCKS IN BASS STRAIT:
+1. PYRAMID ROCK BEARING EAST DISTANT 3 MILES.
+2. ROCK OF GRANITE BEARING EAST BY NORTH.
+
+...
+
+(APPENDIX 2.1.
+
+VOCABULARY OF WORDS HAVING THE SAME MEANING IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF
+AUSTRALIA.
+
+APPENDIX 2.2.
+
+METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT DURING THE JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW
+SOUTH WALES IN 1836.)
+
+APPENDIX 2.3.
+
+EXTRACT FROM THE SYDNEY HERALD OF MAY 21, 1838.
+
+APPENDIX 2.4.
+
+AN ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF POUNDS OF WOOL IMPORTED FROM NEW SOUTH WALES
+AND FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND FROM 1820 TO 1837, DISTINGUISHING EACH YEAR.
+
+APPENDIX 2.5.
+
+AN ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF SHIPS, AND THEIR TONNAGE, CLEARED OUT TO NEW
+SOUTH WALES AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND FROM 1820 TO 1837, DISTINGUISHING EACH
+YEAR.
+
+APPENDIX 2.6.
+
+AN ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF SHIPS, AND THEIR TONNAGE, REPORTED INWARDS
+FROM NEW SOUTH WALES AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND FROM 1820 TO 1837,
+DISTINGUISHING EACH YEAR.
+
+...
+
+
+
+JOURNAL OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE RIVERS DARLING AND MURRAY, IN THE YEAR
+1836.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.1.
+
+Route proposed.
+Equipment.
+List of the Men.
+Agreement with a native guide.
+Livestock.
+Corrobory-dance of the natives.
+Visit to the Limestone caves.
+Osseous breccia.
+Mount Granard, first point to be attained.
+Halt on a dry creek.
+Break a wheel.
+Attempt to ascend Marga.
+Snakes.
+View from Marga.
+Reach the Lachlan.
+Find its channel dry.
+
+ROUTE PROPOSED.
+
+Towards the end of the year 1835 I was apprised that the governor of New
+South Wales was desirous of having the survey of the Darling completed
+with the least possible delay. His excellency proposed that I should
+return for this purpose to the extreme point on the Darling where my last
+journey terminated and that, after having traced the Darling into the
+Murray, I should embark on the latter river and, passing the carts and
+oxen to the left bank at the first convenient opportunity, proceed
+upwards by water as far as practicable and regain the colony somewhere
+about Yass Plains.
+
+EQUIPMENT.
+
+The preparations for this journey were made, as on the former occasion,
+chiefly in the lumber-yard at Parramatta, and under the superintendence
+of the same officer, Mr. Simpson. Much of the equipment used for the last
+expedition was available for this occasion. The boats and boat-carriage
+were as serviceable as ever, with the advantage of being better seasoned;
+and we could now, having had so much experience, prepare with less
+difficulty for such an undertaking.
+
+In consequence of a long-continued drought serviceable horses and
+bullocks were at that time scarce, and could only be obtained at high
+prices; but no expense was spared by the government in providing the
+animals required.
+
+The party having preceded me by some weeks on the road, I at length
+overtook it on the 15th of March in a valley near the Canobolas which I
+had fixed as the place of rendezvous, and where, from the great
+elevation, I hoped still to find some grass. How we were to proceed
+however without water was the question I was frequently asked; and I was
+informed at Bathurst that even the Lachlan was dried up.
+
+On the following day I organised the party, and armed the men. I
+distributed to each a suit of new clothing; consisting of grey trousers
+and a red woollen shirt, the latter article, when crossed by white
+braces, giving the men somewhat of a military appearance.
+
+Their names and designation were as follows:
+
+LIST OF THE MEN.
+
+LIST OF THE PARTY PROCEEDING TO THE DARLING IN MARCH 1836.*
+
+(*Footnote. The men whose names are printed in uppercase had obtained
+their freedom as a reward for past services in the interior. The
+asterisks distinguish the names of men who had been with me on one or
+both the former expeditions. Those to whose names the letter T is also
+prefixed having previously obtained a ticket of leave releasing them from
+a state of servitude. Each man was also furnished with a small case
+containing six cartridges which he was ordered always to wear about his
+waist.)
+
+COLUMN 1: NAMES.
+COLUMN 2: OCCUPATION IN THE EXPLORING PARTY.
+COLUMN 3: OCCASIONAL EMPLOYMENT.
+COLUMN 4: ARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS.
+
+Major T.L. Mitchell: Chief of the party : - : Rifle and pistols.
+G.C. Stapylton, Esquire : Second in command : - : Carabine and pistol.
+**ALEXANDER BURNETT : Overseer : Storekeeper : Carabine and pistol.
+**ROBERT MUIRHEAD : Bullock-driver : Soldier and lance-corporal : Musket,
+bayonet and pistol.
+T*Charles Hammond : Bullock-driver : - : Musket, bayonet and pistol.
+T*William Thomas : Bullock-driver : Butcher : Musket, bayonet and pistol.
+Richard Lane : Bullock-driver : - : Carabine and pistol.
+James McLellan : Bullock-driver : - : Musket, bayonet and pistol.
+Charles Webb : Bullock-driver : - : Musket, bayonet and pistol.
+T*John Johnston : Blacksmith : - : Carabine.
+T Walter Blanchard : Blacksmith : Measurer : Carabine and pistol.
+**WILLIAM WOODS : Horse carter : Sailor : Carabine and pistol.
+*Charles King : Horse carter : Measurer : Musket, bayonet and pistol.
+*John Gayton : Horse carter : Cook : Carabine.
+John Drysdale : Medical attendant : Barometer-carrier : Carabine.
+John Roach : Collector of birds : - : Pistol (fowling-piece).
+John Richardson : Collector of plants : Shepherd : Two pistols.
+**JOHN PALMER : Sailor : Sailmaker : Carabine and pistol.
+John Douglas : Sailor : - : Carabine.
+T**Joseph Jones : Shepherd : - : Carabine.
+James Taylor : Groom : Trumpeter : Carabine and pistol.
+Edward Pickering : Carpenter : Barometer-carrier : Carabine.
+Archibald McKean : Carpenter : Barometer-carrier : Carabine.
+James Field : Shoemaker : - : Carabine.
+**Anthony Brown : Cook : - : Carabine and pistol.
+
+This was the army with which I was to traverse unexplored regions
+peopled, as far as we knew, by hostile tribes. But I could depend upon a
+great portion of the men, and amongst them were some who had been with me
+on the two former expeditions and who, although they had obtained their
+emancipation as the well merited reward of their past services in the
+interior, were nevertheless willing to accompany me once more. I accepted
+their services on obtaining a promise from the governor that if the
+expedition was successful their conditional pardons might be converted
+into absolute pardons, a boon on which even some wealthy men in the
+colony would probably have set a high value.
+
+One of the most devoted of these followers was William Woods who, having
+long toiled carrying my theodolite to the summits of the highest
+mountains, was at length more comfortably situated than he had ever been
+in his life before as overseer of a road party. This poor fellow
+relinquished his place of authority over other men and in which he
+received 1 shilling per diem, again put on the grey jacket, and set a
+valuable example as the most willing of my followers, wherever drudgery
+or difficulty were most discouraging.
+
+LIVESTOCK.
+
+Our cattle were lean but I took a greater number in consequence. The
+pasturage was still meagre and scarcely any water remained on the face of
+the earth. It was unusually low in the holes last year, but this season
+very few indeed contained any. The equinox however was at hand, and I
+could not suppose that it was never to rain again, however hopeless the
+aspect of the country appeared at that time.
+
+AGREEMENT WITH A NATIVE GUIDE.
+
+In this camp of preparation I was visited by our old friends the natives;
+and one who called himself John Piper and spoke English tolerably well
+agreed to accompany me as far as I should go, provided he was allowed a
+horse and was clothed, fed, etc.; all which I immediately agreed to. I
+had not however forgotten Mr. Brown, and I reminded Burnett of that
+native's desertion; but Burnett, who seemed to be on excellent terms with
+Piper, assured me that after he should be some weeks' journey in the
+interior dread of the savage natives would prevent him from leaving our
+party, and so it turned out.
+
+But in breaking on our stock of provisions, we commenced with due regard
+to their importance on an interior journey by so reducing the weight of
+our steel-yard that a five months' stock should last nearly seven months.
+This arrangement was however a secret known only to Burnett and myself.
+
+The plan of encampment was to be the same as on the former journey, only
+that a greater number of carts stood in the line parallel to the
+boat-carriage.
+
+March 17.
+
+I put the party in movement towards Buree and rode across the country on
+our right with Piper. We found the earth parched and bare but, as we
+bounded over hill and dale a fine cool breeze whispered through the open
+forest, and felt most refreshing after the hot winds of Sydney. Dr.
+Johnson's Obidah was not more free from care on the morning of his
+journey than I was on this, the first morning of mine. It was also St.
+Patrick's day, and in riding through the bush I had leisure to recall
+past scenes and times connected with the anniversary. I remembered that
+exactly on that morning, twenty-four years before, I marched down the
+glacis of Elvas to the tune of St. Patrick's Day in the Morning as the
+sun rose over the beleaguered towers of Badajoz. Now, without any of the
+pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war, I was proceeding on a
+service not very likely to be peaceful, for the natives here assured me
+that the Myalls were coming up murry coola, i.e. very angry, to meet us.
+At Buree I rejoined my friend Rankin who had accompanied me from Bathurst
+to the camp, and Captain Raine who occupied this place with his cattle. A
+hundred sheep and five fat oxen were to be furnished by this gentlemen to
+complete my commissariat supplies.
+
+CORROBORY-DANCE OF THE NATIVES.
+
+In the evening the blacks, having assembled in some numbers, entertained
+us with a corrobory, their universal and highly original dance. (See
+Plate.) Like all the rest of the habits and customs of this singular race
+of wild men, the corrobory is peculiar and, from its uniformity on every
+shore, a very striking feature in their character. The dance always takes
+place at night, by the light of blazing boughs, and to time beaten on
+stretched skins, accompanied by a song.* The dancers paint themselves
+white, and in such remarkably varied ways that no two individuals are at
+all alike. Darkness seems essential to the effect of the whole; and the
+painted figures coming forward in mystic order from the obscurity of the
+background, while the singers and beaters of time are invisible, have a
+highly theatrical effect. Each dance seems most tastefully progressive;
+the movement being at first slow, and introduced by two persons
+displaying graceful motions both of arms and legs, others one by one join
+in, each imperceptibly warming into the truly savage attitude of the
+corrobory jump; the legs then stride to the utmost, the head is turned
+over one shoulder, the eyes glare and are fixed with savage energy all in
+one direction, the arms also are raised and inclined towards the head,
+the hands usually grasping waddies, boomerangs, or other warlike weapons.
+The jump now keeps time with each beat, the dancers at every movement
+taking six inches to one side, all being in a connected line, led by the
+first. The line however is sometimes doubled or tripled according to
+space and numbers; and this gives great effect, for when the front line
+jumps to the LEFT, the second jumps to the RIGHT, the third to the LEFT
+again, and so on; until the action acquires due intensity, when all
+simultaneously and suddenly stop. The excitement which this dance
+produces in the savage is very remarkable. However listless the
+individual may be, laying perhaps, as usual, half asleep; set him to this
+dance, and he is fired with sudden energy, and every nerve is strung to
+such a degree that he is no longer to be recognised as the same person
+until he ceases to dance, and comes to you again. There can be little
+doubt that the corrobory is the medium through which the delights of
+poetry are enjoyed, in a limited degree, even by these primitive savages
+of New Holland.
+
+(*Footnote. To this end they stretch a skin very tight over the knees,
+and thus may be said to use the tympanum in its rudest form, this being
+the only instance of a musical instrument that I have seen among them.
+Burder says: "By the timbrels which Miriam and the other women played
+upon when dancing, we are to understand the tympanum of the ancient
+Greeks and Romans, which instrument still bears in the East the name that
+it is in Hebrew, namely, doff or diff, whence is derived the Spanish
+adufe, the name of the Biscayan tabor. Niebuhr describes this instrument
+in his Travels Part 1 page 181. It is a broad hoop, with a skin stretched
+over it; on the edge there are generally thin round plates of metal,
+which also make some noise when this instrument is held up in one hand
+and struck with the fingers of the other hand. Probably no musical
+instrument is so common in Turkey as this; for when the women dance in
+the harem the time is always beat on this instrument. We find the same
+instrument on all the monuments in the hands of the Bacchante. It is also
+common among the negroes of the Gold Coast and Slave Coast." Oriental
+Customs Volume 1.)
+
+VISIT TO THE LIMESTONE CAVES.
+
+March 18.
+
+As it was necessary to grind some wheat with hand-mills to make up our
+supply of flour, I was obliged to remain a day at Buree; and I therefore
+determined on a visit to the limestone caves, by no means the least
+remarkable feature in that country. The whole district consists of trap
+and limestone, the former appearing in ridges, which belong to the lofty
+mass of Canobolas. The limestone occurs chiefly in the sides of valleys
+in different places, and contains probably many unexplored caves. The
+orifices are small fissures in the rock, and they have escaped the
+attention of the white people who have hitherto wandered there. I had
+long been anxious to extend my researches for fossil bones among these
+caves, having discovered during a cursory visit to them some years before
+that many interesting remains of the early races of animals in Australia
+were to be found in the deep crevices and caverns of the limestone rock.
+How they got there was a question which had often puzzled me; but having
+at length arrived at some conclusions on the subject, I was now desirous
+to ascertain, by a more extensive examination of the limestone country,
+whether the caves containing the osseous breccia presented here similar
+characteristics to those I had observed in Wellington Valley.
+
+OSSEOUS BRECCIA.
+
+The first limestone we examined had no crevices sufficiently large to
+admit our bodies; but on riding five miles southward to Oakey creek we
+found a low ridge extending some miles on its left bank which promised
+many openings. We soon found one which I considered to be of the right
+sort, namely a perpendicular crevice with red tuff about the sides. Being
+provided with candles and ropes we descended perpendicularly first, about
+six fathoms to one stage, then obliquely, about half as far to a sort of
+floor of red earth; Mr. Rankin, although a large man, always leading the
+way into the smallest openings. By these means and by crawling through
+narrow crevices we penetrated to several recesses, until Mr. Rankin found
+some masses of osseous breccia beneath the limestone rock but so wedged
+in that they could be extracted only by digging. Unlike the same red
+substance at Wellington Valley where it was nearly as hard as the
+limestone, the red calcareous tuff found here was so loose that the mass
+of bones was easily detached from it; but none of them were perfect,
+except one or two vertebrae of a very large species of kangaroo. Pursuing
+this lode of osseous earth we traced it to several other recesses and in
+the lower side of an indurated mass (the upper part having been the floor
+of our first landing place) we found two imperfect skulls of Dasyuri, the
+teeth being however very well preserved. This was, doubtless, an
+unvisited cave; for the natives have an instinctive or superstitious
+dread of all such places, and it is not therefore probable that man had
+ever before visited that cavern. With all our ropes it cost some of us
+trouble to get out of it, after passing two hours in candle-light. It may
+thus be imagined what a vast field for such interesting researches
+remains still unexplored in that district where limestone occurs in such
+abundance.
+
+The objects of my journey did not admit of further indulgence in the
+pursuit at that time; and I was content with drawing the attention of one
+of the party, a young gentleman residing in the neighbourhood, to it, in
+hopes he might discover some bones of importance.*
+
+(*Footnote. See a further account of these caves and some others in
+Chapter 3.15 below.)
+
+MOUNT GRANARD, FIRST POINT TO BE ATTAINED.
+
+March 19.
+
+Our stores being completed we proceeded along the course of the little
+rivulet of Buree, towards the Lachlan. My first object was to gain Mount
+Granard, described by Mr. Oxley as the most elevated pic of a very high
+range, and laid down on his map to the westward of where the Lachlan
+takes a remarkable turn from its general direction towards the low
+country more to the southward. I had long thought that it might be
+possible to ascertain from this hill whether any range extended westward
+of sufficient magnitude to separate the basins of the Murray and the
+Darling. I wished to visit it last year, but the loss of Mr. Cunningham,
+the consequent delay of the party, and the adverse nature of my
+instructions in regard to my own views, together prevented me. I then saw
+that the hills along the line I was now about to follow were favourable
+for triangulation; but the greater certainty of finding water in a large
+river like the Lachlan was my chief inducement for now moving towards its
+banks, as the season was of such unusual drought. On this day's journey I
+took for my guidance the bearing of a line drawn on the map from Buree,
+as fixed by my former survey, to the mouth of Byrne's creek, as laid down
+by Mr. Oxley; and which I supposed to be the same as that which descends
+from Buree.
+
+HALT ON A DRY CREEK.
+
+The line guided me tolerably well to where I encamped that night. This
+was on a fine-looking plain, within sight of the wooded banks of the
+creek; but, on examining the bed of the latter, I could find no water,
+although I followed it two miles down. There I arrived at a cattle
+station named Toogang, where there was water. It was nothing to the old
+hands of the Darling to go only TWO miles for water. We suffered no
+inconvenience from this; but it was deplorable to see the bed of what
+must in some seasons be a fine little stream so completely dry and dusty.
+This day we met with a new species of Psoralea.* At the camp I
+ascertained the magnetic variation to be 9 degrees 10 minutes 15 seconds
+East, by an observation of the star Beta Centauri.
+
+(*Footnote. A genus chiefly inhabiting the Cape of Good Hope, India, the
+Levant and North America, of which no species have before been published
+from Australia. I was subsequently fortunate enough to discover two more
+species of this genus; which with one as yet unpublished, found by Mr.
+Allan Cunningham in 1818 in the rocky islands of Dampier's Archipelago on
+the north-west coast, makes the number inhabiting Australia to be 4: all
+of which are remarkable for their resemblance to the North American form
+of the genus. The species we observed on this occasion was a small
+spreading herbaceous plant. P. patens, Lindley manuscripts; herbacea,
+pubescens, foliis pinnatim trifoliolatis, foliolis dentatis punctatis
+lateralibus oblongis obtusis intermedio ovato obtuso basi cuneato, racemo
+pedunculato laxo multifloro foliis multo longiore, bracteis subrotundis
+striatis obscure multipunctatis, ramis divaricatis.)
+
+March 20.
+
+We proceeded, crossing the channel near the cattle station where I learnt
+that it was joined immediately below by that which I had named King's
+creek on my last journey; also that water was abundant in it below the
+junction. Some natives joined us and Piper prevailed on one of them to be
+our guide, as far as he knew the country. The use of such a guide in
+following an unexplored watercourse is that bad places for the carts may
+be avoided, and the doubles of the stream cut off by the easiest routes.
+
+BREAK A WHEEL.
+
+In crossing a gully which entered the creek near another station, called
+Chilberengaba, we broke a wheel, and though we had travelled only about
+seven miles we were obliged to encamp, and remain until the carpenter and
+the smith could repair it.
+
+ATTEMPT TO ASCEND MARGA.
+
+In the meantime I set out with the native guide for the summit of Marga,
+which proved to be one of my old fixed points. It was about seven miles
+south-west of our camp; but after a most fatiguing ascent of two steep
+and rocky ridges, during great heat, I was obliged to return without
+reaching Marga. At the cattle station we heard of a bullock which had
+been left by us in an exhausted state during our last expedition; and we
+succeeded in bringing it in, and in laying the yoke on its neck for
+another visit to the banks of the Darling; it was fitter than any other
+of our working bullocks. I added a second species of Psoralea to that
+discovered yesterday, a small graceful plant with racemes of purplish
+minute flowers, elevated far above the leaves, and on slender stalks so
+tough as to be broken only with some difficulty.*
+
+(*Footnote. P. tenax, Lindley manuscripts; herbacea, depressa, perennis,
+glabra, foliis glandulosis palmatim 5-foliolatis, foliolis linearibus vel
+lineari-oblongis obtusis, racemis cylindraceis longissime pedunculatis
+erectis, leguminibus ovatis scabris glabris.)
+
+March 21.
+
+According to arrangements made with Captain King and Mr. Dunlop, the
+King's astronomer at the Parramatta observatory, I halted the party this
+day in order to make hourly observations of the barometer, thermometer,
+the sky, etc. This plan had been strongly recommended by Sir John
+Herschel; and for our present purposes it was most desirable in order
+that we might ascertain how far the fluctuations of the atmosphere in two
+places so distant as Parramatta and Byrne's creek corresponded in these
+simultaneous observations. During our last journey some discrepancies in
+the heights determined by the barometer on the Darling led to a suspicion
+that the fluctuations at such great distances, in situations so
+dissimilar, might vary considerably; and this was now to be ascertained.
+
+THE PARTY IMPEDED BY ROCKS.
+
+March 22.
+
+We continued our journey along the left bank of the creek, but with
+considerable difficulty and delay occasioned by the projection of the
+rocky escarpment of the above-mentioned extremities of Mount Marga; so
+that we had to break away masses of rock and move the carts one by one,
+all hands assisting. We at length gained a pleasant tract of land on
+which the grass was green and luxuriant in consequence of some partial
+rain; and on this place I encamped with the intention of next day
+ascending Marga. In the creek we found ponds, deep and clear like canals;
+their borders being reedy and their margins green. In these ponds the
+natives speared several fishes which had however a muddy flavour. Among
+them was one, apparently the eel-fish, caught during my first expedition
+in the Namoi and upper Darling.* This circumstance was rather in favour
+of the supposition that the streams unite; but still the fish seemed
+somewhat different.
+
+(*Footnote. Plotosus tandanus see Volume 1.)
+
+SNAKES.
+
+On this day's journey we saw several large snakes; one, large and black,
+was shot while swimming in a pond in the creek; the others were of that
+kind named, from the beautifully variegated skin, the carpet snake. The
+natives considered the latter very fierce and dangerous, saying it never
+ran away but always faced or pursued them. It had in fact the flat broad
+head and narrow neck which in general characterise the most venomous
+snakes, also large fangs hooked inwards, which the natives particularly
+pointed out. It had also, near the tail, two articulations with something
+like a toe and joint on each, such as I had not observed before in any
+other kind of snake. A smaller one of the same kind attacked one of the
+party, and also a native, but the former shook it from his clothes, it
+then fixed its teeth in the skin of the native who detached it with
+difficulty; but as no blood came from the bite he seemed to care little
+about it. The native name of this place was Cuenbla.
+
+VIEW FROM MARGA.
+
+March 23.
+
+I set off, accompanied by my black guide mounted, for the top of Marga,
+and we reached it this time by a route in which the native displayed the
+usual skill of his race. Certainly I never ascended a hill of more
+perplexing features, all these heights being also of extremely difficult
+access, very steep and extending in the direction of 10 and 12 degrees
+East of North. They consist of the sharp edges of inclined strata of hard
+purple-coloured clay-slate. I was however rewarded for the fatigues this
+hill had cost me, on two different days, not with a fine view, for the
+summit was too woody for that, but with a sight of some important points
+determined during my late journey; and others which I had then observed
+only from the Canobolas but which I was now enabled to fix by angles
+observed from this station. The most important point visible besides the
+Canobolas was Mount Lachlan, by means of which I determined the true
+situation of Marga and the neighbouring hill Nangar; which is rather
+higher but more wooded, and 2 1/2 miles distant towards the south-east.
+These two form the summits of an isolated mountain mass on the left bank
+of Byrne's creek, the top of Marga being about 1000 feet above our camp
+on its banks. I drew outlines (according to my usual custom) of all the
+hills on the horizon before us, and took angles on them with the
+theodolite. Descending by a shorter route I reached the camp in time to
+protract my angles, whereby I ascertained to my great satisfaction that
+both Marga and Nangar had been truly fixed from the Canobolas, as well as
+other points observed in my former journey, the accuracy of which, by a
+good angle with Mount Lachlan, I was thus enabled to prove without going
+out of my way, besides establishing there a good base for extending the
+survey southward.
+
+March 24.
+
+Our guide was now joined by some older natives, and one of them had been
+examining the country ahead, being anxious about the safe passage of our
+carts. His reconnaissance had not been made in vain, for he led us to an
+easy, open pass through a range of which we had heard much from stockmen
+as likely to trouble us because, as they said, its rocky extremities
+overhung the creek. We crossed it with ease however, guided by the
+native. It consisted of granite and evidently belonged geologically to
+the ridge traversed by us on the second day after leaving Buree during
+our last journey. On the range, green pine trees (callitris) and a
+luxuriant crop of grass covering the adjacent country, multitudes of fat
+cattle were to be seen on all sides. I had heard that, after crossing the
+burnt up surface of the colony, I should see green pastures here, beyond
+its limits.
+
+CROSS BYRNE'S CREEK.
+
+We crossed Byrne's creek, near a cattle station called Lagoura, and after
+keeping its banks for four miles further (having for that distance
+granitic hills on our right) we finally quitted it, and passed over a
+grassy plain of the same kind of soil and character as those extensive
+level tracts seen during our last journey but having, what seemed
+singular to our unaccustomed sight, a coating of green herbage upon it.
+
+NEW PLANTS.
+
+In our progress I found no fewer than three new species of the pretty
+genus Trichinium;* a small species of Sida before undiscovered, with
+minute yellow flowers,** and also a fine-looking acacia with falcate
+leaves, singularly white or rather silvery, and with drooping graceful
+branches.***
+
+(*Footnote.
+
+1. Tr. alopecuroideum, Lindley manuscripts; caule ramoso glabro, foliis
+lanceolatis glabris subtus scabriusculis, spicis cylindraceis elongatis,
+bracteis rotundatis, calycibus herbaceis sursum calvis acutis, rachi
+pilosa, cyatho staminum dentato.
+
+2. Tr. parviflorum, Lindley manuscripts; foliis ovatis acutis petiolatis
+subtus et caule furfuraceo-tomentosis, spicis gracilibus elongatis,
+bracteis acuminatis scariosis, calycibus lanatis, rachi lanata,
+staminibus inaequalibus distinctis.
+
+3. Tr. sessilifolium, Lindley manuscripts; foliis oblongis obtusis
+sessilibus et caule furfuraceo-tomentosis, spicis oblongis, bracteis
+rotundatis lanatis, calycibus longe tubulosis lanatis sursum pilosis,
+rachi tomentosa, staminibus inaequalibus distinctis.)
+
+(**Footnote. S. corrugata, Lindley manuscripts; incana, prostrata,
+pusilla, foliis subrotundis angulatis cordatis palminerviis serratis,
+pedunculis 2-3 filiformibus petiolis longioribus, fructu disciformi
+corrugato, coccis monospermis commissuris muricatis.)
+
+(***Footnote. This proved to be a very distinct, undescribed species. A.
+leucophylla, Lindley manuscripts; gracilis, ramulis filiformibus
+angulatis albido-sericeis, phyllodiis lineari-lanceolatis falcatis apice
+uncinatis obscure 2-nerviis appresse et densissime sericeis: margine
+superiore basi subglanduloso, racemis umbellatis axillaribus phyllodio
+multo brevioribus.)
+
+REACH THE LACHLAN.
+
+Travelling four miles more across level forest land, we reached the banks
+of the Lachlan at Waagan,* a cattle station a mile and a half below the
+junction of Byrne's creek of Oxley, which we had just traced in its
+course from Buree.
+
+(*Footnote. Waagan means a crow in the native language.)
+
+FIND ITS CHANNEL DRY.
+
+I beheld in the Lachlan all the features of the Darling, but on a
+somewhat smaller scale. The same sort of large gumtrees, similar steep,
+soft, muddy banks; and, even in this place, a margin with an outer bank.
+But its waters were gone, except in a few small ponds in the very deepest
+parts of its bed. Such was now the state of that river down which my
+predecessor's boats had floated. I had during the last winter drawn my
+whaleboats 1600 miles overland without finding a river where I could use
+them; whereas Mr. Oxley had twice retired by nearly the same routes, and
+in the same season of the year, from supposed inland seas!
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.2.
+
+Continue the journey.
+Acacia pendula.
+Ascend Mount Amyot.
+Field's Plains.
+Cracks in the surface.
+Ascend Mount Cunningham.
+Mr. Oxley's tree.
+Rain.
+Goobang Creek.
+Large fishes.
+Heavy rain.
+Ascend Mount Allan.
+Natives from the Bogan.
+Prophecy of a Coradje.
+Poisoned waterhole.
+Ascend Hurd's Peak.
+Snake and bird.
+Ride to Mount Granard.
+Scarcity of water there.
+View from the summit.
+Encamp there.
+Ascend Bolloon, a hill beyond the Lachlan.
+Natives refuse to eat emu.
+Native dog.
+Kalingalungaguy.
+Mr. Stapylton overtakes the party.
+Of the plains in general.
+Character of the Goobang and Bogan.
+Cudjallagong or Regent's Lake.
+Nearly dry.
+Dead trees in it.
+Rocks near it.
+Trap and tuff.
+Natives there.
+Women.
+Men.
+Their account of the country lower down.
+Oolawambiloa.
+Gaiety of the natives.
+Colour light.
+Mr. Stapylton surveys the lake.
+Campbell's Lake.
+Piper obtains a gin.
+Ascend Goulburn range.
+View from the summit.
+Warranary.
+A new Correa.
+
+CONTINUE THE JOURNEY.
+
+March 25.
+
+Following the direction of the general course of the Lachlan as laid down
+by Mr. Oxley we crossed a fine tract of open forest land, and at the
+distance of five miles arrived at a dry reach. Soon after we passed
+Billabugan, a cattle station on the river where the dry branch joined it;
+and at three miles further we traversed the southern skirts of a plain,
+and finally made a bend of the Lachlan on which we encamped in latitude
+33 degrees 24 minutes 28 seconds South. In the course of this day's
+journey we discovered a bush resembling the European dwarf elder but with
+yellow flowers, and fruit with scarcely any pulp.*
+
+(*Footnote. This proves to be a new genus of Caprifoliaceae, paragraph
+mark Sambuceae. Tripetelus australasicus, Lindley manuscripts (tripetelos
+having 3 leaves; the calyx has 3 sepals, the corolla 3 petals, the
+stamens are 3, and the carpels are also 3). Calyx superus tridentatus.
+Corolla rotata, tripartita, lutea, laciniis concavis conniventibus.
+Antherae tres, fauce sessiles. Ovarium 3-loculare; ovulis solitariis
+pendulis; stigmata 3, sessilia. Fructus subexsuccus, 3-queter, 3-pyrenus,
+putamine chartaceo. Caulis herbaceus. Folia opposita, glabra, pinnata,
+2-juga cum impari, laciniis lanceolatis acuminatis serratis; glandulis 2
+verruciformibus loco stipularum. Flores laxe paniculati.)
+
+Acacia pendula.
+
+March 26.
+
+This day at five miles further we ascended some undulating ground on
+which the acacias of the interior grew. We found the same ridged and wavy
+surface with the Acacia pendula and the pigeons which usually abound
+about such parts of the country. Here we found also a singular species of
+Jasmine, forming an upright bush not unlike a Vitex, with short axillary
+panicles of white flowers. It proved to be J. lineare, R. Br. We soon
+after came upon the borders of the great plain of Gullerong, which
+extends about eight miles from east to west, and three northward from a
+branch of the river, then quite dry. These I believe were the
+Solway-flats of Mr. Oxley. We turned from them late in the afternoon, at
+the suggestion of a native wearing a brass-plate like a bottle label, and
+on which was engraven Billy Hawthorne. We succeeded in reaching a bend of
+the river containing water only after travelling 18 1/4 miles; and in
+latitude 33 degrees 23 minutes 21 seconds South.
+
+March 27.
+
+This day being Sunday I halted; especially as the cattle had made an
+unusually long journey the day before. I wished to take sights for the
+purpose of ascertaining the rate of my chronometer, and to lay down my
+surveys. I found that Mr. Oxley's points on this river were much too far
+to the westward; a circumstance to be expected as his survey could not,
+at that early age of the colony, be connected with Parramatta by actual
+measurement; as mine was. Our latitudes however agreed very exactly.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT AMYOT.
+
+March 28.
+
+Continued our journey and, at only a mile and a half from our camp, I was
+surprised to find myself at the foot of Mount Amyot, better known to
+stockmen by its native name of Camerberdang. I gave the party a bearing
+or distant object to advance upon; and I lost no time in ascending the
+hill, followed by Woods with my theodolite. From its crest, low as it
+was, I still recognised the Canobolas and ascertained from my drawings
+formerly made there that even on this hill (Mount Amyot) I had taken an
+angle from their summit last season. It was valuable now, enabling me to
+determine the true place of the hill from which I was to extend my angles
+further westward. I easily recognised Marga and Nangar, and a very useful
+and remarkable point of my former survey to the northward of those hills,
+also several still more conspicuous ones in the country beyond the
+Lachlan.
+
+FIELD'S PLAINS.
+
+To the westward I beheld the view etched in Mr. Oxley's book as Field's
+Plains; and what was of much more importance to me then, Mounts
+Cunningham, Melville, Allan, etc. etc. on all which, as far as I could, I
+took angles, and then descending, rejoined the party about six miles on.
+I met at the foot of this hill a colonist, a native of the country.* He
+said he had been seventy miles down the river in search of a run for his
+cattle; but had found none; and he assured me that, without the aid of
+the blacks who were with him on horseback, he could not have obtained
+water.
+
+(*Footnote. Mr. James Collits of Mount York.)
+
+Mount Amyot had the appearance of granite from the plains, but I found
+that it consisted of the ferruginous sandstone. It is the southern
+extremity of a long ridge elevated not more than 200 feet above the
+plains at its base. We encamped at a bend of the river, on the border of
+a small plain named Merumba in latitude 33 degrees 19 minutes 16 seconds
+South. Variation 8 degrees 54 minutes 15 seconds East.
+
+We were here disturbed by herds of cattle running towards our spare
+bullocks and mixing with them and the horses. In no district have I seen
+cattle so numerous as all along the Lachlan; and notwithstanding the very
+dry season, they were nearly all in good condition. We found this day,
+near the river bed, a new herbaceous indigo with white flowers and pods
+like those of the prickly liquorice (Glycyrrhiza echinata).*
+
+(*Footnote. I. acantho carpa, Lindley manuscripts; caule herbaceo erecto
+ramisque angulatis scabriusculis, foliis pinnatis 5-jugis
+viscido-pubescentibus; foliolis lineari-lanceolatis mucronulatis margine
+scabris, racemis folio aequalibus, leguminibus subrotundo-ovalibus
+compressis mucronatis echinatis monospermis.)
+
+March 29.
+
+Our next point was Mount Cunningham (Beery birree of the natives) and we
+travelled towards it along the margin of Field's Plains as the angles of
+the river allowed.
+
+CRACKS IN THE SURFACE.
+
+This was our straightest course, but we had to keep along the riverbank
+for another reason. The plains were full of deep cracks and holes so that
+the cart wheels more than once sunk into them, and thus detained us for
+nearly an hour. A sagacious black advised us to keep near the riverbank,
+and we found the ground better. We encamped at half-past two o'clock,
+after a journey of ten miles; and I immediately set out, accompanied by a
+native and a man carrying my theodolite, both on horseback, for the
+highest or northern point of Mount Cunningham (a). The distance was full
+five miles; yet we could not proceed direct on horseback, the scorched
+plains being full of deep, wide cracks; and we were therefore compelled
+to take a circuitous route nearer the river.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT CUNNINGHAM.
+
+There our guide called up three savage-looking natives with spears, whom
+he described to be the natives of the hill, and they accompanied us to
+the top. With some difficulty we led our horses near the crest, our new
+friends always keeping the vantage ground of us, apparently from
+apprehension. At length I planted my theodolite on the highest part of
+the summit which commanded a fine view of the western horizon; and from
+the mouths of my sable guides I obtained the native names, in all their
+purity, of the various hills in sight. The most distant, named Bolloon,
+were said to be near the great lake Cudjallagong--no doubt Regent's Lake
+of Oxley--and a peak they called Tolga I took to be Hurd's Peak of the
+same traveller.
+
+NYORORONG.
+
+Still I saw nothing on the horizon in the direction of his Mount Granard,
+and in no other any hill of magnitude, except in the quarter whence I
+came, where I still discerned my old friends Marga and Nangar, with
+Nyororong and Berabidjal, high hills more to the southward.
+
+Mount Cunningham consists of ferruginous sandstone. The sun had reached
+the horizon before I left the summit, which I did not until I had
+obtained an angle on every visible point. We arrived at the camp soon
+after seven o'clock. Latitude by an observation of Cor Leonis 33 degrees
+15 minutes 27 seconds South.
+
+MR. OXLEY'S TREE.
+
+March 30.
+
+I ascertained accidentally this morning that we were abreast of the spot
+where Mr. Oxley left the Lachlan and proceeded southward. This I learnt
+from a marked tree which a native pointed out to me distant about 250
+yards south from our camp, on the opposite side of a branch of the river.
+On this tree were still legible the names of Mr. Oxley and Mr. Evans; and
+although the inscription had been there nineteen years the tree seemed
+still in full vigour; nor could its girth have altered much, judging from
+the letters which were still as sharp as when first cut, only the bark
+having overgrown part of them had been recently cleared away a little as
+if to render the letters more legible. I endeavoured to preserve still
+longer an inscription which had withstood the fires of the bush and the
+tomahawks of the natives for such a length of time by making a drawing of
+it as it then appeared.
+
+By Mr. Oxley's journal we learn that where the river formed two branches
+he, on the 17th of May, 1817, hauled up his boats, and on the following
+day commenced his intended journey towards the south-east. But our
+latitudes also assisted us in verifying the spot. Mr. Oxley made the
+latitude of his camp (doubtless near the tree) 33 degrees 15 minutes 34
+seconds South which gives a difference of seven seconds for the 250 yards
+between the tree and my camp. The variation of the needle Mr. Oxley found
+to be here, in 1817, 7 degrees 0 minutes 8 seconds East and I had made it
+at the last camp (Merimbah) 8 degrees 54 minutes 15 seconds East, or
+nearly two degrees more, in a lapse of 19 years. The longitude of this
+point as now ascertained by trigonometrical measurement from Parramatta
+was 147 degrees 33 minutes 50 seconds East, or 17 minutes 50 seconds
+(equal on this parallel to 17 1/4 miles) nearer to Sydney than it is laid
+down by Mr. Oxley.
+
+We proceeded from this camp towards the southern extremity of Mount
+Cunningham, under which a small branch of the Lachlan passes so close
+that the party was occupied an hour and a half in removing rocks to open
+a passage for the carts. We then got into an open country in which we
+soon saw the same dry branch of the Lachlan before us; but we turned more
+to the north-west until we reached a slightly undulated surface. No
+branch of the river extends to the northward of Mount Cunningham as shown
+on Mr. Oxley's map; but a small tributary watercourse, then dry, skirts
+the eastern side of the hill, and enters that branch of the Lachlan which
+we were upon.
+
+Yesterday and this day had been so excessively hot (82 degrees in the
+shade) that I confidently anticipated rain, especially when the sky
+became cloudy to the westward, while the wind blew steadily from the
+opposite quarter. A dense body of vapour in the shape of stratus, or fall
+cloud of the meteorologist, was at the same time stretching eastward
+along the distant horizon on both sides of us. After crossing some sound,
+open plains of stiff clay, guided by the natives, we gained an extensive
+pond of muddy water and encamped on a hill of red sand on its northern
+bank, and under shelter of a grove of callitris trees.
+
+RAIN.
+
+The wind now began to blow and the sky, to my great delight, being at
+length overcast, promised rain enough to fill the streams and waterholes:
+at twilight it began to come down. In the woods we passed through this
+day we found a curious willow-like acacia with the leaves slightly
+covered with bloom, and sprinkled on the underside with numerous reddish
+minute drops of resin.* The Pittosporum angustifolium we also recognised
+here, loaded with its singular orange-coloured bivalved fruit.
+
+(*Footnote. This is allied in some respects to A. verniciflua and
+exudans, but is a very distinct and well-marked species. A. salicina,
+Lindley manuscripts; glaucescens, ramulis angulatis, phyllodiis
+divaricatis lineari et oblongo-lanceolatis utrinque angustatis
+obtusissimis uninerviis venulis pinnatis: ipso apice glandulosis subtus
+resinoso-punctatis, capitulis 3-5 racemosis phyllodiis triplo
+brevioribus.)
+
+March 31.
+
+It rained during the night and this morning the sky seemed as if it would
+continue; the mercury in the barometer also falling, we halted. On a dry
+sandhill, with wood and water at hand, we were well prepared to await the
+results of a flood; some good grass also was found for the cattle on firm
+ground at the distance of about two miles.
+
+GOOBANG CREEK.
+
+Mount Allan (Wollar of the natives) lay north-east by north, at a
+distance of 3 3/4 miles. It was not a conspicuous or commanding hill, but
+between it and our camp we this day discovered a feature of considerable
+importance. This was the Goobang creek of our former journey, to all
+appearance here as great a river as the Bogan and indeed its channel,
+where we formerly saw it, contained deep ponds of clear water at a season
+when the muddy holes of the Bogan had nearly failed us. Here the Goobang
+much resembled that river in the depth of its bed and the character of
+its banks: and its sources and tributaries must be also similar to those
+of the Bogan. Hervey's range gives birth to the one, Croker's range to
+the other and, their respective courses being along the opposite sides of
+the higher land extending westward between the Lachlan and Macquarie, all
+their tributaries must fall from the same ridge. Of these Mr. Oxley
+crossed several in his route from the Lachlan to the Macquarie;
+Emmeline's Valley creek belonging to the basin of the Goobang;
+Coysgaine's ponds and Allan's water to that of the Bogan. It was rather
+unfortunate, considering how much has been said about the Lachlan
+receiving no tributaries in its long course, that Mr. Oxley left
+unexplored that part where a tributary of such importance as the Goobang
+joins it; especially as the floods of this stream lay the country below
+Mount Cunningham under water, and are the sole cause of that swampy
+appearance which Mr. Oxley observed from the hill on looking westward. It
+would appear that this traveller's route northward was nearly parallel to
+the general course of the Goobang. The name this stream receives from the
+natives here is Billibang, Goobang being considered but one of its
+tributaries. Its course completes the analogy between the rivers and
+plains on each side, and the supposed disappearance of the channel of the
+Lachlan seemed consequently as doubtful as the mysterious termination of
+the Macquarie.
+
+April 1.
+
+The rain continuing, the party remained encamped. The barometer had
+fallen since we came here from 29.442, at which it stood last night at
+ten, to 29.180, which I noted this morning at six: the thermometer
+continuing about 60 degrees of Fahrenheit.
+
+LARGE FISHES.
+
+On dragging our net through the muddy pond we captured two fishes, but of
+monstrous size, one weighing 17 pounds, the other about 12 pounds.
+Although very different in shape, I recognised in them the fish of the
+perch kind with large scales* and the eel-fish** formerly caught by us in
+the Namoi. But the former when taken in that river was coarse and tasted
+of mud, whereas this ruffe, although so large was not coarse, but rich,
+and of excellent flavour--and so fat that the flakes fell into crumbs
+when fried. This day a bird of a new species was shot by Roach. It was of
+a swallow kind, about the size of a snipe, of a leaden colour, with dark
+head and wings.
+
+(*Footnote. Cernua bidyana.)
+
+(**Footnote. Plotosus tandanus.)
+
+HEAVY RAIN.
+
+April 2.
+
+The rain continued through the night and this morning it fell rather
+heavily, so that enough of water could be gathered from the surface of
+the plains near our camp to preclude the necessity for our having
+recourse to the muddy pool. The barometer began to rise slowly from seven
+in the morning, when it had reached its minimum; but the weather
+continued hazy, with drizzling rain (from the south-west) until four
+o'clock, when the clouds slowly drew up. The plains were not yet at all
+saturated, although become too soft for our carts. The evening was
+cloudy, but by ten o'clock the state of the barometer was such as to
+leave little doubt about the return of fair weather. We this day found in
+the woods to the northward a most beautiful species of Trichinium, with
+spiky feathered pale yellow flowers, sometimes as much as six inches
+long.*
+
+(*Footnote. Tr. nobile, Lindley manuscripts; foliis caulinis obovatis
+cuspidatis subundulatis ramisque corymbosis angulatis glabris, spica
+cylindracea: rachi lanata, calycis laciniis 3 acutis 2 retusis, bracteis
+puberulis. Differs from Tr. densum, Cunningham in the bracts not being
+villous at the base, and from T. macrocephalum, R. Br. in having much
+larger flowers, which are yellow not lilac, and in three of the segments
+of the calyx being acute.)
+
+ASCEND MOUNT ALLAN.
+
+April 3.
+
+Thick fog in the morning. The day being Sunday the party remained in the
+camp; but I do not think we could have left it from the soft state of the
+plains, however desirable it might have been to proceed. After twelve I
+rode to Wollar (Mount Allan) with the theodolite, and from its summit I
+intersected most of the hills seen from Mounts Amyot and Cunningham. A
+small wart on the eastern horizon, very distant yet conspicuous, I found
+to be Mount Juson, the hill on which I had stood with the brother of the
+botanist whose name had been given to this hill by Mr. Oxley.
+
+The sameness in the surface of this country is apparently owing to the
+simplicity of its geological composition. All the hills I ascended below
+the junction of Byrne's creek consist of ferruginous sandstone, similar
+to that which constitutes all the hills I saw on, and even beyond, the
+Darling.
+
+On passing to and from Mount Allan we crossed, at three-quarters of a
+mile from the camp, Goobang creek, the bed of which exactly resembles
+that of the Bogan. The remains of drifted weeds on the trees and the
+uniformity of its channel showed that it is a considerable tributary of
+the Lachlan. At length the stars appeared in the evening, and I could
+once more see my unerring guides, the faithful Little Dog, and the mighty
+Hercules,* whereby our latitude seemed to be 33 degrees 8 minutes 55
+seconds South.
+
+(*Footnote. Procyon, in Canis Minor and Regulus in Leo. The latter being
+also called Hercules and Cor Leonis.)
+
+NATIVES FROM THE BOGAN.
+
+At the camp we recognised among the natives seated at our fire two of our
+friends from the Bogan. Their little shovel of hard wood (not used on the
+Lachlan) and one of the tomahawks formerly distributed by us left no room
+to doubt whether we were right about their features.
+
+PROPHECY OF A CORADJE.
+
+One was an old man and a Coradje, the other was a boy. They disappeared
+in the evening, but the Coradje was so far civil as to tell the men that,
+having heard The Major was praying for rain, he had caused the late fall.
+This priest had also prophesied a little for our information, telling the
+men that a day was at hand when two of them would go out to watch the
+bullocks and would never return.
+
+April 4.
+
+The surface being sufficiently dry to enable us to travel we accordingly
+continued our journey and, crossing the Goobang at 5 1/4 miles, we kept
+the right bank of it during the day. The surface on that side was dry and
+firm; and it may be remarked that if ever it becomes desirable to open a
+line of communication from Sydney towards the country on the lower part
+of the Murray, the right bank of the Goobang will probably be found the
+best direction as the adjacent valley affords both grass and water for
+the passage of cattle, and the doubtful plains of the Lachlan may be thus
+avoided.
+
+POISONED WATERHOLE.
+
+We finally encamped on the Lachlan at the junction of the Goobang, in
+latitude 33 degrees 5 minutes 20 seconds; longitude East 147 degrees 13
+minutes 10 seconds. There the river contained some deep pools and we
+expected to catch fish; but Piper told us that the holes had been
+recently poisoned, a process adopted by the natives in dry seasons, when
+the river no longer flows, for bringing the fish to the surface of deep
+ponds and thus killing the whole; I need not add that none of us got a
+bite. All these holes were full of recently cut boughs of the eucalyptus,
+so that the water was tinged black.
+
+ASCEND HURD'S PEAK.
+
+April 5.
+
+As soon as the party had started I gave the overseer the bearings and
+distances to be pursued; while I proceeded to the cone named Hurd's peak
+by Oxley, but by the natives Tolga. It was distant about four miles from
+our line of route. A low ridge of quartz rock extends from the Goobang to
+this peak the base of which consists of chlorite slate, and its summit of
+squarish pebbles of quartz, with the angles rounded, associated with
+fragments of chlorite slate. There was just convenient room on it for the
+theodolite and, as it afforded a most satisfactory and commanding view,
+well suited for the purpose of surveying, it seemed to have been aptly
+named after a distinguished geographer. Many points of a distant range
+now appeared on the north-western horizon in the direction of Oxley's
+Mount Granard, and the ridge of Bolloon (towards the great lake
+Cudjallagong) seemed not very distant. I took angles on all the points
+and then hastened to overtake the party, which I did after they had
+travelled about nine miles. At fourteen miles we made the banks of the
+Lachlan, and encamped by the side of it on the edge of a plain in
+latitude 33 degrees 4 minutes 38 seconds South, longitude 147 degrees
+East. Judging by the relative position of Hurd's peak etc., I supposed it
+might have been about this place that Oxley's party crossed to the right
+bank of the river on his return towards Wellington valley. No traces
+however were discovered by us here of the first explorers of the Lachlan.
+
+April 6.
+
+The night had been mild and clear and the sun rose in a cloudless sky. We
+traversed plains of firmer surface than those crossed on the previous
+day. So early even as nine o'clock the heat was oppressive.
+
+SNAKE AND BIRD.
+
+On one of these plains I witnessed an instance of the peculiar
+fascination attributed to the serpent race. A large snake, lying at full
+length, attracted our attention and I wished to take it alive, but as
+Roach, the collector, was at a distance, some time elapsed before
+preparations were made for that purpose. The ground was soft and full of
+holes, into one of which it would doubtless have disappeared as soon as
+it was alarmed. The rest of the party came up yet, unlike snakes in
+general, who glide rapidly off, this creature lay apparently regardless
+of noise, or even of the approach of the man, who went slowly behind it
+and seized its head. At that moment a little bird fluttered from beside a
+small tuft within a few feet of the snake and, it seemed, as the men
+believed, scarcely able to make its escape.
+
+When we were near the spot on which we intended to encamp a native
+pointed out to me a small hill beyond the river where, as he informed me,
+Mr. Oxley and his party had encamped before he crossed the Lachlan. It
+was called by this native Gobberguyn. We pitched our tents a little
+higher than that hill where a favourable bend of the river met my line of
+route. The cattle were much fatigued with the day's work although the
+distance did not exceed eleven miles. It was in my power however to give
+them rest for a day or two as the grass was tolerably good on that part
+of the riverbank, and I was within reach of Mount Granard, a height which
+I had long been anxious to examine, as well as the country to be seen
+from it. Among the usual grasses we found one which I had not previously
+seen and which proved to be a new species of Danthonia.*
+
+(*Footnote. Danthonia pectinata, Lindley manuscripts; spica simplici
+secunda pleiostachya pectinata foliis multo longiore, palea inferiore
+villosissima; laciniis lateralibus membranaceis aristae aequalibus.)
+
+RIDE TO MOUNT GRANARD.
+
+April 7.
+
+I set off early for Mount Granard, followed by six men on horseback and a
+native named Barney who was also mounted. We rode at a smart pace on a
+bearing of 280 degrees across thirty miles of soft red sand in which the
+horses sank up to their fetlocks, and we reached the foot of the hill a
+little before sunset.
+
+SCARCITY OF WATER THERE.
+
+Throughout that extent we neither saw a single watercourse nor discovered
+the least indication of water having lodged there during any season. At
+eleven miles from the camp we crossed a low ridge of granite (named
+Tarratta) a hopeful circumstance to us as promising a primitive range of
+hills between the Darling and Lachlan, and because in a crevice of this
+granite our aboriginal guide found some water. The desert tract we
+crossed was in other respects unvaried except that, in one place, we
+passed through four miles of a kind of scrub which presented difficulties
+of a new character. The whole of it consisted of bushes of a dwarf
+species of eucalyptus, doubtless E. dumosa (A. Cunningham) which grew in
+a manner that rendered it impossible to proceed, except in a very sinuous
+direction, and then with difficulty by pushing our horses between stiffly
+grown branches. Where no bushes grew the earth was naked, except where
+some tufts of a coarse matted weed resembling Spinifex impeded the
+horses, but seemed to be intended by Providence to bind down these desert
+sands. We saw blue ranges on our right, and I hoped that before we
+ascended Mount Granard we should cross some watercourse coming from them;
+but nothing of the kind appeared and, after traversing a dry sandy flat,
+we began to ascend. Finding myself separated from the summit, after we
+had climbed some way, by a deep rocky ravine, and being in doubt about
+obtaining water, I sent the people with the horses to encamp in the
+valley to which that ravine opened, with directions to look for water
+while daylight lasted.
+
+VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.
+
+Meanwhile I proceeded to the summit with one of the men and the native. I
+arrived there and, just before the sun went down, obtained an
+uninterrupted view of the western horizon; but the scene was inconclusive
+as to the existence of such a dividing range as I hoped to see. Ridges
+and summits appeared abundantly enough, but they were not of a bold or
+connected character, and I did not obtain upon the whole a better idea
+than I previously had respecting the extension of that singular group of
+hills to the westward. I stood upon the best height however for carrying
+on my angles in that direction. To the eastward I saw Hurd's Peak and
+Bolloon, also Goulburn's and Macquarie's ranges, Mount Torrens, and Mount
+Aiton of Oxley. The last hill appeared alone on the horizon, in a
+south-south-east direction as shown in his map. But the most commanding
+point was Yerrarar, the highest apex of Goulburn range, forming with
+Bolloon and this station an almost equilateral triangle of about 30 miles
+a side.
+
+The features before us terminated rather abruptly towards the south like
+cliffs of tableland, and seemed to mark out the basin of the Lachlan; but
+beyond those parts overlooking Mr. Oxley's route I could obtain no view,
+although I perceived that I might from Yerrarar.
+
+ENCAMP THERE.
+
+Having completed my work as the sun was setting I hastened to the valley,
+and learnt that the party had discovered neither water nor grass. Barney
+the native had nevertheless obtained both when with me at the top of the
+mountain; and therefore, although it was dark and we were all fatigued,
+yet up that rocky mountain we were compelled to go with the horses, and
+encamp near the summit beside a little pool of water which had been
+well-known to Barney at other times. On this elevated crest the air was
+surprisingly mild during the night for, although I slept in my clothes
+and on the ground, I enjoyed its freshness as a great relief from the
+oppressive heat of the day. Our singular bivouac on the summit, which I
+had so long wished to visit, was adorned with a strange-looking tree,
+probably Casuarina glauca.
+
+April 8.
+
+Next morning I had an opportunity of surveying the hills around me more
+at leisure, and I noted down their various names from the lips of Barney
+for that desolate region, where neither a kangaroo nor a bird was to be
+seen or heard, was poor Barney's country, that lonely mountain his home!
+
+I learned that the only water in these deserts was to be found in the
+crevices of rocks on such hills as this; and I thus understood the cause
+of the smoke I observed last year arising from so many summits when I
+looked over the same region from a hill on its northern limits. Perhaps
+within thirty miles around there was no other water, and the bare top of
+a mountain was certainly one of the last situations where I should have
+thought of seeking for it.
+
+We descended after I had completed my survey from a hill which perhaps no
+white man will again ascend; I may however add, for the information of
+those who may be disposed to do so, that the well is on the crest of a
+ridge extending north-west from the principal summit, and distant
+therefrom about 200 yards. I had brought provisions for another day as I
+originally intended to examine the course of the Lachlan above Mount
+Torrens; but having seen enough from this hill to satisfy me on that
+point we retraced our steps to the camp.
+
+April 9.
+
+This day I halted as well to rest the horses as for the purpose of
+observing equal altitudes of the sun and protracting my survey.
+
+ASCEND BOLLOON, A HILL BEYOND THE LACHLAN.
+
+April 10.
+
+Leaving the party encamped I crossed the Lachlan and rode eight miles due
+south to Bolloon which proved to be the highest cone of a low ridge
+situated within the great bend of this river. I found it a valuable
+station for continuing my chain of triangles downwards, as from it Mounts
+Cunningham and Allan, Hurd's Peak, Peel's and Goulburn ranges, Mount
+Granard, etc. are all visible. We passed some lower hills belonging to
+the same chain, and of which the basis seemed to be the prevailing
+ferruginous sandstone. In my return to the camp I found the dogs had
+killed an emu.
+
+NATIVES REFUSE TO EAT EMU.
+
+It is singular that none of the natives would eat of this bird; and the
+reasons they gave were that they were young men, and that none but older
+men who had gins were allowed to eat it; adding that it would make young
+men all over boils or eruptions. This rule of abstinence was also rigidly
+observed by our interpreter Piper.
+
+NATIVE DOG.
+
+Late in the night I was awoke by one of the watch firing a pistol at a
+native dog which had got close to the sheepfold. At the same moment a
+sheep leaped out and, having been at the first alarm pursued by our dogs,
+it was worried in the bed of the river. The native dog having howled as
+it escaped was supposed to have been wounded. To prevent such occurrences
+in future and as this arose from a neglect of my original plan, the two
+fires of the men's tents were ordered to be again placed in such
+positions as threw light around the sheepfold, which was of canvas
+fastened to portable stakes and pegs. (See plan of camp, Volume 1.)
+
+KALINGALUNGAGUY.
+
+April 11.
+
+We left this camp (named Camarba) and continued our journey around the
+great bend of the Lachlan at which point (4 1/2 miles from our camp) the
+low ridge of Kalingalungaguy closed on the river. This ridge is a
+remarkable feature, extending north and south, and I expected to see some
+tributary from the north entering the river here; but we crossed on the
+east side of the ridge only a wide, dry and grassy hollow, which was
+however evidently the channel of a considerable body of water in times of
+flood, as appeared by marks on the trees which grew along the banks. All
+were of the dwarf box kind, named goborro by the natives, a sort of
+eucalyptus which usually grows by itself on the lower margins of the
+Darling and Lachlan, and other parts subject to inundation, and on which
+the occasional rise of the waters is marked by the dark colour remaining
+on the lower part of the trunk. In the bed of the Lachlan at the junction
+of the channel near Kalingalungaguy I found quartz rock.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON OVERTAKES THE PARTY.
+
+We had not proceeded far beyond that ridge when Mr. Stapylton overtook
+the party, having travelled in great haste from Sydney to join us as
+second in command, in compliance with my letter of instructions sent from
+Buree. Mr. Stapylton was accompanied by two stockmen, having left his own
+light equipments at Cordowe, a station above Mount Cunningham. On the
+plains which we crossed this day grew in great abundance that beautiful
+species of lily found in the expedition of 1831, and already mentioned
+under the name of Calostemma candidum,* also the Calostemma luteum of Ker
+with yellow flowers.
+
+(*Footnote. Volume 1. C. candidum; floribus centralibus subsessilibus,
+articulo infra medium in pedicellis longioribus, corona integerrima.)
+
+At nine miles we crossed some granite rocks, evidently a part of the
+ridge of Tarratta, thus exhibiting a uniformity in the granite with the
+general direction of other ridges, which is about north-north-east. The
+strike is between north and north-east; the dip in some places being to
+the west, and in others to the east, at great inclinations. The ridge of
+Kalingalungaguy consists of quartz, clay-slate, and the ferruginous
+sandstone, but I observed in the bed of the river a trap-dyke extending
+to the Bolloon ridge. Of the few low hills about the Lachlan it may be
+observed that they generally range in lines crossing the bed of that
+river. Mount Amyot is a ridge of this sort, being connected to the
+southward with Mount Stewart and Nyororong; and to the northward with the
+high ground separating the Bogan from the Goobang; the latter creek also
+forcing its way through the same chain on its course westward. Mounts
+Cunningham, Melville, and the small hills about them on each bank belong
+to another system of ridges of similar character, but more broken up; and
+the range of Kalingalungaguy with that of Bolloon form a third, also
+intersected by the river.
+
+OF THE PLAINS IN GENERAL.
+
+The plains appear to be divided into several stages by these cross
+ridges, which may have shut up the water of high floods in extensive
+lakes during the existence of which the deposits formed the surface of
+the present plains. Loose red sand also constantly forms low hills on the
+borders of these plains; and it seems to have been derived from the
+decomposition of the sandstone, and may be a diluvial or lacustrine
+deposit. Blue clay appears in the lowest parts of the basin, and forms
+the level parts of the plain, with concretions of marl in thin layers.
+This has every appearance of a mud deposit; but its depth is greater than
+the lowest part visible in the channel of the river. The parallel course
+of small tributaries joining rivers, which seem to be the middle drain of
+extensive plains, may have been marked out during the deposition of the
+sedimentary matter as tributaries, on entering the channel of greater
+streams, immediately become a portion of them; hence it is, the general
+inclination being common to both, that such tributaries do not cross
+these sediments of floods now termed plains in order to join the main
+channel or river now remaining.
+
+CHARACTER OF THE GOOBANG AND BOGAN.
+
+Thus the Goobang, on entering the valley of the Lachlan, pursues a
+parallel course until the ridge from Hurd's peak confines the plain on
+the west and turns the Goobang into the main channel. The Bogan, on the
+opposite side of the high land, may be said to belong to the basin of the
+Macquarie, although it never joins that river, but merely skirts the
+plains which, below Cambelego, may be all supposed to belong to the
+original bed of the Macquarie. Throughout its whole course of 250 miles
+the left bank of the Bogan is close to low hills, while the right adjoins
+the plains of the Macquarie. The basin of the Macquarie, as shown by its
+course near Mount Harris and Morrisset's ponds, falls northward, but that
+of the Darling to the south-west. It is not at all surprising therefore
+that the course of a tributary so much opposed, as the Macquarie is, to
+that of the main stream, should spread into marshes: still less that, on
+being at length choked with the deposit filling up these marshes, it
+should work out for itself a channel less opposed to the course of the
+main stream. Duck creek appears to be now the channel by which the floods
+of the Macquarie join the Darling, and in a course much more direct than
+that through the marshes. Hence the Bogan also, being still less opposed
+to that of the Darling, finally enters that river without presenting the
+anomaly of an invisible channel. In like manner, at a much lower point on
+the Darling, the course of the little stream named Shamrock ponds, so
+remarkable in this respect, may be understood. This forms a chain of
+ponds, or a flowing stream, according to the seasons, between the plains
+on the left bank of the Darling, and the rising grounds further to the
+eastward: but instead of crossing the plains to join the main channel
+this supposed tributary, after approaching within one or two miles of the
+Darling where its plains were narrow, again receded from it as they
+widened, and finally disappeared to the left where the plains were broad,
+so that its junction with the Darling has not even yet been discovered.
+On this principle the channel of the Lachlan, as soon as it enters the
+plains belonging to the basin of the Murrumbidgee, may be sought for on
+the northern skirts of these plains, although its floods may have been
+found to spread in different channels more directly towards the main
+stream.
+
+At 12 1/4 miles we crossed a dry and shallow branch of the river, and at
+14 1/2 miles we at length reached the main channel, and encamped where a
+considerable pond of water remained in it, surrounded by abundance of
+good grass. In this hole we caught some cod-perch (Gristes peelii).
+
+April 12.
+
+I sent back three men with two horses to bring on the light cart of Mr.
+Stapylton, intending to await its arrival (which I expected would be in
+five days) at the end of this day's journey. It was my object to encamp
+as near as possible to Regent's Lake without diverging from the route
+which I wished to follow with the carts, along the bank of the Lachlan.
+
+WANT OF WATER IN THE RIVER.
+
+For this purpose it was desirable to gain a bend of that river at least
+as far west as the most western portion of the lake, according to Mr.
+Oxley's survey. This distance we accomplished and more; for we were
+obliged to proceed several miles further than I intended, and along the
+bank of the river, because no water remained in its bed, until Mr.
+Stapylton found a good pond where we encamped after a journey of 16 1/4
+miles. Notwithstanding such an alarming want of water in the river, we
+saw during this day's journey abundance in hollows on the surface of the
+plains; a circumstance clearly evincing that this river, as Mr. Oxley has
+truly stated, is not at all dependent for its supply on the rains falling
+here. The deep cracks on the plains, so abundant as to impede the
+traveller, seemed capable of absorbing not only the water which falls
+upon them, but also any which may descend from the low hills around.
+During our day's journey I found grey porphyry, the base consisting
+apparently of granular felspar with embedded crystals of common felspar
+and grains of hornblende.
+
+April 13.
+
+The night had been unusually warm, so much so that the thermometer stood
+during the whole of it at 76 degrees (the usual noonday heat) and so
+parching was the air that no one could sleep. A hot wind blew from the
+north-east in the morning, and the barometer fell 4/10 of an inch; there
+were also slight showers.
+
+CUDJALLAGONG OR REGENT'S LAKE.
+
+Leaving Mr. Stapylton in charge of the camp I went with a small mounted
+party to Cudjallagong (Regent's lake) which I found to be nine miles to
+the east-south-east of our tents. We passed by the place where
+Cudjallagong creek first leaves the river and by which this lake is
+supplied.
+
+NEARLY DRY.
+
+The uniformity of breadth and width in this streamlet and its tortuous
+course were curious, especially as it must lead the floods of the Lachlan
+almost directly back from the general direction of their current to
+supply a lake. Thus the fluviatile process seemed to be reversed here,
+the tendency of this river being not to carry surface waters off, but
+rather to spread over land where none could otherwise be found, those
+brought from a great distance. The particular position of this portion of
+depressed surface being so far distant from the general course of the
+river and the communication between it and the river by a backwater so
+shallow and small, the lake can only receive a small share of the river
+deposits and this only from the waters of its highest floods. We found
+the "noble lake" (as it appeared when discovered by Mr. Oxley) now for
+the most part a plain covered with luxuriant grass; some water, it is
+true, lodged on the most eastern extremity, but nowhere to a greater
+depth than a foot. Innumerable ducks took refuge there and also a great
+number of black swans and pelicans, the last standing high upon their
+legs above the remains of Regent's lake. We found the water perfectly
+sweet even in this shallow state. It abounds with the large freshwater
+mussel which was the chief food of the natives at the time we visited it.
+
+DEAD TREES IN IT.
+
+On its northern margin and a good way within the former boundary of the
+lake stood dead trees of a full-grown size which had been apparently
+killed by too much water, plainly showing, like the trees similarly
+situated in Lake George and Lake Bathurst, to what long periods the
+extremes of drought and moisture have extended, and may again extend, in
+this singular country.
+
+ROCKS NEAR IT.
+
+That the lake is sometimes a splendid sheet of water was obvious in its
+line of shores. These were overhung on the south-western side by rocky
+eminences which in some parts consisted of a red calcareous tuff
+containing fragments of schist; in others, of trap-rock or basalt which
+was very hard and black. The opposite shore was lower, with water-worn
+cliffs of reddish clay. By these cliffs and the beaches of drifted sand
+under them, we perceived that the prevailing winds in all times of high
+flood came from the south-west; the north-east side being very different
+from the opposite, which was free from sand and bore no such marks of
+chaffing waves.
+
+TRAP AND TUFF.
+
+At two places the banks are so low that in high floods the water must
+flow over them to the westward and supply, as I supposed, Campbell's
+lake, called Goorongully, and that to the north-east of Regent's lake.
+Upon the whole it appeared that the trap which originally elevated the
+western shore had either partially subsided, or that it was connected
+with a crater or cavity of which the only vestige is this lake. The
+calcareous conglomerate was unlike any rock I had seen elsewhere,
+consisting in part of a tuff resembling the matrix of the fossil bones
+found in limestone fissures. It is also worthy of notice that it appears
+in some low undulations which extend from the lake to the river, and that
+the channel conveying the waters to the lake lies in a hollow between
+them.
+
+NATIVES THERE.
+
+On first approaching the lake we saw the natives in the midst of the
+water, gathering the mussels (unio). I sent Piper forward to tell them
+who we were, and thus, if possible, prevent any alarm at our appearance.
+It began to rain heavily as we rode round; and although detached parties
+of gins on the south shore had taken fright, left their huts and run to
+the main camp, I was glad to find, when we rode up, that they remained
+quietly there, under cover from the heavy rain. These huts or gunyas
+consisted of a few green boughs which had just been put up for shelter
+from the rain then falling. The tribe consisted of about a hundred.
+
+WOMEN.
+
+The females and children were in huts at some distance from those of the
+men. A great number sat huddled together and cowered down under each
+gunya, their skinny limbs being so folded before their bodies that the
+head rested upon the knees. Among the faces were some which, being
+hideously painted white (the usual badge of mourning) grinned horribly;
+and the whole was so characteristic a specimen of life among the
+aborigines that the heavy rain did not prevent me from making a sketch.
+While I was thus employed the natives very hospitably made a fire in a
+vacant gunya, evidently for the purpose of warming poor Barney, our
+guide, who seemed miserably cold, having no covering except a jacket,
+thoroughly wet.
+
+MEN.
+
+The men were in general strong, healthy, and muscular, and among them was
+one who measured six feet four inches, as we afterwards ascertained at
+our camp. My chief object in visiting the lake was to cultivate a good
+understanding with these natives in the hopes that one of them might be
+induced to accompany me down the Lachlan. The facility with which Piper,
+then at a distance of 200 miles from his native place, Bathurst,
+conversed with these people showed that their dialects are not so varied
+as is commonly believed; and I had little doubt that he would be
+understood, even on the banks of the Darling.
+
+THEIR ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY LOWER DOWN. OOLAWAMBILOA.
+
+He ascertained from one of these natives of Regent's lake that after
+eight of our daily journeys, according to his comprehension, the bed of
+the Lachlan would contain no water, and that we must go to the right
+across "the middle," as Piper understood, reaching in four days more a
+lagoon called Burrabidgin or Burrabadimba: that there I must leave the
+carts and go with the native on horseback; and that in two days'
+travelling at the rate we could then proceed, we should reach
+Oolawambiloa, a very great water. They also said that water could be
+found in the bush at the end of each of those four days' journey by one
+of their tribe who would go with us and who had twice been at the great
+water. All this news made me impatient to go on; but we had to remain a
+day or two for the light cart. It rained heavily during the whole
+afternoon; nevertheless a body of these natives accompanied us back,
+keeping pace with our horses.
+
+GAIETY OF THE NATIVES.
+
+Each carried a burning torch of the resinous bark of the callitris, with
+the blaze of which these natives seemed to keep their dripping bodies
+warm, laughing heartily and passing their jokes upon us, our horses and
+particularly upon our two guides of their own race, Piper and Barney, who
+seemed anything but at home on horseback with wet clothes dripping about
+them.
+
+COLOUR LIGHT.
+
+These natives were of a bright copper colour, so different from black
+that one had painted his thighs with black chequered lines which made his
+skin very much resemble the dress of a harlequin.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON SURVEYS THE LAKE.
+
+Mr. Stapylton proceeded with a party to make a survey of Cudjallagong
+lake and creek, an operation which could be accomplished with less
+inconvenience as that gentleman's equipment could not come up to us until
+the 16th.
+
+CAMPBELL'S LAKE.
+
+He extended his survey to the small lake to the north-east, the first
+discovered by Mr. Oxley and named by him Campbell's lake. Mr. Stapylton
+found only a grassy plain without a drop of water. By an opening from
+Cudjallagong lake he proceeded to another likewise seen by Mr. Oxley. It
+had also become a verdant plain, nevertheless I thought it was necessary
+to distinguish it on my map by its native name of Goorongully, as Mr.
+Oxley had not supplied any to it.
+
+April 15.
+
+The sky had continued overcast although no rain fell after the evening of
+the 13th. This day however the wind changed from north-west to west and
+the sky became clear.
+
+PIPER OBTAINS A GIN.
+
+The surveying party returned from the lake by midday; and with it came
+also Piper, my aboriginal interpreter, who had gone there chiefly with
+the view of obtaining a gin, a speculation which I thought rather
+hazardous on his part; yet, strange to say, a good strong woman marched
+behind him into our camp, loaded with a new opossum-skin cloak, and
+various presents, that had been given to Piper with her. How he contrived
+to settle this important matter with a tribe to whom he was an utter
+stranger could not be ascertained; for he left our party on the lake by
+night, going quite alone to the natives, and returned from their camp in
+the morning followed by his gin. To obtain a gin at Cudjallagong was the
+great ambition of most of the natives we had left behind, among whom were
+two, friends of Piper, whom I compelled to return, and who were most
+anxious to accompany us that they might obtain wives at this place.
+
+ASCEND GOULBURN RANGE.
+
+April 16.
+
+The morning was beautifully clear and I set out for the summit of
+Goulburn range, named Yerrarar, fourteen miles distant from the camp. The
+country we rode over was so thinly wooded that the hill was visible
+nearly the whole way. The soil was good and firmer than the common
+surface of the plains, the basis being evidently different, consisting
+rather of trap than of the sandstone so prevalent elsewhere. At exactly
+halfway we passed a hill of trap-rock, connected with a low range
+extending towards still higher ground nearer Regent's lake, on the
+eastern side. This was the first trap-rock I had seen besides that of the
+lake during our whole journey down the Lachlan.
+
+VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.
+
+On the summit I found hornstone and granular felspar. The whole of
+Goulburn range consisted also of the same rock. It was rather
+light-coloured, partially decomposed, and lay in rounded nodules and
+boulders which formed however ridges across the slopes of the ground,
+tending in general 12 or 14 degrees East of North. The hills were
+everywhere rocky, so that the ascent cost us nearly an hour, and we were
+forced to lead our horses; but it was well worth the pains for the summit
+afforded a very extensive prospect. The most interesting feature in the
+country was Regent's lake which, although fifteen miles distant, seemed
+at our feet, reflecting like a mirror the trees on its margin; and on the
+other side we looked into the unknown west, where the horizon seemed as
+level as the ocean. In vain I examined it with a powerful telescope, in
+search of some remote pic; only a level and thinly wooded country
+extended beyond the reach even of telescopic vision.
+
+With the spirit-level of my theodolite I found that the most depressed
+part extended about due west by compass, a circumstance which first made
+me imagine the Lachlan might have some channel in that direction.
+
+WARRANARY.
+
+Of the Mount Granard range I could see and intersect only that remarkable
+cape-like point which was also the high land visible to the westward from
+Mount Granard itself, being named Warranary by Barney. Closer to the
+summit on which I stood were various ranges besides that of which it was
+the highest point, but even this was not, strictly speaking, a range, for
+it consisted on the southward of different masses, separated by portions
+of low, level country.
+
+A NEW CORREA.
+
+I recognised many of my stations, such as Mount Cunningham, Bolloon,
+Hurd's Pic, Mount Granard, etc. and having taken all the angles I could
+with the theodolite, and gathered some specimens of a curious new
+correa,* and a few bulbs of a pink-coloured amaryllis which grew on the
+summit,** we descended and, just as it became quite dark, reached the
+camp where I found that the men had arrived with Mr. Stapylton's light
+cart, although his own horse, having strayed at Cordowe, did not
+accompany it.
+
+(*Footnote. Resembling C. rupicola of Cunningham, but with larger and
+shorter flowers, and differently shaped leaves. Young shoots were covered
+with a white down which easily rubbed off. C. leucoclada, Lindley
+manuscripts; ramulis albo-tomentosis gracilibus, foliis ovato-oblongis
+obtusissimis petiolatis supra glabris scabriusculis subtus tomentosis,
+floribus subsessilibus, corolla campanulata quadrifida, calyce cupulari
+truncato.)
+
+(**Footnote. Calostemma carneum, Lindley manuscripts; foliis...tubo
+perianthii limbo subaequali, corona truncata dentibus sterilibus nullis,
+umbellis densis, pedicellis articulatis exterioribus longioribus. Flowers
+pink.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.3.
+
+North arm of the Lachlan.
+Quawys.
+Wallangome.
+Wild cattle.
+Ascend Moriattu.
+Leave the Lachlan to travel westward.
+No water.
+Natives from Warranary.
+Course down the Lachlan resumed.
+Extensive ride to the westward.
+Night without water.
+Continue westward, and south-west.
+Sandhills.
+Atriplex.
+Deep cracks in the earth.
+Search for the Lachlan.
+Cross various dry channels.
+Graves.
+Second night without water.
+Native tumulus.
+Reedy swamp with dead trees.
+Route of Mr. Oxley.
+Dry bed of the Lachlan.
+Find at length a large pool.
+Food of the natives discovered.
+Horses knock up.
+Scenery on the Lachlan.
+Character of the different kinds of trees.
+Return to the party.
+Dead body found in the water.
+Ascend Burradorgang.
+A rainy night without shelter.
+A new guide.
+Native dog.
+Branches of the Lachlan.
+A native camp.
+Children.
+A widow joins the party as guide.
+Horse killed.
+The Balyan root.
+How gathered.
+Reach the united channel of the Lachlan.
+No water.
+Natives' account of the rivers lower down.
+Mr. Oxley's lowest camp on the Lachlan.
+Slow growth of trees.
+A tribe of natives come to us.
+Mr. Oxley's bottle.
+Waljeers Lake.
+Trigonella suavissima.
+Barney in disgrace.
+A family of natives from the Murrumbidgee.
+Inconvenient formality of natives meeting.
+Rich tints on the surface.
+Improved appearance of the river.
+Inhabited tomb.
+Dead trees among the reeds.
+Visit some rising ground.
+View northward.
+Difficulties in finding either of the rivers or any water.
+Search for the Murrumbidgee.
+A night without water.
+Heavy fall of rain.
+Two men missing.
+Reach the Murrumbidgee.
+Natives on the opposite bank.
+They swim across.
+Afraid of the sheep.
+Their reports about the junction of the Darling.
+Search up the river for junction of Lachlan.
+Course of the Murrumbidgee.
+Tribe from Cudjallagong visits the camp in my absence.
+Caught following my steps.
+Piper questions them.
+
+NORTH ARM OF THE LACHLAN.
+
+April 17.
+
+We proceeded along the right bank of the Lachlan, crossing at five miles
+a small arm or ana-branch* which had been seen higher up diverging from
+the river, and flowing towards the north-west by Mr. Oxley. The local
+name of it is Yamorrima. Beyond this watercourse Cannil plains extend and
+were more grassy than plains in general. I observed a small ridge of
+trap-rock near the river. We crossed soon after the base of Mount
+Torrens, also a hill of trap; and a continuation on this bank of the
+Lachlan of the Goulburn range. Mount Torrens is however only an elongated
+hill. The trap-rock reappears in some lower hills further northward, of
+which Mount Davison is the highest and most eastern.
+
+(*Footnote. See Footnote below.)
+
+QUAWYS.
+
+Beyond Mount Torrens we entered the region which lies to the westward of
+the Macquarie range, and found several new plants, especially a very
+pretty Xerotes, with sweetly perfumed flowers, being a good deal like X.
+leucocephala, but with the leaves filamentous at the edges, and the male
+spikes interrupted.* We encamped on a deep pond at a bend of the Lachlan
+named Gonniguldury. I learnt from the old native guide who accompanied us
+from Regent's lake that they call those ponds of a river which never dry
+up quawy, a word which proved to be of use to us in descending the
+Lachlan. At this camp I found, by a careful observation of alpha and beta
+Centauri, that the magnetic variation was 8 degrees 56 minutes 15 seconds
+East.
+
+(*Footnote. X. typhina, Lindley manuscripts; acaulis, foliis longissimis
+angusto-linearibus margine laevibus filamentosis basi laceris, capitulis
+omnibus cylindraceis lanatis foemincis simplicibus masculis interruptis.)
+
+WALLANGOME.
+
+April 18.
+
+We continued along the riverbank passing quawys of various names as they
+were pointed out by our guide. We crossed the skirt of an extensive plain
+(Eeoappa) which brought in view just ahead of us a low ridge named
+Wallangome. At 8 1/2 miles we found the river close under the southern
+extremity of this hill, and its rocks so obstructed our passage that we
+were delayed an hour in clearing a way. I ascended that point nearest the
+river and determined its position by taking angles on various heights
+already laid down in my map such as Granard, Yarrarar, Mount Torrens,
+etc. The hill itself consisted chiefly of quartz rock, but at its base
+were water-worn blocks of quartzose sandstone containing pebbles of
+quartz, and they seemed to be the principal rock in the bed of the
+Lachlan.
+
+As we proceeded a low rocky ridge or extremity from Wallangome extended
+upwards of a mile along the river. Soon after we had passed a bend called
+Taralago we crossed the southern limits of a plain of which the local
+name is Nyaindurry, being bounded on the north-west by an isolated hill
+named Moriattu. After passing successively two similar points of the
+river we reached that of Gooda, where we encamped, the latitude observed
+being 33 degrees 23 minutes 3 seconds South.
+
+WILD CATTLE.
+
+Mr. Stapylton, with overseer Burnett and the natives, had gone forward
+early in the morning towards the hills near this place in pursuit of wild
+cattle, which were said to abound near it. The tracks we perceived were
+old, and although the other party had found many that were newer they
+returned without having seen any of these wild animals. It appeared that
+a herd of such cattle had got together about Macquarie's range, then only
+a short way ahead of us, and I saw no objections to the overseer's
+killing one or two, as he wished to do, in order that we might feed our
+native guides without drawing so largely as we were otherwise compelled
+to do on our own stock of provisions. This was a fortunate day for us in
+regard to plants. Besides several curious kinds of grass,* a splendid
+blue Brunonia was found on Wallangome. Its colour surpassed any azure I
+had ever seen in flowers, the tinge being rather deeper than that of the
+turquoise. We also obtained the seed so that I hoped this plant, which
+seemed hardy enough, might become a pleasing addition to our
+horticultural treasures.
+
+The flowers are nature's jewels.**
+
+(*Footnote. Lappago racemosa, W. and Aristida ramosa, R. Br.)
+
+(**Footnote. Croly's Gems.)
+
+The pink lily* was also found, as on Yerrarar, amongst rocks, but growing
+in rich red soil. We gathered a number of the bulbs, being very desirous
+to propagate this plant, which differs from the common white amaryllis
+and others belonging to the plains not only in colour, but also in the
+absence from their corona of intermediate teeth. We again found here the
+new Xerotes, having the flower in five or six round tufts on the blade.
+The flowered blades drooped around, radiating from the centre, while
+those without flowers stood upright, giving to the whole an uncommon
+appearance; the flower had a very pleasant perfume.
+
+ASCEND MORIATTU.
+
+April 19.
+
+Mr. Stapylton conducted the party forward while I went to the summit of
+Moriattu with the theodolite. Thence I saw Mount Granard, Yerrarar, and
+Mount Torrens, also the various points which I had intersected from
+Wallangome. A level plain appeared to extend southward in the midst of
+the groups of ridges composing Macquarie and Peel's ranges. Coccaparra, a
+range very abrupt on the eastern side, appeared to be Macquarie's range
+of Oxley, and an elevated extremity of it, near the river, I took to be
+Mount Porteous, and of which the local name is Willin.* To the northward
+the most remarkable feature was a line of plains similar to those beside
+the main channel of the river, and they appeared to border a branch from
+it, which extended in a western direction under the base of a small hill
+named Murrangong, and far beyond it. The hill on which I stood was the
+most perfectly isolated that I had ever seen, low level ground
+surrounding it on every side. It consisted of a variety of the same
+quartz rock as Wallangome, but contained pebbles of laminated compact
+felspar. This hill was abrupt and rocky on the west and north-west sides,
+the best ascent being from the south-east.
+
+(*Footnote. Willi, an opossum)
+
+We overtook the party after it had crossed some extensive plains, where
+we observed a species of solanum, the berries of which our native guides
+gathered and ate.* Overseer Burnett made another search this day on
+Coccaparra range for the wild bullocks; the party fell in with a herd but
+it kept at a great distance and got off into scrubs. Their bedding places
+and paths were numerous, and it thus appeared that the number of these
+animals was considerable. We gathered on Coccaparra and Mount Porteous
+several bulbous plants of a species quite new to me, the root being very
+large. There also we found a remarkable acacia, having long upright
+needle-like leaves among which a few small tufts of yellow flowers were
+sparingly scattered.** We encamped on a pond of the river named
+Burrabadimba, after travelling fifteen miles.
+
+(*Footnote. S. esuriale, Lindley manuscripts; caule humili suffruticoso,
+aculcis subulatis tenuibus in apice ramulorum et costa, foliis
+lineari-oblongis obtusis subrepandis utrinque cinereis stellato-pilosis,
+pedunculis subtrifloris, calycibus campanulatis pentagonis 5-dentatis
+stellato-pilosis corollis tomentosis multo brevioribus.)
+
+(**Footnote. This proved to be the rare A. quadrilateralis of De
+Candolle.)
+
+LEAVE THE LACHLAN TO TRAVEL WESTWARD.
+
+April 20.
+
+After proceeding some miles on this day's journey our Cudjallagong guide
+pointed in a west-north-west direction as the way to Oolawambiloa.
+Leaving therefore the Kalare or Lachlan, near a great bend in its general
+course which below this (according to Mr. Oxley's map) was south-west, we
+followed the route proposed by my native friend as it was precisely in
+the direction by which I wished to approach the Darling. The universal
+scarcity of water had however deprived me of every hope that any could be
+found in that country, at a season when we often sought it in vain, even
+in the bed of one of the large rivers of the country. Our guide however
+knew the nature of our wants, and also that of the country, and I eagerly
+followed him towards a hill, the most distant and most westerly on the
+northern horizon.
+
+NO WATER.
+
+At sunset we halted full twenty miles short of that hill, beside the bed
+of a small river, resembling in capacity and the nature of its banks that
+of the Bogan; but to the manifest consternation of our guide we could
+find no water in it, although some ponds had been only recently dried up.
+This watercourse, he informed me, was the same which I had seen passing
+by Murrangong, but he said it did not return its waters to the Lachlan, a
+circumstance which I could not understand. Booraran was the name he gave
+it. He went with some of our people in the dark and found a few quarts of
+water two miles beyond it, but our cattle were obliged to pass the night
+without any. The barometer had been falling for several days and the wind
+arising suddenly at 9 P.M. brought a misty mass of cloud which began most
+providentially to drop upon us, to the great relief of our thirsty
+cattle. This day we found on the plains a new species of Sida with small
+yellow flowers, very fragrant, and on a long stalk.* In the woods I
+observed a eucalyptus of a graceful drooping character, apparently
+related to E. pilularis and amygdalina.
+
+(*Footnote. S. fibulifera, Lindley manuscripts; incano-tomentosa,
+pusilla, diffusa, foliis ovato-oblongis obtusis dentatis basi cordatis,
+stipulis longissimis setaceis, pedunculis axillaribus aggregatis
+filiformibus petiolis longioribus, calycibus lanatis corolla parum
+brevioribus, fructu disciformi convexo tomentoso, coccis monospermis.)
+
+NATIVES FROM WARRANARY.
+
+April 21.
+
+A rainy morning. Some strange natives approached from the woods while I
+was looking at the country beyond the dry channel, in the direction in
+which our guide still wished us to proceed (about west-north-west). They
+were grave and important-looking old men, and each carried a light. They
+called out to me in a serious tone "Weeri kally," words which I too well
+understood, meaning simply no water. I took my guide to them, but he
+still seemed in doubt about the scarcity.
+
+COURSE DOWN THE LACHLAN RESUMED.
+
+It was necessary not to depend on uncertainties on such a point, and I
+therefore lost no time in shaping our course again towards the nearest
+bend of the Lachlan, which we reached after travelling nine miles in the
+rain, and we encamped beside a pond or quawy named Buree. I considered
+this day's journey to be the first deviation from the most direct line of
+route towards that part of the Darling where my last journey terminated.
+It was evident that in common seasons the country I wished to traverse
+was not without water, our guide having suggested it as the way to
+Oolawambiloa (a name always referring to a great abundance of water). I
+considered it necessary now to ascertain, if possible, and before the
+heavy part of our equipment moved further, whether the Lachlan actually
+joined the Murrumbidgee near the point where Mr. Oxley saw its waters
+covering the country; or whether it pursued a course so much more to the
+westward as to have been taken for the Darling by Captain Sturt. Near the
+Lachlan at this place the Anthericum bulbosum occurred in abundance, and
+the cattle seemed to eat it with avidity.
+
+On the bank of the river a new species of rosella appeared amongst the
+birds, and several were shot and preserved as specimens.
+
+EXTENSIVE RIDE TO THE WESTWARD.
+
+April 22.
+
+I proceeded westward accompanied by five men and an aboriginal guide, all
+mounted on horseback. My object was to obtain, if possible, some
+knowledge of the final course of the Lachlan; and secondly to ascertain
+how far the hills to the north-west of our camp ranged beyond that very
+remarkable feature, resembling a cape or promontory and named Warranary,
+which marked the extent of our sight and knowledge at that time. This
+point was in a direct line between the camp we then occupied on the
+Lachlan and the lowest part of the Darling attained during the former
+journey, and we had just fallen back from want of water; a circumstance
+likely to compel me to follow the Lachlan downwards, at least if it could
+be ascertained thus early that this river could not possibly be the
+supposed Darling of Sturt. In case it proved otherwise I thought it not
+improbable that, at the end of two days' journey westward, I might fall
+in with the Lachlan, and if I could find water in it at such a point
+under any circumstances, I considered that a position so much advanced
+would be equally favourable, either for reaching the junction of the
+Murray or the upper Darling. Should I succeed in reaching the Lachlan at
+about sixty miles west of my camp I might be satisfied that it was this
+river which Captain Sturt took for the Darling, and then I might seek
+that river by crossing the range on the north. Whereas, should I find
+sufficient reason to believe that the Darling would join the Murray, I
+might continue my journey down the Lachlan until I reduced the distance
+across to the Darling as much as the scarcity of water might render
+necessary.
+
+We traversed fine plains of greater extent than I had ever seen before,
+and in general of more tenacious surface. They were in many parts covered
+with salsolaceous plants, but I found also a kind of grass which I had
+not previously noticed; and a curious woolly plant with two-spined fruit,
+belonging to the genus Sclerolaena of Brown.* I looked in vain however
+for the continuation of the range to the northward. The cape
+before-mentioned first rose to a considerable height over the horizon,
+but as we proceeded it sunk so as to be just visible behind us, bearing
+at the point where we lay down for the night 31 degrees East of North.
+The continuation of the range, as we now saw, receded to the north-west;
+so that the horizon of these plains continued unbroken save by the
+cape-like point of Warranary.
+
+(*Footnote. S. bicornis, Lindley manuscripts; caule lanato ramoso, foliis
+linearibus succulentis glabris, calycibus solitariis bispinosis lana alba
+involutis.)
+
+A flight of the cockatoo of the interior, with scarlet and yellow
+top-knot, passed over our heads from the north-west.
+
+The intense interest of this day's ride into a region quite unknown urged
+me forward at a good pace, having a horizon like that of the sea before
+and around us, and being in constant expectation of seeing either some
+distant summit or line of lofty river-trees; all the results of the
+journey depending on whether it should be the one or the other. Neither
+however, as already stated, appeared, and the sun went down on the
+unbroken horizon; nor could the native discern from the top of the
+highest tree any other objects besides the lofty yarra trees of the
+Lachlan, at a vast distance to the south-west by south. During the ride
+many a tree and bush rose on the horizon before us and sunk on that we
+left behind. We saw five emus together which did not run so far from us
+as usual but stood at a little distance to gaze on our advancing party.
+In a strip of scrub consisting of Acacia longifolia and lanceolata and
+some other graceful shrubs I found a new species of correa, remarkable
+for its small, green, bell-shaped flowers, and the almost total absence
+of hairiness from its leaves.*
+
+(*Footnote. C. glabra, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis incanis, foliis
+ovalibus obtusis in petiolum angustatis glabris subtus punctatis, corolla
+brevi campanulata tomentosa 4-dentata calyce truncato cupulari triplo
+longiore.)
+
+NIGHT WITHOUT WATER.
+
+Near this scrub we saw also many pigeons and parrots; which strengthened
+our hopes of finding water, which hopes however were disappointed, and we
+at length tied our horses' heads to the trees in a bit of scrub, and I
+lay down on a few boughs for the night under the cover of a gunya or
+bower which, on such occasions, was set up by Woods in a very short time.
+(See Volume 1.)
+
+April 23.
+
+Dew had providentially fallen during the night and it proved in some
+measure a substitute for the want of water to our horses. It was also
+highly favourable to the object of our tour in affording a refraction
+when the sun rose, so that Coccaparra (Macquarie's range) appeared above
+the horizon and enabled me to determine our distance from it to be sixty
+miles. Still even this refractive state of the air brought no hills in
+view to the north or north-west, a circumstance which surprised me and
+afforded additional reason for supposing that the Lachlan might not unite
+so soon as had been imagined with the Murrumbidgee.
+
+CONTINUE WESTWARD, AND SOUTH-WEST.
+
+This may require explanation. The course of rivers is in general
+conformable to the direction of ranges or the position of those hills
+which bound the valley or basin, however extensive, in which they flow.
+As this range fell off to the north-west, opposite to where the course of
+the Murrumbidgee had continued south-west, it was less probable that the
+Lachlan would unite with the main stream there than if the range had
+approached, or had even continued parallel to it.
+
+I was disappointed in not finding sufficient water for our use remaining
+on the surface after the late rain; and although the country appeared
+declining to the westward, and we saw more pigeons and recent marks of
+natives, I was reluctantly obliged at length to bend my steps
+south-westward and afterwards south. The country we traversed was one
+level plain whose extent westward we neither knew nor could discover, and
+for some hours during this day's ride scarcely a bush was visible.
+
+SAND HILLS.
+
+Clumps of trees of the flooded box, or marura of the natives, appeared
+occasionally in and about the many hollows in the surface; and, on the
+isolated eminences of red sand, callitris trees grew, always hopeless
+objects to persons in want of water. These patches of sand however were
+not numerous, and never rose more than a few feet above the common
+surface, which in general consisted of clay more or less tenacious. Parts
+of it were quite naked; but others bore a crop of grass about three years
+old which probably sprang up after the last thorough drenching of the
+surface.
+
+DEEP CRACKS IN THE EARTH.
+
+So parched however was the ground now, especially in those parts which
+bore no vegetation, that it yawned in cracks too deep to be fathomed by
+the length of my sabre and arm together.
+
+ATRIPLEX.
+
+The best ground for travelling was of a reddish colour, glossy and firm
+with tufts of a species of atriplex upon it; a dwarf grass with large
+seeds not seen elsewhere by me was springing up, apparently in
+consequence of the late rains. This new vegetation did not grow near the
+old grass, and was too thin and low to tinge the surface.* The dreary
+look of the old grass in other parts, decayed and of the colour of lead,
+could not be exceeded; roots and stalks being all dead and decayed like
+rotten timber.
+
+(*Footnote. Panicum flavidum of Retz.)
+
+SOUTH-WEST WINDS.
+
+Every blade drooped towards the north-east and showed plainly how
+prevalent the south-west winds were on these open wastes. In a gloomy day
+a wanderer lost upon them might have known his course merely by the
+uniform drooping of those blades of grass towards the north-east.
+
+SEARCH FOR THE LACHLAN.
+
+After travelling ten miles south-west without perceiving any indication
+of the river I directed our course southward and, after proceeding seven
+miles in that direction, we came upon a hollow of Polygonum junceum so
+full of wide and deep cracks that our horses were got across with
+difficulty. It extended in a south-west direction towards some flooded
+box-trees. The country beyond was better wooded, and at eleven miles we
+at length approached a creek, and the large trees which enveloped it
+looked like those of the river itself; but we saw none of the yarra or
+white-trunked trees which always accompanied such waters and, although we
+certainly found the channel of a considerable current, it was shallow,
+quite dry, and full of Polygonum junceum.
+
+I could hardly consider this a lateral branch of the river as I thought
+that I had seen its head in some hollows which I crossed on the plains
+the day before. After passing this channel however we descried a long
+dark line of river-trees which, as our horses were getting tired, we were
+now somewhat anxious to see and, the native perceiving smoke arising from
+the woods there, I, at his request, altered my course to that direction
+which was 30 degrees East of South.
+
+THIRST OF BARNEY.
+
+None of the party suffered so much apparently from the want of water as
+Barney, our native friend. He rode foremost of the men with a tin pot in
+his hand, his eyes fixed on remote distance and his mouth open, with the
+lower lip projecting, as if to catch rain from the heavens. When we were
+within two miles of those trees we found enough of rainwater in a shallow
+hole to refresh our horses, but it was surrounded with such tempting
+grass that the animals preferred the verdure to it. Barney drank as much
+as he wished, and I advised the men to fill their horns, but the horses
+soon trod the water into mud, and all expected to find plenty near the
+smoke; a hope in which I was by no means sanguine.
+
+CROSS VARIOUS DRY CHANNELS.
+
+The first line of trees we crossed enclosed only a shallow channel,
+overgrown with polygonum; and we in vain sought the natives although we
+saw where portions of fire had been recently dropped.
+
+Three miles further we perceived a more promising line of trees and smoke
+arising from them also. There we found the yarra trees growing on a flat
+with a reedy channel meandering amongst them. The fire arose from some
+burning trees and grass; and there were huts of natives but no
+inhabitants.
+
+GRAVES.
+
+Green bushes grew luxuriantly, and amongst them, in a romantic looking
+spot, three separate graves had been recently erected. Still we could
+perceive neither signs of water nor any of the natives who might have
+told us where to find it. Crossing another small plain of firm ground we
+came upon what seemed to be the main channel of the Lachlan, pursuing a
+course to the west-north-west. It had not however above one-third of the
+capacity of the bed above, but in every other respect it was similar.
+Having in vain looked for a waterhole we hastened towards another line of
+trees which we reached by sunset. It consisted of the yarra kind also,
+but overhung what was only a hollow in the midst of a plain, although
+evidently subject to inundation.
+
+SECOND NIGHT WITHOUT WATER.
+
+To find water there seemed quite out of the question; but we were
+nevertheless obliged to halt, for the sun had set. Late in the night, as
+we lay burning with thirst and dreaming of water, a species of duck flew
+over our heads which, from its peculiar note, I knew I had previously
+heard on the Darling. It was flying towards the south-west.
+
+April 24.
+
+We proceeded on the bearing of 80 degrees east of south, towards the
+nearest bend of a line of yarra river-trees. There we found, after riding
+two miles, another diminutive Lachlan, precisely similar to the former,
+but rather less: it was very sinuous in its course and full of holes, but
+surrounded by green bushes with chirping birds; but it was too obvious
+that these holes had been long, long dry. Thence I pursued a course 24
+degrees North of East over naked ground, evidently subject at times to
+inundation, towards other large trees; being anxious to cross all the
+arms of the Lachlan before taking up its general course to guide us back
+to our camp which lay then, by my calculation, 43 miles in direct
+distance, higher up the river.
+
+NATIVE TUMULUS.
+
+On this flat we passed a newly-raised tumulus, a remarkable circumstance
+considering the situation; for I had observed that the natives of the
+Darling always selected the higher ground for burying in; and it might be
+presumed that, on this part of the Lachlan, the tribe (whose marks were
+numerous on the trees) could find no heights within their territory.
+
+REEDY SWAMP WITH DEAD TREES.
+
+We found that this belt of river-trees enclosed a dry swamp only, covered
+with dead reeds, amongst which stood a forest of dead yarra trees,
+bearing well-defined marks of water in dark stained rings at the height
+of about four feet on their barkless trunks. The soil was soft and rich
+and, where no roots of reeds bound it together, it opened in yawning
+cracks which were very deep. This dried up swamp was nearly a mile broad,
+and beyond it we found firm open and good ground; some very large
+eucalypti or yarra growing between it and the edge of the reeds.
+
+ROUTE OF MR. OXLEY.
+
+I was now satisfied that we had crossed the whole bed of the Lachlan; and
+I thought Mr. Oxley's line of route might have passed near the spot where
+I then stood; and that in a time of flood all the channels, save the one
+next the firm ground, might easily have escaped his notice. Here our
+horses began to be quite knocked up, chiefly from want of water; we
+therefore dismounted and dragged them on, for I hoped by taking the
+direction of Mr. Oxley's line of route, as shown on his map, that the
+branches would soon concentrate in one united channel.
+
+DRY BED OF THE LACHLAN.
+
+At the end of four miles we found that junction had taken place, and the
+bed of the river as broad and deep as usual, but it was everywhere dry. I
+made the people lead the exhausted horses from point to point, while I
+examined all the bends, for the course was very sinuous; still I saw no
+appearance of water, nor even of any having recently dried up.
+
+FIND AT LENGTH A LARGE POOL.
+
+After proceeding thus about two miles, the chirping of birds and a tree
+full of chattering parrots raised my hopes that water was near; and at a
+very sharp turn of the channel, to the great delight of all, I at length
+saw a large and deep pool. Our horses stood drinking a full quarter of an
+hour; and during the time a duck dropped into the pond amongst them. The
+poor bird appeared to have been as much overcome by thirst as ourselves
+for, on the inconsiderate native throwing his boomerang, it was scarcely
+able to fly to the top of the opposite bank. As the grass was good I
+halted during the remainder of the day for the sake of our horses;
+although the delay subjected us to another night in the bush. I made the
+men sit down out of sight of the pond for a reason which I did not choose
+to tell them; but it was that we might not, by our presence, deprive many
+other starving creatures of a benefit which Providence had so bountifully
+afforded to us.
+
+On a large tree overlooking the pond, and which had already been deprived
+by the natives of a considerable patch of bark, I chalked the letter M,
+which the men cut out of the solid wood with their tomahawks. This being
+the lowest permanent pond above the separation of the river into so many
+arms, I thought that by such a mark of a white man the natives would be
+more ready to point out the spot to any future traveller when required. I
+found about the fires of the natives a number of small balls of dry fibre
+resembling hemp, and I at first supposed it to be a preparation for
+making nets, having seen such on the Darling.
+
+FOOD OF THE NATIVES DISCOVERED.
+
+Barney the native however soon set me right by taking up the root of a
+large reed or bulrush which grew in a dry lagoon hard by, and by showing
+me how the natives extracted from the rhizoma a quantity of gluten; and
+this was what they eat, obtaining it by chewing the fibre. They take up
+the root of the bulrush in lengths of about eight or ten inches, peel off
+the outer rind and lay it a little before the fire; then they twist and
+loosen the fibres, when a quantity of gluten, exactly resembling wheaten
+flour, may be shaken out, affording at all times a ready and wholesome
+food. It struck me that this gluten, which they call Balyan, must be the
+staff of life to the tribes inhabiting these morasses, where tumuli and
+other traces of human beings were more abundant than at any part of the
+Lachlan that I had visited.
+
+HORSES KNOCK UP.
+
+April 25.
+
+We continued our route upwards along the right bank of the Lachlan on a
+bearing of 36 degrees East of North taken from Mr. Oxley's map: and
+coming to the river at nine miles we again watered our horses, and rested
+them for they were very weak. After travelling fifteen miles one of them
+rode by Woods, who carried the theodolite, knocked up when we were far
+from the Lachlan. With some difficulty we however got it on until we
+reached the river and, finding water, we halted for the day after a ride
+of twenty-one miles.
+
+SCENERY ON THE LACHLAN.
+
+The scenery was highly picturesque at that part of the banks of the
+Lachlan notwithstanding the dreary level of the naked plains back from
+them.
+
+CHARACTER OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF TREES.
+
+The yarra grew here, as on the Darling, to a gigantic size, the height
+sometimes exceeding 100 feet; and its huge gnarled trunks, wild
+romantic-formed branches often twisting in coils, shining white or light
+red bark, and dark masses of foliage, with consequent streaks of shadow
+below, frequently produced effects fully equal to the wildest forest
+scenery of Ruysdael or Waterloo. Often as I hurried along did I take my
+last look with reluctance of scenes forming the most captivating studies.
+The yarra is certainly a pleasing object in various respects; its shining
+bark and lofty height inform the traveller of a distant probability of
+water, or at least of the bed of a river or lake; and being visible over
+all other trees it usually marks the course of rivers so well that, in
+travelling along the Darling and Lachlan, I could with ease trace the
+general course of the river without approaching its banks until I wished
+to encamp. The nature and character of several other species of the genus
+eucalyptus were nevertheless very different and peculiar. The small kind,
+covered with a rough bark and never exceeding the size of fruit trees in
+an orchard and called, I believe, by Mr. Oxley, the dwarf-box, but by the
+natives goborro, grows only on plains subject to inundation, and it
+usually bears on the lower part of the trunk the mark of the water by
+which it is at times surrounded. Between the goborro and the yarra there
+seems this difference: the yarra grows only on the banks of rivers,
+lakes, or ponds, from the water of which the roots derive nourishment;
+but when the trunk itself has been too long immersed the tree dies; as
+appeared on various lakes and in reedy swamps on the Lachlan. The goborro
+on the contrary seldom grows on the banks of a running stream, but seems
+to thrive in inundations, however long their duration. Mr. Oxley remarked
+during his wet journey that there was always water where these trees
+grew. We found them in most cases during a dry season, a sure indication
+that none was to be discovered near them. It may be observed however that
+all permanent waters are invariably surrounded by the yarra. These
+peculiarities we ascertained only after examining many a hopeless hollow
+where grew the goborro by itself; nor until I had found my sable guides
+eagerly scanning the yarra from afar when in search of water, and
+condemning any distant view of goborro trees as hopeless during that dry
+season. In describing the trees which ornamented the river scenery I must
+not omit to mention a long-leaved acacia whose dark stems and sombre
+foliage, drooping over the bank, presented a striking and pleasing
+contrast to the yarra trunks, and the light soil of the water-worn banks.
+The bimbel (or spear-wood) which grows on dry forest land, the pine-like
+Callitris pyramidalis on red sandhills, and a variety of acacias in the
+scrubs, generally present groups of the most picturesque description.
+
+RETURN TO THE PARTY.
+
+April 26.
+
+We continued towards the camp which I reached at about nine miles and
+found that nothing extraordinary had occurred during my absence. The
+overseer had been again to Coccoparra to hunt the wild cattle (by my
+orders) yet, although he found a herd and put two bullets through one
+animal, all escaped. The party thought to hem them in by driving them to
+the foot of the range; but as soon as the cattle found themselves beset
+they climbed, apparently without much difficulty, the abrupt rocky face
+of the hills, throwing down on their ascent the large fragments and loose
+stones that lay in their way and which, rolling down the declivities,
+checked their pursuers until the bullocks, wounded and all, escaped.
+
+DEAD BODY FOUND IN THE WATER.
+
+The working cattle had little good grass at the camp, and another reason
+I had for quitting it was the state of the waterhole. Even at first it
+was small and the water had a slightly putrid taste, the cause of which
+having been discovered, the water had become still less palatable. Piper,
+our native interpreter, in diving for fish on the previous day had, to
+his horror, brought up on his spear, instead of a fish, the putrid leg of
+a man! Our guide (to the Booraran) had left the camp during my absence;
+and it was said that he was aware of the circumstance of the body of a
+native having been thrown into the hole; for he had abstained from
+drinking any of the water.
+
+I had still however a desire to reconnoitre the country to the southward
+in hopes that I might see enough of its features to enable me to arrive
+at some conclusion as to the final course of the Lachlan, and to arrange
+our further journey accordingly.
+
+ASCEND BURRADORGANG.
+
+April 27.
+
+I rode to Burradorgang, a saddle-backed hill bearing 117 degrees from our
+camp and distant 19 miles. This hill I found to be the most western and
+the last between the Murrumbidgee and the Lachlan. I only reached its
+base with tired horses an hour before dusk. Just as I dismounted and
+began to climb the rocks a drizzling rain came on from the north-west,
+and it unfortunately first obscured that portion of the horizon which I
+was most anxious to see.
+
+VIEW FROM BURRADORGANG.
+
+To the northward, eastward, and southward however it continued clear, and
+the points visible in those directions fully occupied my attention until
+the western horizon became distinct. I was at once enabled to identify
+this hill with an angle observed when on the top of Yerrarar. Granard and
+the principal summits of Peel's and Macquarie's ranges were visible and,
+as the sky cleared I could see Warranary, that south-western extremity of
+the Mount Granard range already mentioned, and which I was enabled by my
+observations here to connect with the trigonometrical survey. But even
+from this summit nothing could be observed beyond besides the
+continuation of the range towards the north-west at an immense distance.
+The object next in importance was the country between me and the
+Murrumbidgee in a south-west direction. I expected that some kind of
+ridge or hills above the common level would separate that river from the
+Lachlan if the courses of both rivers continued to separate to any
+considerable distance westward. But although I perceived a low ridge
+extending towards the west from the most southern part of Peel's range I
+also saw that it terminated in the low level of the plains at about 20
+degrees West of South.
+
+A RAINY NIGHT WITHOUT SHELTER.
+
+Burradorgang, this last of hills, consisted of ferruginous sandstone like
+all the others I saw further in the interior during the former journey. I
+descended to its base just as darkness came on; and myself and the men
+with me were forced to pass the night exposed to the wind and rain at a
+place where nevertheless we could find no water for our horses.
+
+April 28.
+
+The rain ceased some time before daybreak, but the weather continued
+cloudy and, fogs hanging on the distant horizon, I was not tempted again
+to ascend the mountain as I certainly should have done had the morning
+been clear. We mounted and retraced our steps to the camp. The country
+between this hill and the river consisted chiefly of soft red soil in
+which grew the cypress-like callitris, also acacia, and the bimbel or
+spear-wood.* It seemed to consist of a very low undulation, extending
+from the hill into the great angle formed by the Lachlan, whose general
+course changes near that camp from west to south-west. There was however
+a tract extending southward from the river for about three miles, on
+which grew yarra trees bearing the marks of occasional floods to the
+height of a foot above the common surface. This ground was probably in
+part under water when Mr. Oxley passed it, as he represents a swamp or
+morass in his map within this bend of the river. I found on the low
+tract, between Burradorgang and our camp, a new curious species of
+solanum, so completely covered with yellow prickles that its flowers and
+leaves could scarcely be seen.**
+
+(*Footnote. The wood named bimbel by the natives grows with a shining
+green lance-shaped leaf, and is in much request with them for the purpose
+of making their spears, boomerangs, waddies, etc.)
+
+(**Footnote. S. ferocissimum, Lindl manuscripts; caule herbaceo erecto:
+aculeis confertissimis pugioniformibus arcuatis, foliis linearibus
+obtusis utrinque praesertim subtus furfuraceo-tomentosis aculeatissimis,
+pedunculis subtrifloris foliorum longitudine, calycibus inermibus.)
+
+A NEW GUIDE.
+
+On reaching the camp I found that Piper had fallen in with some natives,
+one of whom, an old man, undertook to conduct us to the Murrumbidgee in
+five days, assuring us that the Lachlan entered that river. This
+information, the dry state of the country, and the knowledge I had
+acquired of its principal features, determined me to follow the course of
+the Lachlan; and in the event of its soon uniting with the Murrumbidgee,
+to continue along the right bank of that river to its junction with the
+Murray, then to leave the bulk of our equipment, the carts and most of
+the cattle, and complete the survey of the Darling with a lighter party.
+
+April 29.
+
+We moved down the Lachlan, travelling in my former track, and we pitched
+our tents near the place where I had slept on the 26th, the cattle not
+being able to go further, from the softness of the ground after the rain.
+
+April 30.
+
+Following the same track, the party reached, at the distance of twelve
+miles, an angle of the river named Curwaddilly, at which there was a good
+pond, and here we encamped. From this point I obtained a bearing on
+Burradorgang, and it was the lowest station on the river which could be
+connected with my survey of the hills for, when Burradorgang sunk below
+the eastern horizon, a perfectly level line bounded our view on all
+sides.
+
+NATIVE DOG.
+
+May 1.
+
+Just as the party was leaving the ground a noise was heard in the rear,
+and two shots were fired before I could hasten to the spot. These I found
+had been inconsiderately fired by Jones our shepherd at a native dog
+belonging to our new guide and which had attacked the sheep. This
+circumstance was rather unfortunate, for our guide soon after fell
+behind, alleging to the party that he was ill. I knew however where to
+find water that day; and we proceeded to the fine pond which I was so
+fortunate as to discover on the 24th ultimo after our horses had suffered
+thirst for three days and two nights. Two young natives who had
+accompanied us for some days undertook to find water for a couple of
+journeys beyond this pond. The men caught in this friendly pool several
+good cod-perch (Gristes peelii) a fish surpassing, in my opinion, all
+others in Australia. As we crossed the plains this day I observed the
+natives eating a plant which grew in the hollows and we found it, when
+boiled, a very good vegetable.
+
+BRANCHES OF THE LACHLAN.
+
+May 2.
+
+We pursued a course nearly west for seven miles, having the Lachlan on
+our left until we were stopped by a watercourse, or branch of the river,
+which crossed our intended route at rightangles. Its banks were steep and
+the passage of our waggons was consequently a work of difficulty, but the
+best crossing place appeared to be just where it left the main channel.
+Here accordingly we cut down the bank on each side with spades and filled
+up the soft lowest part of the hollow with stumps and branches of trees,
+and all of which being covered with earth from the sides, the carts were
+got safely across after about half an hour's work. We soon however came
+to another similar watercourse, but by the advice of the natives we
+followed it to the northward, and we found that at a short distance it
+branched into shallow hollows of polygonum which we traversed without
+delay or difficulty. Soon after we had resumed our course by crossing
+these hollows, we came upon the main channel which very much resembled
+other parts of the Lachlan, only that it was smaller.
+
+A NATIVE CAMP.
+
+Piper's gin came to tell us that there was water ahead, and that natives
+were there. We accordingly approached with caution and having found two
+ponds of water we encamped beside them, the local name of the situation
+being Combedyega.
+
+CHILDREN.
+
+A fire was burning near the water and at it sat a black child about seven
+or eight years old, quite blind. All the other natives had fled save one
+poor little girl still younger who, notwithstanding the appearance of
+such strange beings as we must have seemed to her, and the terror of
+those who fled, nevertheless lingered about the bushes and at length took
+her seat beside the blind boy. A large supply of the balyan root lay near
+them, and a dog so lean as scarcely to be able to stand, drew his feeble
+body close up beside the two children as if desirous to defend them. They
+formed indeed a miserable group, exhibiting nevertheless instances of
+affection and fidelity creditable both to the human and canine species.
+An old man came up to the fire afterwards with other children. He told us
+the name of the waterholes between that place and the Murrumbidgee, but
+he could not be prevailed on to be our guide.
+
+A WIDOW JOINS THE PARTY AS GUIDE.
+
+Subsequently however a gin who was a widow, with the little girl
+above-mentioned, whose age might be about four years, was persuaded by
+him to accompany us.
+
+HORSE KILLED.
+
+At this camp, just after I had inspected the horses and particularly
+noticed one as the second best draught animal we had, I was requested by
+the overseer to look at him again, both bones of his near thigh having
+been broken by an unlucky kick from a mare. The horse had been with me on
+two former expeditions, and it was with great regret that I consented to
+his being shot. We were enabled to regale the old native with his flesh,
+the men shrewdly giving him to understand through Piper that the horse
+was with us what the emu was with them, too good a thing to be eaten by
+young men. He seemed to relish it much and next morning we left him
+roasting a large piece.
+
+THE BALYAN ROOT.
+
+The principal food of these inhabitants of the Kalare or Lachlan appeared
+to be balyan, the rhizoma, as already stated, of a monocotyledonous plant
+or bulrush growing amongst the reeds. It contains so much gluten that one
+of our party, Charles Webb, made in a short time some excellent cakes of
+it; and they seemed to me lighter and sweeter than those prepared from
+common flour.
+
+HOW GATHERED.
+
+The natives gather the roots and carry them on their heads in great
+bundles within a piece of net. The old man came thus loaded to the fire
+where the blind child was seated; and indeed this was obviously their
+chief food among the marshes.
+
+May 3.
+
+We proceeded nearly west according to the suggestion of our female guide.
+We crossed, at a few miles from Combedyega, my track in the afternoon of
+April 23rd; and soon after we entered on plains similar to those which we
+had traversed that day:
+
+The morn was wasted in the pathless grass,
+And long and lonesome was the wild to pass.
+
+REACH THE UNITED CHANNEL OF THE LACHLAN.
+
+We saw however the river-line of trees on our left, and late in the day
+we approached it. Here I recognised the Lachlan again united in a single
+channel, which looked as capacious as it was above, the only difference
+being that the yarra trees seemed low and of stunted growth. A singular
+appearance on the bushes which grew on the immediate bank attracted my
+attention. A paper-like substance hung over them in the manner in which
+linen is sometimes thrown over a hedge; but on examination it appeared to
+be the dried scum of stagnant water. This--marks of water on the trees
+and the less water-worn character of the banks which were of even slope
+and grassy--seemed to show that the current of the river during floods
+here loses its force, and that the water is consequently slower in
+subsiding than higher up the stream.
+
+NO WATER.
+
+The course of the river was very tortuous, but still I in vain traced the
+channel for water, even in the sharpest of its turnings, until long after
+it was quite dark. We encamped at length near a small muddy hole
+discovered with the assistance of our female guide, after having
+travelled nineteen miles. I found the latitude of this camp to be 33
+degrees 52 minutes 59 seconds, which was so near that of Mr. Oxley's
+lowest point according to his book that I concluded we must be close to
+it. Fortunately we found some natives at this waterhole who told us that
+a long while ago white men had been encamped on the opposite side of the
+Kalare, and that the place where they had marked a tree was not very far
+distant, but that it had recently been burnt down. We saw today for the
+first time on the Kalare the red-top cockatoo (Plyctolophus leadbeateri).
+
+NATIVES' ACCOUNT OF THE RIVERS LOWER DOWN.
+
+May 4.
+
+This morning it rained and, considering the long journey of yesterday, I
+gave the cattle rest. Here the natives again told us of Oolawambiloa,
+near a great river coming from the north, and only five days' journey
+from where we should make the Murrumbidgee. They also told us that the
+latter river was joined by another coming from the south before it
+reached Oolawambiloa.
+
+We had now therefore the direct testimony of the natives that the Darling
+(for it could be no other) joined the Murray and that the river Lachlan
+did not lose its channel here as supposed by Mr. Oxley, but that in five
+days' journey further we might expect to trace it into the Murrumbidgee.
+
+MR. OXLEY'S LOWEST CAMP ON THE LACHLAN.
+
+May 5.
+
+The ground being very heavy the cattle in the carts proceeded but slowly
+along the plains to the northward of the Lachlan; and while the party
+followed Mr. Stapylton I went along the bank with the natives to visit
+Mr. Oxley's last camp, which was not above a mile from that we had left.
+On my way I crossed a bed of fine gravel, a circumstance the more
+remarkable, not only because gravel was so uncommon on these muddy
+plains, but because Mr. Oxley had also remarked that no stone of any kind
+could be seen within five miles of the place. This gravel consisted of
+sand and pebbles of quartz about the size of a pea. Our female guide, who
+appeared to be about thirty years of age, remembered the visit of the
+white men; and she this day showed me the spot where Mr. Oxley's tent
+stood, and the root with some remains of the branches of a tree near it
+which had been burnt down very recently, and on which she said some marks
+were cut.
+
+SLOW GROWTH OF TREES.
+
+Several trees around had been sawn and on two, about thirty yards west
+from the burnt stump, were the letters WW and IW 1817. The tree bearing
+the last letters was a goborro or dwarf box, and had been killed two
+years before by the natives stripping off a sheet of bark; but from the
+growth of the solid wood around the carved part it appeared that this
+tree had increased in diameter about an inch and a half in seventeen
+years; the whole diameter, including the bark, being sixteen inches. We
+immediately dug around the burnt stump in search of the bottle deposited
+there by Mr. Oxley, but without success. The gins said that he rode
+forward some way beyond, and marked another tree at the furthest place he
+reached. I accordingly went there with them, and they showed me a tree
+marked on each side but, the cuttings being in the bark only, they were
+almost grown out. It stood beside a small branch or outlet of the river,
+which led into a hollow of polygonum. The natives also said that one of
+Mr. Oxley's men was nearly drowned in trying to cross this but that they
+got him out. They positively assured me that this was the farthest point
+Mr. Oxley reached; and it seemed the more probable as during a flood the
+deep and narrow gully extending between the river and the field of
+polygonum must have then been under water, and a most discouraging
+impediment to the traveller. I place this spot in latitude 33 degrees 45
+minutes 10 seconds South; longitude 144 degrees 56 minutes East. The
+natives further informed me that three white men on horseback who had
+canoes (boats) on the Murrumbidgee had visited this part of the Lachlan
+since, and that after crossing it and going a little way beyond, they had
+returned.
+
+A TRIBE OF NATIVES COME TO US.
+
+In the evening, while a heavy shower fell, the natives who had come with
+me gave the alarm that a powerful tribe was advancing with scouts ahead,
+as when they mean mischief. We were immediately under arms and soon saw a
+small tribe consisting chiefly of old men, women, and children,
+approaching our party. They sat down very quietly near us, lighting their
+fire and making huts without saying a word; and on Piper going to them we
+soon came to a good understanding.
+
+MR. OXLEY'S BOTTLE.
+
+From them we learnt that, after the tree at Oxley's camp had been burnt
+down, a bottle had been found by a child who broke it, and that it
+contained a letter. This information saved us all further search,
+although it had been my intention to halt next day and send back six men
+to dig for the bottle; I had purposed also to have promised a full one in
+exchange for it, if they had found it.
+
+May 6.
+
+The chief of the new tribe had ordered a man to accompany us as guide,
+but after going a mile or two he fell back and left us; and we were thus
+compelled again to depend on the information of the gin for the situation
+of water. I regretted exceedingly the defection of this envoy, by whose
+means I hoped to have been passed from tribe to tribe.
+
+The grass had improved very much on the banks of the Lachlan. A vast
+plain of very firm surface extended southward, but not a tree was visible
+upon it, while on our side the country was wooded in long stripes of
+trees.
+
+WALJEERS LAKE.
+
+About seven miles from the camp the river, the general course of which
+had been for several days about south-west, turned southward; and we came
+in sight of Waljeers. The natives had for some days told us of Waljeers,
+which proved to be the bed of a lake nearly circular and about four miles
+in circumference. It was perfectly dry, but in wet seasons it must be a
+fine sheet of water. As we approached its banks I observed that the
+surface, which was somewhat elevated above the country nearer the river,
+consisted of firm red soil with large bushes of atriplex,
+mesembryanthemum, and other shrubs peculiar to that kind of surface,
+which is so common on the left bank of the Bogan.
+
+TRIGONELLA SUAVISSIMA.
+
+The whole expanse of the lake was at this time covered with the richest
+verdure and the perfumed gale which:
+
+fanned the cheek and raised the hair,
+Like a meadow breeze in spring,
+
+heightened the charm of a scene so novel to us. I soon discovered that
+this fragrance proceeded from the plant resembling clover which we found
+so excellent as a vegetable during the former journey.* A young crop of
+it grew in scanty patches near the shores of the lake, and I recognised
+it with delight, as it seems the most interesting of Australian plants.
+The natives here called it Calomba and told us that they eat it. Barney
+said it grew abundantly at Murroagin after rain. It seems to spring up
+only on the richest of alluvial deposits, in the beds of lagoons during
+the limited interval between the recession of the water and the
+desiccation of the soil under a warm sun.** Exactly resembling new mown
+hay in the perfume which it gives out even when in the freshest state of
+verdure, it was indeed sweet to sense and lovely to the eye in the heart
+of a desert country. When at sea off Cape Leeuwin in September 1827,
+after a three months' voyage and before we made the land, I was sensible
+of a perfume from the shore which this plant recalled to my recollection.
+
+(*Footnote. Trigonella suavissima, Volume 1.)
+
+(**Footnote. On leaving Sydney for this expedition I placed in charge of
+Mr. McLeay, colonial secretary, the first specimen of this plant produced
+by cultivation. It grew luxuriantly in a flower-pot from seeds brought
+from the Darling where it was discovered. Volume 1.)
+
+In the bed of Waljeers we again found the Agristis virginica of
+Linnaeus,* and an Echinochloa allied to E. crusgalli, two kinds of very
+rich grass; but most of the verdure in the middle of the bed consisted of
+a dwarf species of Psoralea which grew but thinly.** Hibiscus was also
+springing very generally. The bed of this lake had been full of the
+freshwater mussel; and under a canoe (which I took away in the carts)
+were several large crayfish dead in their holes. Dry and parched as the
+bed of the lake then was, the natives found nevertheless live freshwater
+mussels by digging to a substratum of sand. I understood that they also
+find this shell alive in the same manner, in the dry bed of the Lachlan.
+
+(*Footnote. See Volume 1.)
+
+(**Footnote. The third species of Psoralea before referred to (March
+19th). P. cinerea, Lindley manuscripts; herbacea, incana, foliis pinnatim
+trifoliolatis, foliolis dentatis punctatis ovatis acutis intermedio basi
+cuneato, racemo pedunculato denso multifloro foliis triplo longiore,
+bracteis minimis ovatis acuminatis, calycibus pellucide pauci-punctatis,
+caule ramisque strictis.)
+
+This lake was surrounded by yarra trees similar to those on the banks of
+the river; and within them was a narrow belt of slender reeds but no
+bulrushes. On the western shore lay a small beach of sand. The banks were
+in height about eight feet above the ordinary water-line of the lake; and
+the greatest depth in the centre was about sixteen feet below that line.
+The yarra trees distinguishing the margin continued to form a dense belt
+extending westward from the northern shore; and the natives informed me
+that these trees surrounded a much smaller lake named Boyonga which lay,
+as they pointed, immediately to the northward of it.
+
+On ascending the bank overlooking the western shore of Waljeers we found
+that it also consisted of firm red soil with high bushes of atriplex,
+etc., as on the opposite side. We next traversed a plain of the same
+elevation but of firmer texture than any we had seen nearer the Lachlan.
+The grass upon it was also good and abundant; and we found ourselves upon
+the whole in a better sort of country than we had seen for weeks; but
+still water was, if possible, scarcer than ever. After travelling about
+seven miles beyond Waljeers we regained the banks of the Lachlan; but I
+pursued its channel about two miles without finding a drop, and we
+encamped finally without having any for the animals after travelling
+upwards of sixteen miles.
+
+BARNEY IN DISGRACE.
+
+May 7.
+
+The grass was green and abundant and dew had fallen upon it during the
+night; our cattle therefore had not fared as badly as on other nights of
+privation; and were able to proceed. After we had left our former
+encampment and the envoy had deserted us it occurred to me that our
+friend Barney, who had accompanied us a long way, appeared rather too
+anxious to have a gin. He had been busy, as I subsequently learnt, in
+raising a hue and cry on the approach of the tribe we last met, in hopes
+that we might quarrel with them, and that he might get one, in
+consequence, on easy terms. I recollected that he reminded me of his
+wants in this respect at the very moment these people were approaching. I
+foresaw the mischief likely to arise from this readiness of Barney to
+insult native tribes while under the wing of our party; and the
+unfavourable impression he was likely to make on them respecting us if he
+were allowed to covet their gins. I therefore blamed him for causing the
+return of the guide who had been sent with us by that tribe, placed him
+in irons for the night and, much as I liked the poor fellow as an
+intelligent native, I thought it necessary to send him back this morning
+in company with a mute young savage, also from Cudjallagong, who seemed
+much inclined to become a follower of the camp. Our stock of provisions
+could not be too carefully preserved and such followers, when beyond
+their beat, might have had claims on it not to be resisted. There then
+remained with us, besides Piper and his gin, two intelligent native boys,
+each being named Tommy, together with The Widow and her child. The two
+Tommies obtained new chronometrical surnames, being known in the party as
+Tommy Came-first and Tommy Came-last. The former had been told plainly to
+go back, upon which he was heard to say he should follow the party,
+notwithstanding Majy's orders, as he could always find opossums in the
+trees. I was pleased with his independence on being told this, and
+allowed him to accompany the party as well as his friend Tommy Came-last,
+whom he had picked up somehow in the woods.
+
+A FAMILY OF NATIVES FROM THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+Our female guide maintained that there was a waterhole some miles onward
+at Pomabil; and we accordingly proceeded in that direction, regaining
+first the firm plains outside the trees growing on the river margin. We
+reached the part to which she had pointed and she went forward to look
+for the water but, on her calling out soon after that natives were there,
+we advanced into the wood, when we observed smoke arising and natives
+running away, pursued by The Widow. At length, perceiving that she stood
+talking to them, we went up. The strangers consisted of a family just
+come from the Murrumbidgee, and presented such a picture of the wild and
+wonderful that I felt a strong desire to make a sketch of the whole
+group. One man who was rather old being in mourning, as I was told, for
+the death of a brother, had his face, head and breast so bedaubed with
+white that he resembled a living skeleton; the others had large sticks,
+snakes and other reptiles in their hands, but they were perfectly naked
+and, crowding around him, presented a strange assemblage.
+
+INCONVENIENT FORMALITY OF NATIVES MEETING.
+
+I was anxious to learn from the principal personage the situation of the
+water; but on this first meeting it was necessary, as usual on all such
+occasions, to continue for some time patient and silent. This formality
+was maintained very remarkably by the old man and Piper. In vain did I
+desire the latter to ask him a question; each stood silent for a full
+quarter of an hour about eight yards apart, neither looking at the other.
+The female however became the intermediate channel of communication, for
+both spoke alternately in a low tone to her. At length Piper addressed
+the old man, raising his voice a little but with his head averted; and
+the other answered him in the same way; until at length by slow degrees
+they got into conversation. We were then informed that water was to be
+found a mile or two on, and the old man agreed to guide overseer Burnett
+and Piper to the place. I conducted the wheel-carriages along the firm
+plain outside and, after proceeding more than 2 1/2 miles, I heard a shot
+from Burnett, announcing his arrival at the water. I accordingly
+proceeded with the party in that direction, and we encamped near the
+river, amid the finest verdure that we had yet seen and after a journey
+of nine miles. We were informed that the Lachlan contained water in more
+abundance one or two days' journey lower down, and that the Murrumbidgee
+was not far to the southward.
+
+May 8.
+
+This day being Sunday I gave the cattle rest; but Mr. Stapylton went down
+the river with two men to make sure of water at our next stage. They
+found a pond at the distance of about eleven miles; the way to it being
+over a fine hard plain covered with mesembryanthemum and salsolae. The
+party saw a large kangaroo, the first observed on the banks of the
+Lachlan during this journey. The old man and his family had proceeded
+across to Waljeers in order to procure mussels, the object, as I
+understood, of his journey from the Murrumbidgee.
+
+May 9.
+
+We moved to the pond above-mentioned, named Yambarenga, and found near it
+a number of large huts similar to those of the Darling. The water was
+very green and muddy but the taste was good. The plain we traversed this
+day exactly resembled the best of the ground on the Darling; and in some
+places I observed the Quandang bushes,* having their branches covered
+with a parasitical plant whose bright crimson flowers were very
+ornamental.**
+
+(*Footnote. Fusanus acuminatus.)
+
+(**Footnote. Loranthus quandang, Lindley manuscripts; incanus, foliis
+oppositis lineari-oblongis obsolete triplinerviis obtusis, pedunculis
+axillaribus folio multo bevioribus apice divaricato-bifidis 6-floris,
+floribus pentameris aequalibus, petalis linearibus, antheris linearibus
+basi insertis. Next L. gaudichaudi.)
+
+THE MURRUMBIDGEE SEEN FROM THE LACHLAN.
+
+South of the spot where we now encamped the ground, which consisted of
+firm red clay, gradually rose; and from a tree Burnett observed the tall
+yarras of the Murrumbidgee at a distance of about eight miles. The
+latitude observed was 34 degrees 14 minutes 37 seconds South, longitude
+144 degrees 25 minutes East.
+
+May 10.
+
+A thick fog prevented the men from getting the cattle together as early
+as usual. In the meantime I made a drawing of the native female and the
+scenery around; and we finally left the encamping ground at a quarter
+before eleven. The first part of this day's journey was over a rising
+ground, on leaving which the country seemed as if it descended westward
+into a lower basin, so that I took the river Lachlan which lay below to
+be already the Murrumbidgee.
+
+RICH TINTS ON THE SURFACE.
+
+We next travelled over a fine hard plain covered very generally with
+small bushes of a beautiful orange-flowered, spreading under-shrub, with
+broad thin-winged fruit;* but the Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale grew
+almost everywhere and seemed to take the place of grass. It crept over
+the light red earth, ornamenting it with a rich variety of bright green,
+light red, purple, and scarlet tints which, when contrasted with the dead
+portions that were all of a pale grey colour, produced a fine harmonious
+foreground, fit for any landscape. The plains were intersected by a small
+wood of goborro (dwarf box) and after crossing this and keeping the lofty
+yarra trees in view we found these trees at length growing on ground
+which was intersected by hollows full of reeds, other parts of the
+surface bearing a green crop of grass.
+
+(*Footnote. Ropera aurantiaca, Lindley manuscripts; foliolis linearibus
+obtusis succulentis petiolo aequalibus, petalis obovatis obtusissimis,
+fructibus orbiculatis. November 1838: This Ropera has grown in the
+gardens of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick and proves a pretty new
+annual flower.)
+
+IMPROVED APPEARANCE OF THE RIVER.
+
+The banks of the river bore here a very different aspect from any parts
+which we had seen above; and I supposed that we were at length
+approaching its junction with the Murrumbidgee. The bed was broader but
+not so deep, and contained abundance of water at every turning. Ducks,
+pigeons, cockatoos and parrots were numerous; and we had certainly
+reached a better country than any we had yet traversed.
+
+INHABITED TOMB.
+
+On a corner of the plain, just as we approached the land of reedy
+hollows, I perceived at some distance a large, lonely hut of peculiar
+construction, and I accordingly rode to examine it. On approaching it I
+observed that it was closed on every side, the materials consisting of
+poles and large sheets of bark, and that it stood in the centre of a plot
+of bare earth of considerable extent, but enclosed by three small ridges,
+the surface within the area having been made very level and smooth. I had
+little doubt that this was a tomb but, on looking through a crevice, I
+perceived that the floor was covered with a bed of rushes which had been
+recently occupied. On removing a piece of bark and lifting the rushes, I
+ascertained, on thrusting my sabre into the hollow loose earth under
+them, that this bed covered a grave.
+
+Tommy Came-first, who was with me, pronounced this to be the work of a
+white man; but by the time I had finished a sketch of it The Widow had
+hailed him from the woods and told him that it was a grave, after which I
+could not prevail on him to approach the spot. I carefully replaced the
+bark, anxious that no disturbance of the repose of the dead should
+accompany the prints of the white man's feet. I afterwards learnt from
+The Widow that the rushes within that solitary tomb were actually the
+nightly bed of some near relative or friend of the deceased (probably a
+brother) and that the body was thus watched and attended in the grave
+through the process of corruption or, as Piper interpreted her account,
+until no flesh remains on the bones; "and then he yan (i.e. goes) away!"
+No fire, the constant concomitant of places of shelter, had ever been
+made within this abode alike of the living and the dead, although remains
+of several recent fires appeared on the heath outside.
+
+DEAD TREES AMONG THE REEDS.
+
+In the afternoon we came upon the river where rich weeds and lofty reeds
+enveloped a soft luxuriant soil. The yarra, or bluegum, not only grew on
+its banks, but spread over the flats; but I remarked that where the reeds
+grew thickest most of the trees were dead; and that almost all bore on
+their trunks the marks of inundation. These dead trees among reeds
+suggest several questions: Were they killed by the frequent burning of
+the reeds in summer? If so, how came they to grow first to such a size
+among them? Or did excess of moisture or its long continuance kill them?
+Are seasons now different from those which must have admitted of the
+growth of these trees for half a century? Or have changes in the levels
+of the deposits made by the larger rivers below, produced inundations
+above, to a greater extent than they had spread formerly?
+
+I was returning with the overseer from examining the country some miles
+in advance of the carts, and with the intention of encamping where I had
+left them halted, when I found the men had followed my track into some
+bad ground. After extricating them from it I proceeded three miles
+further to Bidyengoga, which we did not reach until dark. Water was found
+in the bed of the Lachlan on our penetrating through a broad margin of
+reeds towards some lofty yarra trees. Latitude 34 degrees 12 minutes 17
+seconds South; longitude 144 degrees 18 minutes East.
+
+VISIT SOME RISING GROUND.
+
+May 11.
+
+Rising ground appeared on the horizon about four miles to the north-west,
+and an intervening plain of firm clay covered with atriplex and salsolae
+rose towards it from the very margin of the reedy basin of the river.
+Although anxious to see the junction of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee,
+curiosity irresistible led me to the rising ground, while Mr. Stapylton
+traced the supposed line of the Lachlan and the overseer conducted the
+carts and party westward. Unlike the hills I had seen on the limits of
+interior plains elsewhere, the ridge I now visited consisted of the same
+rich loam as the plains themselves.
+
+VIEW NORTHWARD.
+
+It was connected with other low ridges which extended in a north-western
+direction into a country finely diversified with hill, dale, and patches
+of wood, but in all probability at that time entirely without water. The
+dry bed of a lake lay in a valley immediately north of the hills on which
+I stood. A few trees of stunted appearance alone grew in the hollow. On
+the top of this ridge I ate a russet apple which had grown in my garden
+at Sydney, and I planted the seeds in a spot of rich earth likely to be
+saturated with water as often as it fell from the heavens.
+
+DIFFICULTIES IN FINDING EITHER OF THE RIVERS OR ANY WATER.
+
+Southward I could see no trace of the Lachlan, and I hastened towards the
+highest trees where I thought it turned in that direction. I thus met the
+track of the carts at rightangles and galloped after them as they were
+driving through scrubs and over heaths away to the westward. When I
+overtook them I found that Mr. Stapylton had crossed over to them and
+told Burnett to say to me that he had not seen the Lachlan.
+
+SEARCH FOR THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+A row of lofty yarra trees appeared to the southward and, as I expected
+to find the Murrumbidgee among them, I directed my course thither,
+travelling to the westward of south as well as any appearance of water
+would allow. We passed through a scrub which swarmed with kangaroos,
+bronze-wing pigeons, and cockatoos; also by a rather singular hollow
+resembling the bed of a dry lake, in which we found several grasses
+apparently new and very beautiful,* together with a low but
+wide-spreading bush which bore a fruit resembling a cherry in size and
+taste, but with a more elongated stone.
+
+(*Footnote. A Poa near P. australis, R. Br. and Bromus australis of R.
+Br.)
+
+After descending into what I had thought was the bed of a river we found
+unequal ground and saw, at a distance, patches of reeds, also lofty yarra
+trees growing all about. On reaching the reeds we found they filled only
+very slight hollows in the surface and, after passing through them, we
+crossed another firm plain with atriplex and salsolae. No river was to be
+seen, but another line of trees bounded this plain, exactly like those on
+the banks of streams, and on reaching it I felt confident of finding
+water; but on the contrary there was only an open forest of goodly trees
+without the least indication of it.
+
+A NIGHT WITHOUT WATER.
+
+The sun had now set and I directed the people to encamp while I rode
+forward in search of this river. Passing through a thick scrub I observed
+another line of river trees, but I penetrated their shades with no better
+success than before.
+
+HEAVY FALL OF RAIN.
+
+A dark and stormy night of wind and rain closed over us and,
+notwithstanding the want of water which we were again destined to
+experience, we got wet enough before we regained the camp. Mr. Stapylton
+had arrived there before me without having seen either the Lachlan or the
+Murrumbidgee in the course he had taken, and as the general bearings and
+directions I had given him did not admit of his deviating too far from
+the route of the carts he had been obliged to return unsuccessful. After
+so long a day's journey the cattle were doomed to pass another night
+yoked up, although surrounded by luxuriant pasture, for thus only could
+we prevent them from straying in search of water. The rain however
+moistened the grass on this as on three former occasions when we had
+suffered the same privation; and the cattle were ordered to be loosened
+to feed at the earliest dawn.
+
+May 12.
+
+It had rained heavily during the night so that water was no longer
+scarce. The canoe brought from Waljeers had been placed to receive the
+rain and conduct it into a cask which was thus filled.
+
+TWO MEN MISSING.
+
+On getting up I learnt that two men had set off in quest of water and had
+been absent all night. That they should have taken this step without
+first asking permission was wrong, but that nobody had mentioned the
+circumstance to me till then was still more vexatious as, by firing shots
+and throwing up rockets, these men might have found their way back in the
+dark. I was very glad however to hear them at length answer our shots,
+and not at all sorry to see them come in thoroughly drenched with the
+empty kettles on their shoulders. After this I learnt, when we were about
+to start, that six of the bullocks had got away; Piper however managed to
+trace and bring them back. The weather then cleared up and we proceeded,
+in a south-west direction as nearly as patches of scrub permitted, in
+search of the Murrumbidgee; for I was then convinced, from the different
+appearance of the country, that we had got beyond the junction of the
+Lachlan. On passing the scrubs we crossed a plain of the same kind which
+we had so often met. It sloped towards a belt of large trees in a flat,
+where we also saw reeds, the ground there being very soft and heavy for
+the draught animals. Passing this flat we again reached firm ground with
+stately yarra trees; and charming vistas through miles of open forest
+scenery had indeed nearly drawn me away from the bearing which was
+otherwise most likely to hit the river.
+
+REACH THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+I however continued to follow it and, in the midst of such scenery
+without being at all aware that I was approaching a river, I suddenly saw
+the water before me and stood at last on the banks of the Murrumbidgee.
+
+This magnificent stream was flowing within eight feet of its banks with
+considerable rapidity, the water being quite clear; and it really
+exceeded so much my expectations (surpassing far the Darling and all the
+Australian rivers I had then seen) that I was at first inclined to think
+it could be nothing less than the Murray which, like the Darling, might
+have been laid down too far to the west. At all events I was delighted to
+find that this corner of Australia could supply at least one river worthy
+of the name. After thirsting so long amongst the muddy holes of the
+Lachlan I witnessed, with no slight degree of satisfaction, the jaded
+cattle drinking at this full and flowing stream, resembling a thing of
+life in its deep and rippling waters. Now at length there was an end to
+the privations we had so often suffered from want of water; and the bank
+was also clothed with excellent grass--a pleasing sight for the cattle.
+Reeds appeared in patches back from the river but, unlike the banks of
+the Darling, the best and clearest ground was on the immediate margin of
+the Murrumbidgee.
+
+NATIVES ON THE OPPOSITE BANK.
+
+Piper, with that keenness of vision so peculiar in savages, soon descried
+some natives on the other side, and pointed out to me a tribe filing in a
+straggling line through the woods at a distance. I made him cooey to
+them, they answered the call, and in a short time appeared on the
+opposite bank. Our first interview with these sons of the woods was
+highly creditable to them. They advanced in a numerous group, but in a
+silent and submissive manner, each having a green bough twined round the
+waist or in his hand. They sat down on the opposite bank and The Widow,
+having taken a position exactly facing them, held a parley which
+commenced before I could get to the spot. It was now that we learnt the
+full value of this female, for it appeared that while some diffidence or
+ceremony always prevents the male natives, when strangers to each other,
+from speaking at first sight, no such restraint is imposed on the gins;
+who with the privilege of their sex are ever ready to speak, and the
+strangers as it seemed to answer; for thus at least we held converse with
+this tribe across the river. Our female guide, who had scarcely before
+ventured to look up, stood now boldly forward and addressed the strange
+tribe in a very animated and apparently eloquent manner; and when her
+countenance was thus lighted up, displaying fine teeth and great
+earnestness of manner, I was delighted to perceive what soul the woman
+possessed, and could not but consider our party fortunate in having met
+with such an interpreter.
+
+THEY SWIM ACROSS.
+
+At length the strangers proposed swimming over to us and we invited them
+to do so.
+
+AFRAID OF THE SHEEP.
+
+They then requested that those wild animals, the sheep and horses, might
+be driven away, at which The Widow and Piper's gin laughed heartily, but
+they were removed accordingly. The warriors of the Murrumbidgee were
+about to plunge into the angry flood, desirous, no doubt, of showing off
+like so many Caesars before these females, but their fears of the sheep,
+which they could not hide, must have said little for their prowess in the
+eyes of the damsels on our side of the water. The weather was cold, but
+the stranger who first swam across bore in one hand a piece of burning
+wood and a green branch. He was no sooner landed than he converted his
+embers into a fire to dry himself. Immediately after him followed a
+grey-haired chief (of whom I had heard on the Lachlan) and two others. It
+appeared however that Piper did not at first understand their language,
+saying it was "Irish"; but it happened that there was with this tribe a
+native of Cudjallagong (Regent's lake) and it was rather curious to see
+him act as interpreter between Piper and the others.
+
+THEIR REPORTS ABOUT THE JUNCTION OF THE DARLING.
+
+We learnt that the Murrumbidgee joined a much larger river named the
+Milliwa, a good way lower down, and that these united streams met, at a
+still greater distance, the Oolawambiloa, a river from the north which
+received a smaller one, bringing with it all the waters of Wamboul (the
+Macquarie). These natives proposed to amuse us with a corrobory dance, to
+which I did not object, but they postponed it until the following
+evening.
+
+SEARCH UP THE RIVER FOR JUNCTION OF THE LACHLAN.
+
+May 13.
+
+Having been very anxious to complete my survey of the Kalare by
+determining the true situation of its junction with the Murrumbidgee, I
+set out this morning with the intention of tracing this river upwards to
+that point, which I thought could not be at a greater distance than ten
+or twelve miles. We sought it however in vain, until darkness put a stop
+to our progress after we had measured full twenty miles. We lay down by
+the riverside and, although entirely without either food or shelter,
+determined to prosecute our search at daylight next morning.
+
+COURSE OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+May 14.
+
+Having laid down our work on the map last evening (by the light of the
+fire) I found that we were to the eastward, not only of our late camp
+where we had wanted water, but also even of our last camp on the Lachlan,
+and to the southward of it thirteen miles. It thus appeared that the
+river had taken a very extraordinary turn to the south or south-east,
+probably near our last encampment upon it. After measuring three miles
+further this morning, by which I was enabled to intersect a low hill in
+the situation where I expected to find the Kalare, and being then on a
+bend of the Murrumbidgee whence I could see no other indication of it
+save the line of trees some miles off, in which however it no doubt was,
+the whole intervening space being covered with Polygonum junceum, I was
+content with intersecting the point where that line joined the
+Murrumbidgee, chiefly out of consideration for the men who were with me.
+It was well that I then determined to return, for one man became so
+faint, when within a few miles of the camp, that the two others had to
+remain with him until I rode forward to it and sent back the doctor with
+something for them to eat.
+
+The course of the Murrumbidgee, as far as I traced it in that excursion,
+appeared to be about west, and I distinctly saw, from the highest point I
+attained on that river, rising ground at a great distance also bearing
+east. Under these circumstances it was obvious that the long course of
+the river Lachlan is in no part better defined than where it enters the
+basin of the Murrumbidgee. Water, which had been so scarce in other
+parts, was abundant where its channel and immediate margins assumed the
+reedy character of the greater river. So far from terminating in a lagoon
+or uninhabitable marsh, the banks of the Lachlan at fifty miles below the
+spot where Mr. Oxley supposed he saw its termination as a river, are
+backed on both sides by rising ground, until the course turns finally
+southward into the Murrumbidgee.
+
+TRIBE FROM CUDJALLAGONG VISITS THE CAMP IN MY ABSENCE.
+
+On my arrival at the camp I found that six of the party mounted had set
+out in search of me at midday. A strong tribe had arrived soon after my
+departure and, in conjunction with those natives whom we found there, it
+had been molesting the camp during the whole of the night. On first
+coming up the men composing it boldly approached the fires and took their
+seats, demanding something to eat.
+
+MOVEMENTS OF THE TRIBE.
+
+It appeared that they had followed our cart track downwards, having with
+them a native of Cudjallagong. They inquired particularly why Majy had
+gone to the junction of the Kalare with so few people; and they gave a
+very unfavourable account of the tribe at that place. This alarmed Mr.
+Stapylton, and when he observed the tribe set off in the morning, back
+along the cart track, he despatched the party on horseback under Burnett
+with orders to observe the movements of the tribe, to look for my track
+and, if possible, to join me. The party returned to the camp about eight
+in the evening, to my great satisfaction, for I had been apprehensive
+that they might have proceeded to seek me at the junction and I had
+despatched two men to recall them as soon as I returned.
+
+CAUGHT FOLLOWING MY STEPS.
+
+Burnett reported when he returned that he had found our track after
+making a considerable circuit five or six miles from the camp; and as
+Piper, who accompanied him, was tracing my steps homewards, on perceiving
+some natives running along it, he concluded that we were just before them
+and sounded the bugle, when they proved to be the tribe before mentioned,
+all armed with spears. What their object was I cannot say, for three of
+them had been trotting along the footmarks, while the rest of the tribe
+in a body kept pace abreast of them. On hearing the bugle it appeared
+that they seemed much alarmed and drew up at a distance.
+
+PIPER QUESTIONS THEM.
+
+They would not allow Piper to approach them, but one at length came
+forward and informed him that Majy was gone home. Piper was so dubious
+about this that he insisted on examining the points of their spears.
+
+During the nights passed at this camp the natives were on the alert, so
+that their various movements, cooeys, and calls kept the party in a state
+of watchfulness, aware, as experience had taught us, of their thieving
+propensities. Some rockets sent up about the time I was expected on the
+evening of our absence had however scared them a little; and it is
+probable that the man from Cudjallagong had given them new ideas about
+soldiers. Piper's watchword, also, when taking up his carabine, usually
+was "Bell gammon soldiers."* They left the neighbourhood of our camp on
+my return and we saw no more of the tribe which had followed me.
+
+(*Footnote. Meaning Soldiers are no joke!)
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.4.
+
+The Murrumbidgee compared with other rivers.
+Heaps of stones used in cooking.
+High reeds on the riverbank.
+Lake Weromba.
+Native encampment.
+Riverbanks of difficult access.
+Best horse drowned.
+Cross a country subject to inundations.
+Traverse a barren region at some distance from the river.
+Kangaroos there.
+Another horse in the river.
+Lagoons preferable to the river for watering cattle.
+High wind, dangerous in a camp under trees.
+Serious accident; a cartwheel passes over The Widow's child.
+Graves of the natives.
+Choose a position for the depot.
+My horse killed by the kick of a mare.
+Proceed to the Darling with a portion of the party.
+Reach the Murray.
+Its breadth at our camp.
+Meet with a tribe.
+Lake Benanee.
+Discover the natives to be those last seen on the Darling.
+Harassing night in their presence.
+Piper alarmed.
+Rockets fired to scare them away.
+They again advance in the morning.
+Men advance towards them holding up their firearms.
+They retire, and we continue our journey.
+Again followed by the natives.
+Danger of the party.
+Long march through a scrubby country.
+Dismal prospect.
+Night without water or grass.
+Heavy rain.
+Again make the Murray.
+Strange natives visit the camp at dusk.
+
+THE MURRUMBIDGEE COMPARED WITH OTHER RIVERS.
+
+May 15.
+
+The night had been stormy with rain so that I had not been able to
+ascertain the latitude of the point at which we had reached this
+important river. It was Sunday and, although the two men sent after
+Burnett's party had come in early enough, we remained in the same camp. I
+had already been struck with the remarkable dissimilarity between the
+Murrumbidgee and all the interior rivers previously seen by me,
+especially the Darling. The constant fulness of its stream, its
+water-worn and lightly-timbered banks, and the firm and accessible nature
+of its immediate margin, unbroken by gullies, were all characters quite
+the reverse of those which I had seen elsewhere. Whatever reeds or
+polygonum might be outside, a certain space along the river was almost
+everywhere clear, probably from its constant occupation by the natives.
+
+HEAPS OF STONES USED IN COOKING.
+
+One artificial feature not observed by me in other places distinguishes
+the localities principally frequented by the natives, and consists in the
+lofty mounds of burnt clay or ashes used by them in cooking. The common
+process of natives in dressing their provisions is to lay the food
+between layers of heated stones; but here, where there are no stones, the
+calcined clay seems to answer the same purpose, and becomes better or
+harder the more it is used. Hence the accumulation of heaps resembling
+small hills.* Some of them were so very ancient as to be surrounded by
+circles of lofty trees; others, long abandoned, were half worn away by
+the river which, in the course of ages, had so far changed its bed that
+the burnt ashes reached out to mid-channel; others, now very remote from
+the river, had large trees growing out of them.
+
+(*Footnote. And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones: and they
+took stones, and made a heap, and they did eat there upon the heap.
+Genesis 31:46. "Thevenot describes the way of roasting a sheep, practised
+by the Armenians, by which also the use of smoky wood is avoided; for
+having flayed it, they cover it again with the skin, and put it into an
+oven upon the quick coals, covering it also with a good many of the same
+coals, that it may have fire under and over to roast it well on all
+sides; and the skin keeps it from being burnt." Harmer. Whoever has seen
+the Australian natives cook a kangaroo must recognise in this description
+the very same process.)
+
+HIGH REEDS ON THE RIVERBANK.
+
+I saw the first of these heaps when near the end of the last day's
+journey along the Lachlan, where this river partook of the reedy
+character of the Murrumbidgee. I understood that the balyan or
+bulrush-root which is the chief food of the natives there is prepared in
+those kilns when a family or tribe are together. I ascertained the name
+of the place to be Weyeba; its latitude is 34 degrees 21 minutes 34
+seconds South; longitude 143 degrees 56 minutes 27 seconds East.
+
+May 16.
+
+We commenced our journey down the Murrumbidgee. Our route passed
+occasionally through reeds as we cut off the bends of the river; but they
+formed no serious impediment although they stood so high that we
+occasionally experienced some difficulty in following each other through
+them. Having found, after surveying the river a few miles down, that the
+general course was about south-west, as I had also found it to be above
+our camp, I followed that direction as a general line of route, leaving
+the river at length at some distance to the left. The country looked
+well, lofty yarra trees and luxuriant grass giving it the appearance of
+fine forest land; but most of these trees bore marks of inundation, and
+the water appeared to have reached several feet up their trunks. At
+length I came on a native path conducting westward; but as it led to
+rising ground with Atriplex halimoides, etc., I bent our course to the
+south and reached the river at sunset.
+
+LAKE WEROMBA.
+
+Burnett and Piper followed the native path until they came to the bed of
+a fine lake about half a mile across, and they met some natives who told
+them that the name of it was Weromba. Mr. Stapylton also discovered a
+small lake of the same sort near our route and south of the other. Both
+sheets of water, like that of Waljeers, were surrounded by a ridge of
+rising ground consisting of the red earth of the dry plains, and it was
+covered with the salsolaceous shrubs peculiar to them. These lakes seem
+to be supplied only from the highest floods of the river, and to
+constitute a remarkable and peculiar feature in the character of the
+surface. I had been informed of a very large one of the same kind named
+Quawingame near the left bank of the Lachlan, and not far from its
+junction with the Murrumbidgee; but the singular turn of the
+first-mentioned river prevented me from seeing it.
+
+NATIVE ENCAMPMENT.
+
+As we drew near the river I perceived the huts of a tribe with a fire
+smoking before each. I immediately sent back for the gins, but before
+they could come up the natives whom we saw there noticed us and
+immediately disappeared among the reeds, shrieking as if they had been
+mad. Our females soon after approached their huts and called on them to
+return, but in vain.
+
+RIVERBANKS OF DIFFICULT ACCESS. BEST HORSE DROWNED.
+
+A misfortune befel us this evening which made the party better aware of
+the treacherous nature of the banks of this part of the Murrumbidgee. I
+had just time before it got dark to find a place where the cattle could
+approach the water, the banks being almost everywhere water-worn and
+perpendicular, and consequently inaccessible and dangerous to animals in
+descending to drink. To this point I had sent the sheep, and the men were
+leading the horses also towards it when the foremost, which unfortunately
+was the best, made a rush to the water at a steeper place, and fell into
+the river. He swam however to the other side but, in returning, sank in
+the middle of the stream, never to rise again. He had winkers on and I
+think it probable that he had put his foot into a short rein which was
+attached to the collar. This horse was of the Clydesdale breed and drew
+the cart containing my instruments throughout the journey along the
+Darling last year. His name was Farmer--an unfortunate appellation for
+surveying horses--for Farmer's Creek, in the new road to Bathurst, was
+named after another horse which fell there and broke his neck while I was
+marking out the line.
+
+CROSS A COUNTRY SUBJECT TO INUNDATIONS.
+
+The land adjacent to the river was of the richest quality; and the grass
+on it was luxuriant and the forest scenery fine. The lofty trees
+certainly bore marks of inundation one or two feet high; but as land
+still higher was not far distant it cannot be doubted, notwithstanding
+its liability to become flooded, that the soil might supply the wants of
+an industrious population; especially as its spontaneous productions are
+the chief support of the aboriginal inhabitants.
+
+TRAVERSE A BARREN REGION AT SOME DISTANCE FROM THE RIVER.
+
+May 17.
+
+A beautiful morning. The latitude of this camp being exactly that of the
+most southern bend of the river in Arrowsmith's map, I ventured upon a
+course nearly west in order to clear the bends. The lofty trees I had
+seen before me were found to be situated, not on the banks of the river,
+but amongst scrubs. We afterwards came to sandhills and extensive tracts
+covered with that most unpleasing of shrubs to a traveller, the
+Eucalyptus dumosa, and the prickly grass mentioned by Mr. Oxley. We
+traversed ridges of sand rising perhaps sixty feet above the plains,
+nearer the river; and, when viewed from trees, the same kind of country
+seemed unlimited in all directions. I therefore travelled
+south-south-west and afterwards southward; until we once more entered
+among the yarra trees on the more open ground by the river, and encamped
+after a journey of about twelve miles. The country we had this day
+traversed was of so unpromising a description that it was a relief to get
+even amongst common scrubs, and escape from those of the Eucalyptus
+dumosa. This species is not a tree but a lofty bush with a great number
+of stems, each two or three inches in diameter; and the bushes grow
+thickly together, having between them nothing but the prickly grass in
+large tufts. This dwarf wood approached to the very river, where we
+encamped without leaving an intermediate plain, as on the Lachlan. In
+this country, however dreary it appeared, we found a beautiful grevillea
+not previously seen by us.
+
+KANGAROOS THERE.
+
+During the day we saw also a great many kangaroos and killed two of them.
+
+ANOTHER HORSE IN THE RIVER.
+
+Notwithstanding every precaution in watering the cattle, and at a place
+selected too as the best that could be found after a careful examination
+of two miles of the river, one of the horses fell in; but on this
+occasion it was safely got out again. The abundance of water, though a
+novelty to us, was a source of new trouble and anxiety from the danger
+our cattle were in of being drowned, owing to the precipitous banks and
+soft mud of the river. This peril was indeed so imminent that in the
+morning it was thought most prudent to water all the horses with a
+bucket, and not to risk the loss of the bullocks by suffering them to
+drink at all.
+
+May 18.
+
+Being determined to keep the river in sight, we this day continued our
+journey along its margin. I found we could follow the general course
+without entering bends by travelling at the base of a second bank, which
+seemed to divide the yarra-tree flats from the scrubby ground behind.
+
+LAGOONS PREFERABLE TO THE RIVER FOR WATERING CATTLE.
+
+We came thus upon some rainwater in the clay of the plains which, being
+sufficient to satisfy the bullocks, we gladly availed ourselves of the
+opportunity it afforded of watering them without unyoking. After
+proceeding about three miles further we saw a lagoon between us and the
+Murrumbidgee. It resembled a bend of the river, and contained abundance
+of water on which were three pelicans and a number of ducks. When we had
+travelled nearly far enough to encamp, we came on two other lagoons of
+the same kind, similarly situated and both containing water. The grass
+being good, I determined to pitch our tents between them, as the cattle
+might thus be watered for one night at least without the risk of being
+bogged or drowned. These lagoons looked like different bends of a river,
+although we saw the ends of both and passed on firm ground between them.
+It was evident however that they could only be supplied by the
+inundations of the river. On this day we killed a kangaroo.
+
+HIGH WIND, DANGEROUS IN A CAMP UNDER TREES.
+
+May 19.
+
+During the night the weather was tempestuous; at three A.M. it blew a
+hurricane and the rain fell heavily afterwards. I was not sorry when the
+wind abated for we were so confined for room between the two lagoons that
+my tent had been pitched, and most of our encampment placed, unavoidably
+under a large yarra tree, a very unsafe position during high winds, but
+fortunately no branches fell. In the morning, after proceeding about a
+mile, another lagoon lay before us, which was full of water and indeed
+terminated in the river. We avoided it by turning to the right and
+gaining the higher ground above the level of floods. We continued along
+this upper land, thus crossing two small plains; but soon after, being
+apprehensive of going too far from the river, we again entered the open
+forest of yarra trees which marked so distinctly its immediate margin. At
+3 1/2 miles we passed a bend of the river, full of dead trees, the banks
+being quite perpendicular and loose. After reaching another bend three
+miles further we noticed two lagoons, apparently the remains of an
+ancient channel of the river; and at ten miles we came upon a creek as
+capacious as the Lachlan and full of large ponds of water. Mr. Stapylton
+examined this creek some way up and he found that it came from the
+north-east; and on arriving at a favourable place I crossed with the
+party and encamped, the day having been very rainy and cold. We soon
+discovered that this channel was only a branch of one from the north and,
+the latter being very deep, I determined to halt next day, that its
+course might be explored while the men made a fit passage across it for
+the carts.
+
+May 20.
+
+This morning the weather appeared beautifully serene; and the barometer
+had risen higher than I had ever seen it on this side of the mountains.
+Mr. Stapylton, who left the camp in the morning, returned about sunset
+after exploring the creek through a very tortuous course, more or less to
+the northward of west. He had also ascertained that it supplied a small
+lake about eight miles to the westward of our camp, whence he had
+perceived its course bending again towards the river, of which he in fact
+considered it only a branch: and I therefore concluded that the ponds of
+water so abundant in it were but the remains of a flood in the
+Murrumbidgee.
+
+May 21.
+
+A good passageway having been made, we crossed the watercourse and
+proceeded towards Lake Stapylton as I understood that there we might
+easily recross. I was informed by Burnett that when the journey commenced
+this morning the gins in the bush had not responded to Piper's call until
+after such a search as convinced him that both intended to leave the
+party. He said that in such cases the law of the aborigines was that the
+two first attempts of a wife to leave her husband might be punished by a
+beating, but that for the third offence he might put her to death. On the
+way we traversed the head of a creek somewhat similar to the last, at a
+place where it was nearly level with the plain although, just below, it
+contained a fine reach of water obviously supplied by the river.
+
+SERIOUS ACCIDENT; A CARTWHEEL PASSES OVER THE WIDOW'S CHILD.
+
+Here an unfortunate accident befel the little native child Ballandella
+who fell from a cart and, one of the wheels passing over, broke her
+thigh. On riding up I found The Widow her mother in great distress,
+prostrate in the dust with her head under the limb of the unfortunate
+child. I made the doctor set it immediately; but the femora having been
+broken very near the socket, it was found difficult to bandage the limb
+so as to keep the bone in its place. Every care however was taken of the
+poor little infant that circumstances would allow; and she bore the pain
+with admirable patience though only four years old. In her cries on first
+meeting with the accident she was heard to call for Majy, a curious
+instance of this child's sense at so early an age.
+
+I found that the ground near the lake afforded so good a position for a
+depot that I encamped upon it with the intention of ascertaining what
+grass the neighbourhood afforded, and how the situation was likely to
+answer this purpose in other respects. It had been latterly my intention
+to leave the carts, boats, and most of the cattle in a depot at the
+junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray; and to proceed with two light
+carts only and a month's provisions to complete the survey of the
+Darling. We were now, I considered, within three days' journey, at most,
+of that junction (according to Arrowsmith's map) and as these rivers were
+dangerous to the cattle, and their banks much frequented by the natives,
+such a place as this seemed more convenient and secure for a temporary
+depot.
+
+GRAVES OF THE NATIVES.
+
+On the rising ground near our camp were several graves, all inclosed in
+separate parterres of exactly the same remarkable double or triple ridges
+as those first seen on the lower part of the Lachlan. There were three of
+these parterres all lying due east and west. On one, evidently the most
+recent, the ashes of a hut appeared over the grave. On another, which
+contained two graves (one of a small child) logs of wood mixed with long
+grass were neatly piled transversely; and in the third, which was so
+ancient that the enclosing ridges were barely visible, the grave had sunk
+into a grassy hollow. I understood from The Widow that such tombs were
+made for men and boys only, and that the ashes over the most recent one
+were the remains of the hut which had been burnt and abandoned after the
+murder of the person whose body was buried beneath had been avenged by
+the tribe to whom the brother or relative keeping it company above ground
+had belonged.
+
+CHOOSE A POSITION FOR THE DEPOT.
+
+May 22.
+
+This morning the bullock-drivers gave so favourable an account of the
+pasture that I determined to leave a depot there and to set out next
+morning with the rest of the party for the Darling. The day was therefore
+passed in making the necessary arrangements. I proposed leaving Mr.
+Stapylton with eight trusty men; and to take with me the rest, consisting
+of fifteen, including Burnett and Piper. I calculated on being absent
+four weeks at most; and rations for the supply of the party for that time
+were immediately weighed out and packed, along with our tents, in two
+light carts which were to be drawn by five bullocks each. Thus I expected
+to be able to travel fifteen miles a day; and to have the men in better
+order for dealing with the fire-eaters of the Darling than when they were
+all occupied as bullock-drivers, carters, etc. etc.
+
+MY HORSE KILLED BY THE KICK OF A MARE.
+
+May 23.
+
+Before I got up this morning I was informed that the same unlucky mare
+which had already caused the death of one of the horses had just broken
+the thigh of my own horse; and thus I was forced to have it shot when it
+was in better condition than usual, having been spared from working much
+for some time that it might be fresh for this excursion. Such an
+inauspicious event on the morning of my intended departure for the
+Darling was by no means encouraging. I left The Widow at the depot camp,
+having given directions that she should have rations and that every care
+should be taken of the child whose broken limb had been set and bound to
+a board in such a manner that the little patient could not, by moving,
+disturb the bone in healing. Mr. Stapylton was aware of the necessity for
+preventing The Widow from going back just then, lest she might have
+fallen into the hands of any pilfering tribe likely to follow us. The
+accident which had befallen Ballandella (of whom she was very fond) was
+however likely to be a tie on her, at least until our return; for it
+would have been very injurious to have moved the child in less than
+several weeks. A stockyard was to be erected for the cattle that they
+might be brought up there every night during our absence; and the men
+appointed to remain at the depot were told off in watches for the cattle
+and camp.
+
+PROCEED TO THE DARLING WITH A PORTION OF THE PARTY.
+
+Mr. Stapylton and I then separated with a mutual and most sincere wish
+that we should meet again as soon as possible. The position of the camp
+was excellent, being on the elevated edge of a plain overlooking an
+extensive reach of water, and surrounded with grass in greater abundance
+and variety than we had seen in any part for some time.
+
+During our progress this day we were for some miles in danger of being
+shut in by the creek extending from the lake, as it increased
+prodigiously and at length resembled a still reach of the Murrumbidgee
+itself. After crossing it several times I was fortunate enough to be able
+to keep the right bank, by which we got clear, passing along the edge of
+a slight fall which looked like the berg of the main stream.
+
+REACH THE MURRAY.
+
+At 7 1/2 miles we crossed ground of a more open character than any we had
+seen for some days; and it appeared to belong to the river margin, as it
+was marked by some yarra trees. On approaching this river I judged, from
+the breadth of its channel, that we were already on the banks of the
+Murray. Thus without making any detour, and much sooner than I had reason
+to expect from the engraved map, we had reached the Murray, and our depot
+thus proved to be in the best situation for subsequently crossing that
+river at its junction with the Murrumbidgee, as originally intended.
+Leaving a little plain on our right, we entered the goborro or box-forest
+with the intention of keeping near the river; but from this we had to
+recede on meeting with a small but deep branch of the stream with some
+water in it. Proceeding next directly towards some high trees at the
+western extremity of the plains, we reached a favourable bend of the
+Murray and there encamped.
+
+ITS BREADTH AT OUR CAMP. DESCRIPTION OF ITS BANKS.
+
+This magnificent stream was 165 yards broad, its waters were whitish, as
+if tinged with some flood; the height of the red bank, not subject to
+inundation, was 25 feet and by comparing these measurements with the
+Murrumbidgee, which at Weyeba was 50 yards wide, with banks 11 feet high
+(and that seemed a fine river) some idea may be formed of the Murray.* At
+the place where we encamped the river had no bergs, for its bank
+consisted of the common red earth covered with the acacia bushes and
+scrub of the interior plains. The land at the point opposite was lower
+and sandy, and a slight rapid was occasioned in the stream by a ridge of
+ironstone.
+
+(*Footnote. See comparative sections of these and other rivers to one
+scale on the General Map in Volume 1.)
+
+May 24.
+
+It was quite impossible to say on what part of the Murray, as laid down
+by Captain Sturt, we had arrived; and we were therefore obliged to feel
+our way just as cautiously as if we had been upon a river unexplored. The
+ground was indeed a tolerable guide, especially after we found that this
+river also had bergs which marked the line of separation between the
+desert plain or scrub and the good grassy forest-land of which the
+river-margin consisted. As we proceeded I found it best to keep along the
+bergs as much as possible in order to avoid ana-branches* of the river.
+Where the bergs receded forest land with the goborro or dwarf-box
+intervened. In travelling over ground of this description we crossed, at
+two miles from the camp, a dry creek or branch, and another at a mile and
+a quarter further.
+
+(*Footnote. Having experienced on this journey the inconvenient want of
+terms relative to rivers I determined to use such of those recommended by
+Colonel Jackson in his able paper on the subject, in the Journal of the
+Royal Geographical Society for 1833, as I might find necessary. They are
+these:
+Tributary: Any stream adding to the main trunk.
+Ana-branches: Such as after separation unite.
+Berg, bergs: Heights now at some distance, once the immediate banks of a
+river or lake.
+Bank: That part washed by the existing stream.
+Border: The vegetation at the water's edge, forest trees, or quays of
+granite, etc.
+Brink: The water's edge.
+Margin: The space between the brinks and the bergs.)
+
+MEET WITH A TRIBE.
+
+Soon after we entered a small plain bounded on the west by another dry
+channel, and beyond this we were prevented from continuing in the
+direction in which I wished to travel by a creek full of water, obliging
+us to turn northward and eastward of north until I at length found a
+crossing-place, and just as we perceived smoke at some distance beyond
+the other bank. To this smoke Piper had hastened, and when I reached a
+plain beyond the creek I saw him carrying on a flying conversation with
+an old man and several gins who were retiring in a north-west direction
+to a wood about a mile distant.
+
+LAKE BENANEE.
+
+This wood we also at length reached, and we found that it encircled a
+beautiful lake full sixteen miles in circumference and swarming with
+natives both on the beach and in canoes.
+
+The alarm of our arrival was then resounding among the natives whom I saw
+in great numbers along its western shores. This lake, like all those we
+had previously seen, was surrounded by a ridge of red earth, rather
+higher than the adjacent plains, and it was evidently fed, during high
+floods, by the creek we had crossed. I travelled due west from the berg
+of this lake along the plain which extended in that direction a mile and
+three-quarters. We then came to another woody hollow or channel in which
+I could at first see only a field of polygonum, although we soon found in
+it a broad deep reach of still water. In tracing it to the left or from
+the lake towards the river, we found it increased so much in width and
+depth, after tracing it three-quarters of a mile, that a passage in that
+direction seemed quite out of the question. Many of the natives who had
+followed us in a body from the lake overtook us here. They assured Piper
+that we were near the junction of this piece of water with the Millewa
+(Murray) and that in the opposite direction, or towards the lake, they
+could show us a ford. We accordingly turned and we came to a narrow place
+where the natives had a fish-net set across. On seeing us preparing to
+pass through the ford, they told Piper that, at a point still higher up,
+we might cross where the channel was dry. Thither therefore we went, the
+natives accompanying us in considerable numbers, but each carrying a
+green bough. Among them were several old men who took the most active
+part and who were very remarkable from the bushy fulness and whiteness of
+their beards and hair; the latter growing thickly on the back and
+shoulders gave them a very singular appearance, and accorded well with
+that patriarchal authority which the old men seem to maintain to an
+astonishing degree among these native tribes. The aged chiefs from time
+to time beckoned to us, repeating very often and fast at the same time
+"goway, goway, goway," which, strange to say, means "come, come, come."
+Their gesture and action being also precisely such as we should use in
+calling out "go away!" We crossed the channel at length where the bed was
+quite dry, and pitched our tents on the opposite side.
+
+DISCOVER THE NATIVES TO BE THOSE LAST SEEN ON THE DARLING.
+
+It will however be readily understood with what caution we followed these
+natives when we discovered, almost as soon as we fell in with them, that
+they were actually our old enemies from the Darling! I had certainly
+heard, when still far up on the Lachlan, that these people were coming
+down to fight us; but I little expected they were to be the first natives
+we should meet with on the Murray, at a distance of nearly two hundred
+miles from the scene of our former encounter. There was something so
+false in a forced loud laugh, without any cause, which the more plausible
+among them would frequently set up, that I was quite at a loss to
+conceive what they meant by all this uncommon civility. In the course of
+the afternoon they assembled their women and children in groups before
+our camp, exactly as they had formerly done on the Darling; and one or
+two small parties came in, whose arrival they seemed to watch with
+particular attention, hailing them while still at a distance as if to
+prevent mistakes. We now ascertained through Piper that the tribe had
+fled precipitately from the Darling last year to the country westward,
+and did not return until last summer, when they found the two bullocks we
+left there; which, having become fat, they had killed and eaten. We also
+ascertained that some of the natives then in the camp wore the teeth of
+the slaughtered animals, and that they had much trouble in killing one of
+them, as it was remarkably fierce. This we knew so well to the character
+of one of the animals that we had always supposed it would baffle every
+attempt of these savages to take it.
+
+In the group before me were pointed out two daughters of the gin which
+had been killed, also a little boy, a son. The girls exactly resembled
+each other and reminded me of the mother. The youngest was the handsomest
+female I had ever seen amongst the natives. She was so far from black
+that the red colour was very apparent in her cheeks. She sat before me in
+a corner of the group, nearly in the attitude of Mr. Bailey's fine statue
+of Eve at the fountain; and apparently equally unconscious that she was
+naked. As I looked upon her for a moment, while deeply regretting the
+fate of her mother, the chief who stood by, and whose hand had more than
+once been laid upon my cap, as if to feel whether it were proof against
+the blow of a waddy, begged me to accept her in exchange for a tomahawk!
+
+HARASSING NIGHT IN THEIR PRESENCE.
+
+The evening was one of much anxiety to the whole party. The fiendish
+expression of some of these men's eyes shone horribly, and especially
+when they endeavoured to disguise it by treacherous smiles. I did not see
+the tall man nor the mischievous old one of last year; but there were
+here many disposed to act like them. One miserable-looking dirty aged man
+was brought forward, and particularly pointed out to me by the tribe. I
+accordingly showed him the usual attention of sitting down and smoothing
+the ground for him.* But he soon requested me to strip, on which I arose,
+mindful of a former vow, and perceiving the blacksmith washing himself, I
+called him up and pointed out the muscles of his arm to the curious sage.
+The successor and brother, as the natives stated, of king Peter, was also
+looking on, and I made Vulcan put himself into a sparring attitude and
+tip him a touch or two, which made him fall back one or two paces, and
+look half angry. We distinctly recognised the man who last year threw the
+two spears at Muirhead; while on their part they evidently knew again
+Charles King who, on that occasion, fired at the native from whose spears
+Tom Jones so narrowly escaped.
+
+(*Footnote. Instead of handing a chair the equivalent of politeness with
+Australian natives is to smooth down or remove with the foot any sharp
+spikes or rubbish on the ground where you wish your friend to be seated
+before you.)
+
+Night had closed in and these groups hung still about us, having also
+lighted up five large fires which formed a cordon around our camp. Still
+I did not interfere with them, relying chiefly on the sagacity and
+vigilance of Piper whom I directed to be particularly on the alert. At
+length Burnett came to inform me that they had sent away all their gins,
+that there was no keeping them from the carts, and that they seemed bent
+on mischief.
+
+PIPER ALARMED.
+
+Piper also took alarm and came to me inquiring, apparently with a
+thoughtful sense of responsibility, what the Governor had said to me
+about shooting blackfellows. "These," he continued, "are only Myalls"
+(wild natives). His gin had overheard them arranging that three should
+seize and strip him, while others attacked the tents. I told him the
+Governor had said positively that I was not to shoot blackfellows unless
+our own lives were in danger. I then went out--it was about eight
+o'clock--and I saw one fellow, who had always been very forward, posted
+behind our carts and speaking to Piper's wife.
+
+ROCKETS FIRED TO SCARE THEM AWAY.
+
+I ordered him away, then drew up the men in line and when, as
+preconcerted, I sent up a rocket and the men gave three cheers, all the
+blacks ran off, with the exception of one old man who lingered behind a
+tree. They hailed us afterwards from the wood at a little distance where
+they made fires, saying they were preparing to corrobory and inviting us
+to be present. Piper told them to go on, and we heard something like a
+beginning to the dance, but the hollow sounds they made resembled groans
+more than any sort of music, and we saw that they did not, in fact,
+proceed with the dance. It was necessary to establish a double watch that
+night and indeed none of the men would take their clothes off. The most
+favourable alternative that we could venture to hope for was that a
+collision might be avoided till daylight.
+
+THEY AGAIN ADVANCE IN THE MORNING.
+
+May 25.
+
+The night passed without further molestation on the part of the natives;
+but soon after daybreak they were seen advancing towards our camp. The
+foremost was a powerful fellow in a cloak, to whom I had been introduced
+by king Peter last year, and who was said to be his brother. Abreast of
+him, but much more to the right, two of the old men, who had reached a
+fallen tree near the tents, were busy setting fire to the withering
+branches. Those who were further back seemed equally alert in setting
+fire to the bush and, the wind coming from that quarter, we were likely
+soon to be enveloped in smoke. I was then willing that the barbarians
+should come again up, and anxious to act on the defensive as long as
+possible; but when I saw what the old men were about I went into my tent
+for my rifle and ordered all the men under arms. The old rascals, with
+the sagacity of foxes, instantly observed and understood this movement
+and retired.
+
+MEN ADVANCE TOWARDS THEM HOLDING UP THEIR FIREARMS.
+
+I then ordered eight men to advance towards the native camp, and to hold
+up their muskets as if to show them to the natives, but not to fire
+unless attacked, and to return at the sound of the bugle.
+
+THEY RETIRE, AND WE CONTINUE OUR JOURNEY.
+
+The savages took to their heels before these men who, following the
+fugitives, disappeared for a time in the woods but returned at the bugle
+call. This move, which I intended as a threat and as a warning that they
+should not follow us, had at least the effect of giving us time to
+breakfast, as Muirhead observed on coming back to the camp.
+
+AGAIN FOLLOWED BY THE NATIVES. DANGER OF THE PARTY.
+
+We afterwards moved forward on our journey as usual; but we had scarcely
+proceeded a mile before we heard the savages in our rear and, on my
+regaining the Murray, which we reached at about three miles, they were
+already on the bank of that river, a little way above where we had come
+upon it and consequently as we proceeded along its bank they were behind
+us. They kept at a considerable distance; but I perceived through my
+glass that the fellow with the cloak carried a heavy bundle of spears
+before him.
+
+He comes, not in peace, O Cairbar:
+For I have seen his forward spear. Ossian.
+
+LONG MARCH THROUGH A SCRUBBY COUNTRY.
+
+We were then upon a sloping bank or berg,* which was covered backwards
+with thick scrub; below it lay a broad reach of still water in an old
+channel of the river and which I, for some time, took to be the river
+itself. It was most painfully alarming to discover that the knowledge
+these savages had acquired of the nature of our arms, by the loss of
+several lives last year, did not deter them from following us now with
+the most hostile intentions.
+
+(*Footnote. See above.)
+
+DISMAL PROSPECT.
+
+We had endeavoured to prevent them, by the demonstration of sending the
+men advancing with firearms, yet they still persisted; and Piper had
+gathered from them that a portion of their tribe was still before us. Our
+route lay along the bank of a river, peopled by other powerful tribes;
+and at the end of 200 miles we could only hope to reach the spot where
+the party already following in our rear had commenced the most unprovoked
+hostility last season. I had then thought it unsafe to divide my party,
+it was already divided now, and the cunning foe was between the two
+portions; a more desperate situation therefore than this half of my party
+was then in can scarcely be imagined. To attempt to conciliate these
+people had last year proved hopeless. Our gifts had only excited their
+cupidity, and our uncommon forbearance had only inspired them with a poor
+opinion of our courage; while their meeting us in this place was a proof
+that the effect of our arms had not been sufficient to convince them of
+our superior strength. A drawn battle was out of the question, but I was
+assured by Piper and the other young natives that we should soon lose
+some of the men in charge of the cattle. Those faithful fellows, on whose
+courage my own safety depended--some of them having already but narrowly
+escaped the spears of these very savages on the former journey. We soon
+discovered that the piece of water was not the river, by seeing the
+barbarians passing along the other side of it; and I thereupon determined
+to travel on as far as I could. The river taking a great sweep to the
+southward, we proceeded some miles through an open forest of box or
+goborro; and when I at length met with sandhills and the Eucalyptus
+dumosa I continued to travel westward, not doubting but that I should
+reach the Murray by pursuing that course. We looked in vain however
+during the whole day for its lofty trees, and in fact crossed one of the
+most barren regions in the world.
+
+NIGHT WITHOUT WATER OR GRASS.
+
+Not a spike of grass could be seen and the soil, a loose red sand, was in
+most places covered with a scrub like a thick-set hedge of Eucalyptus
+dumosa. Many a tree was ascended by Burnett, but nothing was to be seen
+on any side different to what we found where we were. We travelled from
+an early hour in the morning until darkness and a storm appeared to be
+simultaneously drawing over us. I then hastened to the top of a small
+sandhill to ascertain whether there was any adjacent open space where
+even our tents might be pitched, and I cannot easily describe the
+dreariness of the prospect that hill afforded. No signs of the river were
+visible unless it might be near a few trees which resembled the masts of
+distant ships on a dark and troubled sea; and equally hazardous now was
+this land navigation, from our uncertainty as to the situation of the
+river on which our finding water depended, and the certainty that,
+wherever it was, there were our foes before us, exulting perhaps in the
+thought that we were seeking to avoid them in this vile scrub. On all
+sides the flat and barren waste blended imperceptibly with a sky as
+dismal and ominous as ever closed in darkness. One bleak and sterile spot
+hard by afforded ample room for our camp; but the cattle had neither
+water nor any grass that night.
+
+HEAVY RAIN.
+
+A heavy squall set in and such torrents of rain descended as to supply
+the men with water enough; and indeed this was not the only occasion
+during the journey when we had been providentially supplied under similar
+circumstances.
+
+May 26.
+
+It appeared that we had not, even in that desert, escaped the vigilance
+of the natives, for Piper discovered, within three hundred yards of our
+camp, the track of two who, having been there on the preceding evening,
+had that morning returned towards the river. At an early hour we yoked up
+our groaning cattle and proceeded, although the rain continued for some
+time. I pursued by compass the bearing of the high trees I had seen,
+though they were somewhat to the northward of west.
+
+AGAIN MAKE THE MURRAY.
+
+Exactly at five miles a green bank and, immediately after, the broad
+expanse of the Murray, with luxuriantly verdant margins, came suddenly in
+view on the horizon of the barren bush in which we had travelled upwards
+of twenty-three miles, and which here approached the lofty bank of the
+river. The green hill I had first seen afforded an excellent position for
+our camp; and as the grass was good I halted for the rest of the day to
+refresh the cattle.
+
+STRANGE NATIVES VISIT THE CAMP AT DUSK.
+
+Towards evening the natives were heard advancing along our track, and
+seven came near the camp but remained on the river margin below, which
+from our post on the hill we completely overlooked. Piper went to these
+natives to ascertain if they were our enemies from the lake. He
+recognised several whom he had seen there, and he invited them to come up
+the hill; but when I saw them I could not, from their apparently candid
+discourse, look upon them as enemies. They said that the tribe which we
+had seen at Benanee did not belong to that part of the country, but had
+come there to fight us, on hearing of our approach. One of them, who had
+been seen at the lake, asked Piper several times why I did not attack
+them when I had so good an opportunity, and he informed us that they were
+the same tribe which intended to kill another white man (Captain Sturt)
+in a canoe, at the junction of the rivers lower down. They also informed
+us, on the inquiry being made, that the old man who then behaved so well
+to the white men was lately dead, and that he had been much esteemed by
+his tribe. I desired Piper to express to them how much we white men
+respected him also. I afterwards handed to these people a fire-stick and,
+pointing to the flat below, gave them to understand, through Piper, that
+the tribe at Benanee had behaved so ill and riotously about our camp that
+I could not allow any natives to sit down beside us at night.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.5.
+
+New and remarkable shrub.
+Darling tribe again.
+Their dispersion by the party.
+Cross a tract intersected by deep lagoons.
+Huts over tombs.
+Another division of the Darling tribe.
+Barren sands and the Eucalyptus dumosa.
+Plants which grow on the sand and bind it down.
+Fish caught.
+Aspect of the country to the northward.
+Strange natives from beyond the Murray.
+They decamp during the night.
+Reach the Darling and surprise a numerous tribe of natives.
+Piper and his gin explain.
+Search for the junction with the Murray.
+Return by night.
+Followed by the natives.
+Horses take fright.
+Break loose and run back.
+Narrow escape of some men from natives.
+Failure of their intended attack.
+Different modes of interment.
+Reduced appearance of the Darling.
+Desert character of the country.
+Rainy morning.
+Return of the party.
+Surprise the females of the tribe.
+Junction of the Darling and Murray.
+Effect of alternate floods there.
+
+NEW AND REMARKABLE SHRUB.
+
+May 27.
+
+In the scrub adjoining our camp we found a new and remarkably beautiful
+shrub bearing a fruit, the stone of which was very similar to that of the
+quandang (Fusanus acuminatus) although there was no resemblance either in
+the form of the tree or of the flower. This shrub was not unlike the
+weeping willow in its growth, and the fruit, which grew at the
+extremities of the drooping branches, had the shape of a pear and a black
+ring at the broad end. The crop then on the tree was unripe, and was
+probably a second one; the flower was also budding, and we hoped to see
+the full blossom on our return. Only three or four of these trees were
+seen, and they were all on the hill near our encampment. Here likewise
+grew a new shrubby species of Xerotes, with hard rush-like leaves, but
+allied to X. gracilis.*
+
+(*Footnote. X. effusa, Lindley manuscripts; acaulis, foliis linearibus
+longissimis semiteretibus margine scabris dorso striatis: apice dentato
+tabescente, panicula mascula effusa abbreviata, bracteis acuminatis
+scariosis pedicello brevioribus.)
+
+DARLING TRIBE AGAIN.
+
+We proceeded on our journey as usual, but had not gone far when we heard
+the voices of a vast body of blacks following our track, shouting
+prodigiously, and raising war cries. It now became necessary for me to
+determine whether I was to allow the party under my charge to be
+perpetually subject to be cut off in detail by waiting until these
+natives had again actually attacked and slain some of my people, or
+whether it was not my duty, in a war which not my party, but these
+savages, had virtually commenced, to anticipate the intended blow. I was
+at length convinced that, unless I could check their progress in our rear
+and prevent them from following us so closely, the party would be in
+danger of being compelled to fight its way back against the whole savage
+population, who would be assembled at that season of drought on the banks
+of the large rivers. But in order to ascertain first whether this was the
+hostile tribe I sent overseer Burnett with Piper and half the party into
+the scrub which skirted our line of route. We were travelling along the
+berg or outer bank of the river, a feature which not only afforded the
+best defensive position but also guided me in tracing the river's course.
+It was also in many parts the only ground clear of timber or bushes and
+therefore the best for travelling upon. I directed the men to allow the
+tribes to pass along our track towards me, as I intended to halt with the
+carts after crossing the low hill. Piper recognised from this scrub the
+same people he had seen at Benanee.
+
+DISPERSION OF THE DARLING TRIBE BY THE PARTY.
+
+The natives however having immediately discovered our ambuscade by the
+howling of one of their dogs, halted and poised their spears; but a man
+of our party (King) inconsiderately discharging his carabine, they fled
+as usual to their citadel, the river, pursued and fired upon by the party
+from the scrub. The firing had no sooner commenced than I perceived from
+the top of the hill which I ascended some of the blacks, who appeared to
+be a very numerous tribe, swimming across the Murray. I was not then
+aware what accidental provocation had brought on this attack without my
+orders, but it was not the time to inquire; for the men who were with me,
+as soon as they heard the shots of their comrades and saw me ascend the
+hill, ran furiously down the steep bank to the river, not a man remaining
+with the carts. The hill behind which these were posted was about a
+quarter of a mile from the river, and was very steep on that side, while
+on the intervening space or margin below lofty gum trees grew, as in
+other similar situations. By the time I had also got down, the whole
+party lined the riverbank, the men with Burnett being at some distance
+above the spot at which I reached it. Most of the natives were then near
+the other side, and getting out while others were swimming down the
+stream. The sound of so much firing must have been terrible to them and
+it was not without effect, if we may credit the information of Piper who
+was afterwards informed that seven had been shot in crossing the river,
+and among them the fellow in the cloak, who at Benanee appeared to be the
+chief. Much as I regretted the necessity for firing upon these savages,
+and little as the men might have been justifiable under other
+circumstances for firing upon any body of men without orders, I could not
+blame them much on this occasion; for the result was the permanent
+deliverance of the party from imminent danger. Our men were liable in
+turn to be exposed singly while attending the cattle, which often
+unavoidably strayed far from the camp during the night; and former
+experience had, in my mind, rendered the death of some of these men
+certain. I was indeed satisfied that this collision had been brought
+about in the most providential manner; for it was probable that, from my
+regard for the aborigines, I might otherwise have postponed giving orders
+to fire longer than might have been consistent with the safety of my men.
+Such was the fate of the barbarians who, a year before, had commenced
+hostilities by attacking treacherously a small body of strangers, which,
+had it been sent from heaven, could not have done more to minister to
+their wants than it did then, nor endured more for the sake of peace and
+goodwill. The men had then been compelled to fire in their own defence
+and at the risk of my displeasure. The hostility of these savages had
+also prevented me from dividing my party, and obliged me to retire from
+the Darling sooner than I might otherwise have done. It now appeared that
+they had discovered this, judging from their present conduct, and
+unappalled by the effect of firearms, to which they were no longer
+strangers, they had boastingly invaded the haunts of other tribes, more
+peaceably disposed than themselves, for the avowed purpose of meeting and
+attacking us. They had persisted in following us with such bundles of
+spears as we had never seen on other occasions, and they were on the
+alert to kill any stragglers, having already, as they acknowledged,
+destroyed two of our cattle.
+
+This collision took place so suddenly that no man had thought of
+remaining at the heads of the horses and cattle, as already stated; nor
+was I aware of this until, on returning to them, I found the reins in the
+hands of Piper's gin; a tall woman who, wrapped in a blanket, with
+Piper's sword on her shoulder, and having a blind eye, opaque and white
+like that of some Indian idol, presented rather a singular appearance as
+she stood the only guardian of all we possessed. Her presence of mind in
+assuming such a charge on such an occasion was very commendable, and
+seemed characteristic of the female aborigines.
+
+I gave to the little hill which witnessed this overthrow of our enemies
+and was to us the harbinger of peace and tranquillity the name of Mount
+Dispersion.
+
+CROSS A TRACT INTERSECTED BY DEEP LAGOONS.
+
+The day's journey was still before us. On leaving the river we soon
+encountered a small creek or ana-branch* and, though I made a practice of
+avoiding all such obstructions by going round rather than crossing them,
+yet in the present case I was compelled to deviate from my rule on
+finding that this creek would take me too far northward. Soon after, we
+approached a lagoon and during the whole day, turn wherever we would, we
+were met by similar bodies of water or, as I considered them, pools left
+in the turnings and windings of some ana-branch formed during high floods
+of the river. Nevertheless I managed to preserve a course in the desired
+direction; and at length we encamped on the bank of several deep ponds
+which lay in the channel of a broad watercourse. I was anxious to avoid
+if possible being shut up between ana-branches and the river lest, as the
+river seemed rising, I might be at length surrounded by deep water. I was
+in some uncertainty here about the actual situation of the Murray and our
+position was anything but good; for it was in the midst of scrubby
+ground, and did not command, in any way, the place where alone grass
+enough was to be found for the cattle. The bergs of the river were not to
+be seen, although the river itself could not be distant; for the whole
+country traversed this day was of that description which belongs to the
+margin of streams, being grassy land under an open forest containing
+goborro and yarra trees. These are seldom found in that region at any
+considerable distance from the banks of the river, the whole interior
+country being covered with Eucalyptus dumosa and patches of the pine or
+Callitris pyramidalis.
+
+(*Footnote. See above.)
+
+May 28.
+
+A thick fog hung over us in the morning but it did not impede our
+progress. For the first three miles our way was along the banks of the
+channel or lagoon beside which we had passed the night. It then crossed a
+polygonum flat and several dry hollows, beyond which I at length saw the
+rising ground of the river-berg and, immediately after, the river itself,
+flowing by the base of a precipitous red cliff in which the scrubby flat
+country we were travelling upon abruptly terminated. We had cut off a
+great bend of the Murray by our intricate journey among the lagoons; and
+had again reached the river precisely at the point most desirable.
+
+HUTS OVER TOMBS.
+
+On this upper ground we observed several tombs, all enclosed within
+parterres of the same boat-like shape first seen by us on the day we
+traced the Lachlan into the basin of the Murrumbidgee. Two of the tombs
+here consisted of huts, very neatly and completely thatched over, the
+straw or grass being bound down by a well-wrought net. Each hut had a
+small entrance on the south-west side, and the grave within was covered
+with dry grass or bedding on which lay however some pieces of wood. There
+was a third grave with coverings of the same kind, but it was not so
+neatly finished, nor was it covered with net.* There were also graves
+without any covering; one where it appeared to have been burnt; and two
+old-looking graves were open, empty, and about three feet deep.
+
+(*Footnote. Isaiah 45:4. Who remain among the graves.] "The old Hebrews
+are charged by the prophet Isaiah with remaining among the graves and
+lodging in the monuments." See Lewis' Origines Hebraeae volume 3 page
+381.)
+
+ANOTHER DIVISION OF THE DARLING TRIBE.
+
+We had not proceeded far through the scrub on the top of the precipice
+overhanging the river when the usual alarm term "the natives" was passed
+along to me from the people in the rear of our party. Piper had been told
+that we should soon see the other division of the Darling tribe, which
+was still ahead of us; and I concluded that these natives belonged to it
+and were awaiting us at this point where, as they had foreseen, we were
+sure to come upon the river. Four or five advanced up to us while the
+rest followed among the bushes behind. I recognised two men whom I saw
+last year on the Darling. They begged hard for axes and held out green
+boughs, but I had not forgotten the treachery of their burning boughs on
+our former interview and, thinking I recognised the tall man who had been
+the originator of the war, I went up to him with no very kind feeling;
+but I was informed he was only that man's brother. My altered manner
+however was enough for their quick glance; and indeed one of the best
+proofs that these natives belonged to the Darling tribe was the attention
+with which they watched me when they asked for tomahawks, and their
+speaking so much to Piper about Majy. Of the evil tendency of giving
+these people presents I was now convinced, and fully determined not to
+give more then. This resolution the natives having discovered very
+acutely, their ringleaders vanished like phantoms down the steep cliffs,
+and we heard no more of the rest. It is possible that this portion of the
+tribe had not then received intelligence of what had befallen the others
+or they would not have advanced so boldly up. Be that as it may they
+followed us no more, having probably heard in the course of the day from
+the division of the tribe which we had driven across the Murray.
+
+BARREN SANDS AND THE EUCALYPTUS DUMOSA. PLANTS WHICH GROW ON THE SAND AND
+BIND IT DOWN.
+
+The river taking a turn to the southward, we again entered the dumosa
+scrub but it was more open than we had seen it elsewhere. The soil
+consisted of barren sand; there was no grass, but there were tufts of a
+prickly bush which tortured the horses and tore to rags the men's clothes
+about their ankles. I observed that this bush and the Eucalyptus dumosa
+grew only where the sand seemed too barren and loose for the production
+of anything else; so loose indeed was it that, but for this dwarf tree
+and prickly grass, the sand must have drifted so as to overwhelm the
+vegetation of adjacent districts, as in other desert regions where sand
+predominates. Nature appears to have provided curiously against that evil
+here by the abundant distribution of two plants so singularly adapted to
+such a soil. The root of the Eucalyptus dumosa resembles that of a large
+tree; but instead of a trunk only a few branches rise above the ground,
+forming an open kind of bush, often so low that a man on horseback may
+look over it for miles. The heavy spreading roots however of this dwarf
+tree and the prickly grass together occupy the ground and seem intended
+to bind down the sands of the vast interior deserts of Australia. Their
+disproportioned roots also prevent the bushes from growing very close
+together and, the stems being leafless except at the top, this kind of
+eucalyptus is almost proof against the running fires of the bush. The
+prickly grass resembles at a distance, in colour and form, an overgrown
+bush of lavender; but the pedestrian and the horse both soon find that it
+is neither lavender nor grass, the blades consisting of sharp spikes
+which shoot out in all directions, offering real annoyance to men and
+horses.
+
+On ascending a small sandhill about three P.M. I perceived that I could
+not hope to reach the river in the direction I was pursuing. Accordingly
+I turned to the left and, entering a rather extensive valley which was
+bounded on the south by the river-bergs at a distance of three or four
+miles, we encamped on the immediate bank of the Murray shortly before
+sunset. There was little grass about the river for the ferruginous
+finely-grained sandstone formed still the riverbank, and was exactly
+similar to the arenaceous rock on the eastern coast.
+
+FISH CAUGHT.
+
+The river had more the appearance of having a flood in it now than at the
+time we first made it, and here we caught some good cod-perch (Gristes
+peelii) one weighing seventeen pounds. As we came along the lagoons in
+the morning of this day we shot a new kind of duck.
+
+May 29.
+
+The broad slopes of the river-berg, or second bank, were generally
+distinguished by a strip of clear ground which we found the best for
+travelling upon; and it afforded us also the satisfaction of overlooking
+the friendly river at a greater or less distance on the left. The Murray
+meandered between the opposite bergs of the valley or basin which was
+here about four miles wide.
+
+ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY TO THE NORTHWARD.
+
+From a hill situated between the river and the scrub I this day saw, for
+the first time since we left the Lachlan, a ridge on the horizon. It
+appeared to the northward, the west end being distant about seven miles;
+and it was long, flat, and not much higher than the surrounding country.
+An extensive plain reminded us of those on the Darling and in the more
+hollow part of it I perceived the dry bed of a lake, bordered by some
+verdure. On proceeding I observed that the bergs fell off; and we
+descended into a valley where a line of yarra trees enveloped a dry
+creek, very much resembling the one seen by us on the Darling and named
+Clover-creek. Crossing this dry course we soon regained the berg of the
+river, and found it as favourable to our progress as before but, being of
+red sand, I at length led the party along the firm clay at the base of
+the higher ground.
+
+STRANGE NATIVES FROM BEYOND THE MURRAY.
+
+As the dogs were chasing a kangaroo across a bit of open flat four
+natives appeared at the other side. They came frankly up to us and they
+were well painted, broad white patches marking out the larger muscles of
+the breasts, thighs, and arms, and giving their persons exactly the
+appearance of savages as I have seen them represented in theatres. Their
+hair was of a reddish hue and they were altogether men of a different
+make from the tribe of the Darling. We accordingly allowed them to remain
+in the camp which I took up on the margin of the Murray soon after our
+meeting with them. They told us that a creek named Bengallo joined the
+Murray amongst the numerous lagoons where we had been encamped two days
+before; and they supposed it came from the hills near the Bogan, because
+natives from that river sometimes came to the Murray by the banks of the
+creek. They also informed us that the name of a river to the southward
+was Perrainga; and (if we understood each other rightly by Piper's
+interpretation) their name for lake Alexandrina was Kayinga: a lake which
+however had, according to them, a wide deep outlet to the sea.
+
+THEY DECAMP DURING THE NIGHT.
+
+During that night it rained heavily and the natives left us, without
+notice, during an interval of fair weather. There was much scrub about
+the river and I was not quite satisfied with the position of our camp,
+but a strict watch was always kept up, and we had excellent watch-dogs,
+no bad protection against the midnight treachery of the aborigines.
+
+REACH THE DARLING AND SURPRISE A NUMEROUS TRIBE OF NATIVES.
+
+May 30.
+
+We heard our new acquaintance cooeying in the bush but we gave no
+attention to them and proceeded on our journey. The smooth and verdant
+escarp of the river-berg guided us, while the river itself was sometimes
+at hand and sometimes four miles off. This day I recognised several
+shrubs which I had seen before only on the Darling. At length the berg
+terminated altogether in a smooth round hill beyond which lay a low woody
+country, intersected by lines of yarra trees in almost every direction. I
+thought I perceived in one of these lines the course of the Darling
+coming into the extensive valley from the northward; and the old hands
+exclaimed, when they saw the bare plains to the north-west of our camp,
+that we had got upon the Darling at last. Beyond this valley to the
+south-westward I perceived that the bergs of the opposite bank of the
+Murray were continuous and advanced to a point about west-south-west.
+Upon the whole I was satisfied that we were near the junction of the two
+rivers; and we encamped on the lower extremity of the point, already
+mentioned, which overlooked a small lagoon and was not above three
+hundred yards from an angle of the Murray.
+
+May 31.
+
+I now ventured to take a north-west course in expectation of falling in
+with the supposed Darling. We crossed first a plain about two miles in
+breadth, when we came to a line of yarra trees which enveloped a dry
+creek from the north-east, and very like Clover-creek. We next travelled
+over ground chiefly open, and at four miles crossed a sandhill on which
+was a covered tomb, after the fashion of those on the Murray. On
+descending from the sand-ridge we approached a line of yarra trees which
+overhung a reach of green and stagnant water. I had scarcely arrived at
+the bank when my attention was drawn to a fire about a hundred yards
+before us and from beside which immediately sprung up a numerous tribe of
+blacks who began to jump, wring their hands, and shriek, as if in a state
+of utter madness or despair.
+
+PIPER AND HIS GIN EXPLAIN.
+
+These savages rapidly retired towards others who were at a fire on a
+further part of the bank, but Piper and his gin, going boldly forward,
+succeeded at length in getting within hail and in allaying their fears.
+
+SEARCH FOR THE JUNCTION WITH THE MURRAY.
+
+While he was with these natives I had again leisure to examine the
+watercourse upon which we had arrived. I could not consider it the
+Darling as seen by me above, and so little did it seem the sister stream
+to the Murray as described by Sturt that I at first thought it nothing
+but an ana-branch of that river. Neither did these natives satisfy me
+about Oolawambiloa, by which I had supposed the Darling was meant but
+respecting which they still pointed westward. They however told Piper
+that the channel we had reached contained all the waters of Wambool (the
+Macquarie) and Callewatta (the upper Darling) and I accordingly
+determined to trace it up at least far enough to identify it with the
+latter. But I thought it right that we should endeavour first to
+recognise the junction with the Murray as seen by Captain Sturt. The
+natives said it was not far off; and I accordingly encamped at two
+o'clock that I might measure back to that important point. Thirteen
+natives set out as if to accompany us, for they begged that we would not
+go so fast. Three of them however soon set off at full speed as if on a
+message; and the remaining ten fell behind us. We had then passed the
+camp of their gins and I supposed at the time that their only object was
+to see us beyond these females, Piper being with us.
+
+RETURN BY NIGHT.
+
+I pursued the river through a tortuous course until sunset when I was
+obliged to quit it and return to the camp by moonlight without having
+seen anything of the Murray. I had however ascertained that the channel
+increased very much in width lower down and, when it was filled with the
+clay-coloured water of the flood then in the Murray, it certainly had the
+appearance of a river of importance.
+
+FOLLOWED BY THE NATIVES.
+
+June 1.
+
+The country to the eastward seemed so dry and scrubby that I could not
+hope in returning to join Mr. Stapylton's party or reach the Murray by
+any shorter route than that of our present track; and I therefore
+postponed any further survey back towards the junction of the Darling and
+Murray until I should be returning this way. We accordingly proceeded
+upwards and were followed by the natives. They were late in coming near
+us however which Piper and his gin accounted for as follows: As soon as
+it was known to them, the day before, that we were gone to the junction,
+the strong men of the tribe went by a shorter route; but they were thrown
+out and disappointed by our stopping short of that promising point. There
+they had passed the night and, having been busy looking for our track in
+the morning, the earth's surface being to them a book they always read,
+they were late in following our party.
+
+Kangaroos were more numerous and larger here than at any other part we
+had yet visited. This day one coming before me I fired at it with my
+rifle; and a man beside me, after asking my permission, fired also. The
+animal nevertheless ran amongst the party behind, some of whom hastily
+and without permission discharged their carabines also.
+
+HORSES TAKE FRIGHT.
+
+At this four horses took fright and ran back at full speed along our
+track. Several of the men who went after these horses fell in with two
+large bodies of natives coming along this track, and one or two men had
+nearly fallen into their hands twice.
+
+BREAK LOOSE AND RUN BACK.
+
+Tantragee (McLellan) when running at full speed pursued by bands of
+savages escaped only by the opportune appearance of others of our men who
+had caught the horses and happened to come up.
+
+NARROW ESCAPE OF SOME MEN FROM NATIVES.
+
+The natives then closed on our carts, and accompanied them in single
+files on each side; but as they appeared to have got rid of all their
+spears I saw no danger in allowing them to join us in that manner.
+Chancing to look back at them however, when riding some way ahead, the
+close contact of such numbers induced me to halt and call loudly,
+cautioning the men, upon which I observed an old man and several others
+suddenly turn and run and, on my going to the carts, the natives fell
+back, those in their rear setting off at full speed.
+
+FAILURE OF THEIR INTENDED ATTACK.
+
+Soon after I perceived the whole tribe running away, as if a plan had
+been suddenly frustrated. Piper and his gin, who had been watching them
+attentively, now came up and explained to me these movements. It appeared
+that the natives entertained the idea that our clothes were impervious to
+spears, and had therefore determined on a trial of strength by suddenly
+overpowering us, for which purpose they had planted (i.e. hidden) their
+spears and all encumbrances, and had told off for each of us six or eight
+of their number, whose attack was to be sudden and simultaneous. A
+favourable moment had not occurred before they awoke my suspicions; and
+thus their motives for sudden retreat were to be understood. That party
+consisted of strong men, neither women nor boys being among them; and
+although we had little to fear from such an attack, having arms in our
+hands, the scheme was very audacious and amounted to a proof that these
+savages no sooner get rid of their apprehensions than they think of
+aggression. I had on several occasions noticed and frustrated
+dispositions apparently intended for sudden attacks, for the natives
+seemed always inclined to await favourable opportunities, and were
+doubtless aware of the advantage of suddenness of attack to the
+assailants.* Nothing seemed to excite the surprise of these natives,
+neither horses nor bullocks, although they had never before seen such
+animals, nor white men, carts, weapons, dress, or anything else we had.
+All were quite new to them and equally strange, yet they looked at the
+cattle as if they had been always amongst them, and they seemed to
+understand at once the use of everything.
+
+(*Footnote. For a proof of this see extract from Sydney Herald of May
+21st 1838 in Appendix 2.3.)
+
+We continued our journey and soon found all the usual features of the
+Darling; the hills of soft red sand near the river covered with the same
+kind of shrubs seen so much higher up.
+
+DIFFERENT MODES OF INTERMENT.
+
+The graves had no longer any resemblance to those on the Murrumbidgee and
+Murray, but were precisely similar to the places of interment we had seen
+on the Darling, being mounds surrounded by and covered with dead branches
+and pieces of wood.* On these lay the same singular casts of the head in
+white plaster which we had before seen only at Fort Bourke.** It is
+indeed curious to observe the different modes of burying adopted by the
+natives on different rivers. For instance on the Bogan they bury in
+graves covered like our own and surrounded with curved walks and
+ornamented ground.*** On the Lachlan under lofty mounds of earth, seats
+being made around them. On the Murrumbidgee and Murray the graves are
+covered with well thatched huts containing dried grass for bedding and
+enclosed by a parterre of a particular shape, like the inside of a
+whale-boat.**** On the Darling, as above stated, the graves are in
+mounds* covered with dead branches and limbs of trees, and are surrounded
+by a ditch, which here we found encircled by a fence of dead limbs and
+branches.
+
+(*Footnote. See Plate 16 volume 1.)
+
+(**Footnote. See Volume 1.)
+
+(***Footnote. See Plate 20 volume 1.)
+
+(****Footnote. See above.)
+
+REDUCED APPEARANCE OF THE DARLING.
+
+As we proceeded the sandhills became more numerous and their surface
+softer; while the scrub was at length so close that it was difficult to
+follow any particular bearing in travelling through it. Near the river
+the surface was broken up by beds of dry lagoons which evidently became
+branches of the main stream in times of flood; and the intervening ground
+was covered with Polygonum junceum. At length I reached an angle of the
+river and encamped on a small flat beside a sandhill. Here the Darling
+was only a chain of ponds and I walked across its channel dry-shod, the
+bed consisting of coarse sand and angular fragments of ferruginous
+sandstone. The width and depth between the immediate banks were about the
+same as I had found them in the most narrow and shallow parts during my
+former journey. While I stood on the adverse side or right bank of this
+hopeless river I began to think I had pursued its course far enough. The
+identity was no longer a question.
+
+DESERT CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+The country on its banks in this part presented also the same unvaried
+desert features that it did in the districts examined by us during the
+preceding year. The Murray, unlike the Darling, was a permanent river,
+and I thought it advisable to exhaust no more of my means in the survey
+of deserts but rather employ them and the time still at my disposal in
+exploring the sources of that river, according to my instructions and in
+hopes of discovering a better country. My anxiety about the safety of the
+depot brought me more speedily to this determination. During the wet and
+cold weather there might be less activity among the savage natives, but
+it was not probable that the tribe which had collected 500 men to attack
+Captain Sturt would be quiet in my rear after having lost some of their
+number. To be in detached parties amongst a savage population was
+perilous in proportion to the length of time we continued separate; and I
+did not feel warranted in exhausting all my means in order to attain, by
+a circuitous route, the point where my survey ought to have commenced;
+while a second duty for which the means now left were scarcely adequate
+remained to be performed. I had already reached a point far above where
+any boat could be taken, or even any heavy carts; and nothing was to be
+gained by following the river further.
+
+The natives were heard by Piper several times during the day's journey in
+the woods beyond the river, as if moving along the right bank in a route
+parallel with ours; but they did not appear near our camp, although their
+smoke was seen at a distance.
+
+RAINY MORNING.
+
+June 2.
+
+For several days the barometer had been falling and this morning the
+weather was rainy and cold.
+
+RETURN OF THE PARTY.
+
+After tracing the further course of the Darling for some distance and
+obtaining, during an interval of sunshine, a view from a sandhill which
+commanded a very extensive prospect to the northward, I commenced the
+retrograde movement along our route, which was but too deeply visible in
+the sand. From what Piper had said the men expected an engagement during
+the morning; and it was doubtful, on account of the wetness of the day,
+whether their pieces would go off if the natives came on; but fortunately
+we continued our journey unmolested. We reached our former encampment
+notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the ground, and again pitched
+our tents upon it. We found among the scrubs this day a new curious
+species of Baeckea with extremely small scattered leaves not larger than
+grains of millet, plano-convex and covered with pellucid dots.*
+
+(*Footnote. B. crassifolia, Lindley manuscripts; glaberrima, foliis
+subrotundis oblongisque obtusis plano-convexis crassis, floribus
+solitariis axillaribus pedicellatis cernuis, laciniis calycinis
+marginatis integerrimis petalis integris brevioribus.)
+
+SURPRISE THE FEMALES OF THE TRIBE.
+
+June 3.
+
+The natives had not again appeared, so that Piper's conjecture that they
+were moving up the river by the opposite bank with a view to assemble the
+tribes higher up appeared to be correct. Their gins had been left at
+their old camp; for as the party crossed a flat not far from it, and I
+fired at a kangaroo, their voices were immediately heard, signal columns
+of smoke arose in the air, and they hurried with their children to the
+opposite side of the Darling. From this astonishment on their part at our
+appearance, and especially from their flight, knowing well then who we
+were, it was not improbable that they knew the men were absent on some
+mischievous scheme affecting us.
+
+JUNCTION OF THE DARLING AND MURRAY.
+
+I struck out of the former line of route for the purpose of extending my
+measurement to the junction of the rivers, and thus at length found the
+Darling within a zone of trees which I had formerly taken for the line of
+the Murray. The banks were high and the channel was also much broader
+here. After tracing this river about four miles I found that the still
+but turbid backwater from the larger stream nearly reached the top of the
+grassy bank of the other. At length I perceived the Murray before me
+coming from the south-south-east, a course directly opposed to that in
+which I had followed the Darling for a mile. Both rivers next turned
+south-west, then westward, leaving a narrow tongue of land between, and
+from the point where they both turned westward to their junction at the
+extremity of this ground between them, I found that the distance was
+exactly three-quarters of a mile. A bank of sand extended further and, on
+standing upon this and looking back, I recognised the view given in
+Captain Sturt's work and the adjacent localities described by him. The
+state of the rivers was no longer however the same as when this spot was
+first visited. All the water visible now belonged to the Murray, whose
+course was rapid, while its turbid flood filled also the channel of the
+Darling, but was there perfectly still. We were then distant about a
+hundred miles from the rest of the party who, before we could join them,
+might have had enough to do with the natives. I thought that in case it
+might ever be necessary to look for us, this junction was the most likely
+spot where traces might be sought; and I therefore buried near the point,
+beside a tree marked with a large M and the word Dig, a phial in which I
+placed a paper containing a brief statement of the circumstances under
+which we had arrived there, and our proposed route to the depot, adding
+also the names of the men with me. As the ground was soft it was not
+necessary to dig but merely to drop the phial into a hole made with the
+scabbard of my sabre; and I hoped that the bottle would escape in
+consequence the notice of the natives.
+
+EFFECT OF ALTERNATE FLOODS THERE.
+
+The greater width and apparently important character of the Darling near
+its mouth may perhaps be accounted for by supposing that floods do not
+always occur in it and the Murray at the same time. The remoteness of the
+sources of the two rivers and the consequent difference of climate may
+occasion a flood in the one, while the waters of the other may be very
+low. That this is likely to happen sometimes may be inferred from the
+difference between the relative state of the atmosphere on the eastern
+coast and on the Darling. This difference seems to have been so
+considerable during the last journey as materially to have affected our
+barometrical measurements taken simultaneously with observations at
+Sydney. When the bed of the greater river is also the deepest any flood
+descending by the other channel when the larger stream is low must flow
+with greater force into that which is deeper, and in a soft and yielding
+soil may thus increase the width of its own channel. On the contrary a
+flood coming down the greater river while the minor channel may happen to
+be dry must first flow upwards some miles and so fill this channel and,
+being thus affected both by the rising and subsidence of the greater
+stream, this process would have had a tendency to deepen and widen the
+lower part of the Darling.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.6.
+
+Return along the bank of the Murray.
+Mount Lookout.
+Appearance of rain.
+Chance of being cut off from the depot by the river floods.
+A savage man at home.
+Tributaries of the Murray.
+A storm in the night.
+Traverse the land of lagoons before the floods come down.
+Traces of many naked feet along our old track.
+Camp of 400 natives.
+Narrow escape from the floods of the river.
+Piper overtakes two youths fishing in Lake Benanee.
+Description of the lake.
+Great rise in the waters of the Murray.
+Security of the depot.
+Surrounded by inundations.
+Cross to it in a bark canoe made by Tommy Came-last.
+Search for the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray.
+Mr. Stapylton reaches the junction of the rivers.
+Reception by the natives of the left bank.
+Passage of the Murray.
+Heavy rains set in.
+Row up the Murray to the junction of the Murrumbidgee.
+Commence the journey upwards, along the left bank.
+Strange animal.
+Picturesque scenery on the river.
+Kangaroos numerous.
+Country improves as we ascend the river.
+A region of reeds.
+The water inaccessible from soft and muddy banks.
+Habits of our native guides.
+Natives very shy.
+Piper speaks to natives on the river.
+Good land on the Murray.
+Wood and water scarce.
+Junction of two branches.
+Swan Hill.
+
+RETURN ALONG THE BANK OF THE MURRAY.
+
+Returning from the junction towards our last camp on the Murray we again
+crossed, when within a mile of that position, the dry channel we had seen
+on proceeding towards the north-west. It contained some deep lagoons on
+which were pelicans, but we crossed it where the bed was quite dry and
+where it presented, like many other parts occasionally under water,
+striking proofs of the uncertainty of seasons in these parts of
+Australia. Numerous dead saplings of eight or ten years growth stood
+there, having evidently flourished in that situation until the water
+again filled this channel, after so long an interval of drought, and
+killed them.
+
+On reaching the firm ground beyond we came upon some old graves which had
+been disturbed, as the bones protruded from the earth. Piper said that
+the dead were sometimes dug up and eaten; but this I could not believe.
+
+MOUNT LOOKOUT.
+
+By three P.M. we again occupied the remarkable point where we had
+formerly encamped. It is at this point (Mount Lookout on the map) that
+the berg of the Murray terminates on the basin of the Darling and thus
+commands, as before observed, an extensive view over the woody country to
+the westward. It would be an important position in any kind of warfare,
+and during my operations I felt as strong upon it with my party as if we
+had been in a citadel. I had now, I hoped, again got between the junction
+tribes and our old enemies, though the latter were still between us and
+our depot; and thus any danger of the junction tribes uniting with those
+up the Murray was less to be apprehended. Piper however discovered the
+track of a considerable number who had proceeded up the river the day
+before. Indeed all the tracks of natives he found led upwards and, seeing
+no longer any of them there, we felt more anxious about the safety of the
+depot.
+
+APPEARANCE OF RAIN. CHANCE OF BEING CUT OFF FROM THE DEPOT BY THE RIVER
+FLOODS.
+
+The barometer had been falling gradually from the 1st instant, and this
+was another source of anxiety to me; for we were in no small danger of
+being separated from the other party by any such rise of the river as
+might be expected after a heavy fall of rain.
+
+June 4.
+
+Notwithstanding the unpromising state of the mercurial column the night
+had been fair, and in the morning the sky was clear. We lost no time in
+moving on and we continued until we were four miles beyond our former
+camp; and then crossing Golgol creek we occupied a clear point of land
+between it and the Murray.
+
+A SAVAGE MAN AT HOME.
+
+As I was reconnoitring the ground for a camp I observed a native on the
+opposite bank and, not being seen by him, I watched awhile the habits of
+a savage man at home. His hands were ready to seize any living thing; his
+step, light and noiseless as that of a shadow, gave no intimation of his
+approach; and his walk suggested the idea of the prowling of a beast of
+prey. Every little track or impression left on the earth by the lower
+animals caught his keen eye, but the trees overhead chiefly engaged his
+attention; for deep in the heart of some of the upper branches he
+probably hoped to find the opossum on which he was to dine. The wind blew
+cold and keenly through the lofty trees on the river margin, yet that
+broad brawny savage was entirely naked. Had I been unarmed I had much
+rather have met a lion than that sinewy biped; but situated as I was,
+with a broad river flowing between us while I overlooked him from a high
+bank, I ventured to disturb his meditations with a loud halloo: he stood
+still, looked at me for about a minute, and then retired with that easy
+bounding step which may be termed a running walk, and exhibits an
+unrestrained facility of movement, apparently incompatible with dress of
+any kind. It is in bounding lighting at such a pace that, with the
+additional aid of the woomerah, an aboriginal native can throw his spear
+with sufficient force and dexterity to kill the emu or kangaroo, even
+when at their speed. One or two families of natives afterwards appeared
+hutted on the riverbank nearly opposite to our camp, and Piper opened a
+conversation with them across the river. These people had heard nothing
+of what had befallen the Benanee tribe. They had some years before seen
+white men go down and return up the river in a large canoe; and Piper
+also learnt from them that the Millewa (Murray) had now a flood in it,
+having for some time previous been much lower than it was then; but they
+assured Piper, apparently with exultation, that it flowed always.
+
+TRIBUTARIES OF THE MURRAY.
+
+The name of the creek we had just crossed was Golgol, and it came from
+the low range of the same name which I had observed on May 29. From what
+these natives said of Bengallo creek I thought it might be that branch of
+the Lachlan, already mentioned as Boororan, flowing westward under
+Warranary and other hills between the Murrumbidgee and the Darling.
+
+A STORM IN THE NIGHT.
+
+June 5.
+
+Rain had fallen during the night but the day was favourable though
+cloudy. I ventured on a straight line through the sand and bushes of
+Eucalyptus dumosa in order to cut off some miles of our beaten track,
+which was nearer the river and rather circuitous. We crossed some
+sandhills, the loose surface of which was bound down only by the prickly
+grass already described. From these hills the view was extensive and
+bounded on all sides by a perfectly level horizon. On one of them a
+solitary tree drew my attention and, on examining it, I discovered with
+much satisfaction that it was of that singular kind I had only once or
+twice seen last year in the country behind the Darling. The leaves, bark,
+and wood tasted strongly of horse-radish. We now obtained specimens of
+its flower and seed, both of which seemed very singular.* By the more
+direct route through the scrub this day, with what we gained yesterday,
+we were enabled to reach, at the usual hour for encamping, the red cliffs
+near the spot where we formerly met the second division of the Darling
+tribe. I took up a position on the western extremity of the broken bank,
+overlooking an angle of the river, and commanding a grassy flat where our
+cattle would be also secure. The weather became very boisterous after
+sunset, and our tents were so much exposed to the fury of the wind that
+at one time I thought they would be blown into the river. The waters
+continuing to rise, the Murray now poured along nearly on a level with
+its banks, and how we should cross or avoid:
+
+The mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles
+
+that lay between us and the depot, if the river rose much longer, was a
+question for which I was prepared. On the other hand the very cold and
+boisterous weather was in our favour as being opposed to any assembling
+of the tribes at points of difficulty along the line of our track, as
+they certainly ought to have done as good tacticians, for they never lost
+sight of our movements while we were in that country.
+
+(*Footnote. A new and genuine species of Gyrostemon. Gyrostemon pungens,
+Lindley manuscripts; foliis rhomboideis acutis glaucis in petiolum
+angustatis. The capsules are arranged in a single verticillus and
+consequently this species will belong to Gyrostemon as distinguished from
+Codonocarpus by Mr. Endlicher.)
+
+TRAVERSE THE LAND OF LAGOONS BEFORE THE FLOODS COME DOWN.
+
+June 6.
+
+It had rained heavily during the night but the morning was clear. As we
+continued our journey the natives were heard in the woods although none
+appeared. Fortunately for our progress the floods had not reached the
+lagoons, and we succeeded in passing the whole of this low tract, so
+subject to inundations, without difficulty; and we finally encamped
+within four miles of the ground where we had been obliged to disperse the
+Darling tribes. We pitched our tents on the eastern side of the lagoon
+where we found an agreeable shelter from the storm in some scrub which,
+on former occasions, we should not have thought so comfortable a
+neighbour. We could now enter such thickets with greater safety; and in
+this we found a very beautiful new shrubby species of cassia, with thin
+papery pods and numbers of the most brilliant yellow blossoms. On many of
+the branches the leaflets had fallen off and left nothing but the flat
+leafy petioles to represent them. The pods were of various sizes and
+forms, on which account, if new, I would name it C. heteroloba.*
+
+(*Footnote. C. heteroloba, Lindley manuscripts; foliolis bijugis
+linearibus carnosis cito deciduis apice mucronulatis recurvis, glandula
+parva conica inter omnia, petiolo compresso herbaceo nunc aphyllo
+mucronulato, racemis paucifloris folio brevioribus, leguminibus oblongis
+planis obtusis papyraceis continuis aut varie strangulatis.)
+
+June 7.
+
+The ground had been so heavy for travelling during some days that the
+cattle much needed rest; and as I contemplated the passage, in one day of
+that dumosa scrub, occupying twenty miles along the tract before us, I
+made this journey a short one, moving only to our old encampment of May
+26. The scrub here seemed more than usually rich in botanical novelties
+for, besides the Murrayana tree, we found a most beautiful Leucopogon
+allied to L. rotundifolius of Brown, with small heart-shaped leaves
+polished on the upper side and striated on the lower, so as to resemble
+the most delicate shell-work.* Piper discovered, on examining the ground
+where we had repulsed the Darling tribes, that they had left many of
+their spears, nets, etc. on our side of the river, and had afterwards
+returned for them, also that a considerable number did not swim across,
+but had retired along the riverbank. Upon the whole it was estimated that
+the numbers then in our rear amounted to at least one hundred and eighty.
+
+(*Footnote. L. cordifolius, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis pubescentibus,
+foliis sessilibus subrotundis planis patentibus cordatis mucronatis
+margine scabris supra laevigatis subtus striatis, floribus solitariis
+sessilibus axillaribus.)
+
+TRACES OF MANY NAKED FEET ALONG OUR OLD TRACK.
+
+June 8.
+
+As soon as daylight appeared this morning we commenced our long journey
+through the scrub; and we discovered to our surprise, by the traces of
+innumerable feet along our track, that the natives had not, as I till
+then supposed, come along the riverbank, but had actually followed us
+through that scrub. They have nevertheless a great dislike to such parts,
+not only because they cannot find any game there, but because the prickly
+spinifex-looking grass is intolerable against their naked legs. While we
+were encamped in the scrub on May 25 they must have also passed that
+stormy night there, without either fire or water. On our way through it
+now we discovered a new hoary species of Trichinium, very different from
+Brown's Tr. incanum.* The cattle, though they were jaded, accomplished
+the journey before sunset, and we halted beside the large lagoon adjacent
+to that part of the river which was within three miles of our former
+camp, being the spot where the natives, in following us from lake
+Benanee, first emerged from the woods. The weather being still
+boisterous, we occupied a piece of low ground where we were sheltered
+from the west or stormy quarter by the river berg.
+
+(*Footnote. Tr. lanatum, Lindley manuscripts; incano-tomentosum, caule
+corymboso, foliis obovatis cuneatisque, capitulis hemisphericis lanatis,
+bracteis dorso villosis.)
+
+CAMP OF 400 NATIVES.
+
+On the brow of this height and just behind our camp I counted the remains
+of one hundred and thirty-five fires at an old encampment of natives and,
+as one fire is seldom lighted for less than three persons, there must
+have been at least four hundred. The bushes placed around each fire
+seemed to have been intended for that temporary kind of shelter required
+for only one night.
+
+June 9.
+
+We proceeded this morning as silently as possible, for we were now
+approaching the haunts of the enemy, and I wished to come upon them by
+surprise, thinking that I might thereby sooner ascertain whether any
+misfortune had befallen the depot.
+
+NARROW ESCAPE FROM THE FLOODS OF THE RIVER.
+
+Two creeks lay in our way and, from the flood then in the Murray, it was
+likely that they might be full of water, and the savages prepared to take
+advantage of the difficulty we should then experience in crossing them.
+The first channel we arrived at, which was quite dry when we formerly
+crossed, was now brimful of the muddy water of the Murray and before we
+reached its banks we heard the voices of natives on our right. We forded
+it however without annoyance, the water reaching only to the axles of the
+carts, but the current was very strong and FROM the river, that is to
+say, upwards. We next reached our old camp where we had passed that
+anxious night near Benanee. Here to my great satisfaction and indeed
+surprise, I found the bed of the larger creek, which occasioned us so
+great a detour when we first met the natives, still quite dry at our old
+crossing-place; being in the same state in which it was then, although
+the flood water was now fast approaching it. We got over however with
+ease and at length again traversed the plain which skirts the lake; and
+we were glad to find that tranquillity prevailed along its extensive
+shores.
+
+PIPER OVERTAKES TWO YOUTHS FISHING IN LAKE BENANEE.
+
+I perceived only one or two natives fishing, and I took Piper down to the
+beach to speak to them, being desirous also to examine at leisure this
+fine sheet of water. We found on arriving there that other natives had
+run off from some huts on the shore, but Piper pursued those in the lake,
+for the purpose of obtaining information about the tribe, until they ran
+so far out into the water that they seemed at length up to their ears,
+and I was really afraid that the poor fellows, who were found to be only
+boys, would be drowned in endeavouring to avoid him. I could scarcely
+distinguish them at length from the numerous waterfowl floating around.
+In vain I called to their pursuer to come back, Piper was not to be
+baffled by boys, and continued to walk through the water like a giant,
+brandishing a short spear, or, as the boys would probably say to their
+tribe;
+
+Black he stood as night,
+Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,
+And shook a dreadful dart.
+
+At length, when apparently near the centre of the lake, he overtook one;
+and while leading him towards the shore he ascertained that the Darling
+tribe had returned to the lake only on the day before, having been ever
+since their dispersion on the 27th May until this time, on the opposite
+bank of the Murray. That they were then fishing in a lagoon near the
+river (where in fact we afterwards saw smoke and heard their voices) and
+that they had despatched three messengers to a portion of the tribe on
+the upper Darling, with the news of what had befallen them, of our
+progress in that direction, and requesting them to join them as soon as
+possible at the lake.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF THE LAKE.
+
+I perceived that the depth of water in this basin did not then in any
+part exceed 8 or 10 feet, although the surface was probably 20 feet below
+the level of the sandy beach, thus making 28 or 30 feet the extreme depth
+when full. Now that I could examine it at leisure, I found that this fine
+lake was much more extensive than I had at first supposed. The breadth
+was about four miles, and I could see along it in a westerly direction at
+least six miles. Part of the north-western shore seemed to be clear of
+trees but well covered with grass, and to slope gently towards the water.
+The whole was surrounded by a beach consisting of fine clean quartzose
+sand. This was an admirable station for a numerous body like that from
+the Darling. The cunning old men of that tribe seemed well aware that
+there they could neither be surrounded nor surprised; the approach to the
+lake from the river being also covered in both directions by deep creeks,
+passable only at certain places. Their choice of such a position was
+creditable to their skill in strategy, and consistent with their thorough
+knowledge of localities. I could spare no time to look at the country
+beyond this lake (or northward) as I wished to do. From what we learnt
+however we were satisfied that the depot was safe, and this fact relieved
+me from much anxiety. We had still to cross that creek or ana-branch
+which apparently supplies the lake, although it was then still dry. I had
+observed that such ana-branches* were deepest at the lower mouths, as if
+the river floods entered first there and flowed upwards; although before
+the river reached its maximum a strong current would probably set
+downwards in the same channel, which would thus become at last a branch
+of the main stream.
+
+RETURN TO THE DEPOT.
+
+We reached our former camp on the Murray by 3 P.M., and once more pitched
+our tents on the bank of this river. By comparing its height, as measured
+formerly, with as much of it as remained above the waters, I found that
+it had risen eight feet and a half. We were then within a short day's
+journey of the depot but anxious enough still to know if it were safe.
+
+June 10.
+
+We started early and, by crossing a small plain, cut off half a mile of
+our former route. When within a few miles of the camp of Mr. Stapylton we
+heard a shot, and soon discovered that it was fired by one of the men
+(Webb) rather a mauvais sujet, who had been transgressing rules by firing
+at a duck. We learnt from him however the agreeable news that the depot
+had not been disturbed.
+
+GREAT RISE IN THE WATERS OF THE MURRAY.
+
+It was now cut off from us by a deep stream which filled the creek it
+overlooked and which flowed with a considerable current towards the
+Murray, having also filled Lake Stapylton to the brim.
+
+SECURITY OF THE DEPOT.
+
+Mr. Stapylton and his party were well; and during the whole time that we
+had been absent the natives had never approached his camp. Such singular
+good fortune was more than I could reasonably have expected, and my
+satisfaction was complete when I again met Stapylton and saw the party
+once more united. The little native Ballandella's leg was fast uniting,
+the mother having been unremitting in her care of the child. Good grass
+had also been found so that the cattle had become quite fresh and indeed
+looked well.
+
+SURROUNDED BY INUNDATIONS. CROSS TO IT IN A BARK CANOE MADE BY TOMMY
+CAME-LAST.
+
+I was ferried over Stapylton's creek in a bark canoe by Tommy Came-last
+who also, by the same simple means, soon conveyed every article of
+equipment and the rest of the party across to the depot camp.
+
+We had now got through the most unpromising part of our task. We had
+penetrated the Australian Hesperides, although the golden fruit was still
+to be sought. We had accomplished so much however, with only half the
+party, that nothing seemed impossible with the whole; and to trace the
+Murray upwards and explore the unknown regions beyond it was a charming
+undertaking when we had at length bid adieu forever to the dreary banks
+of the Darling.
+
+SEARCH FOR THE JUNCTION OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE AND MURRAY.
+
+The first object of research was the actual junction of the Murrumbidgee
+with the Murray. I knew that the creek on which I had fixed the depot
+camp came from the former and entered the latter; and that our depot thus
+stood on a tract surrounded by water, being between the creek and the
+main stream. We were already in fact on a branch-island, immediately
+adjacent to the junction we were in search of and, as I intended to
+across the Murray either at or below that point, I determined to make an
+excursion in search of it next morning.
+
+June 11.
+
+Riding southward I reached a bend of the river about two miles from our
+camp. While tracing the stream upwards from that point we saw some
+natives running away from their fires. One of them however held up a
+green branch in each hand and, though as he ran he answered Piper, and a
+gin had left a heavy bag near us, yet he could not be prevailed on to
+stop. When Piper took the bag to the tribe he was obliged to follow them
+nearly a mile, when a number at length stood still together, but at a
+considerable distance from us, and kept incessantly calling for
+tomahawks. From the number of huts along the riverbank it was obvious
+that the inhabitants were numerous, and I was therefore the more
+surprised that our depot could have continued so long near them without
+their discovering it. After following the river upwards of eight miles
+without meeting with the Murrumbidgee I came to a place where it seemed
+to have formerly had a different channel, and to have left a basin where
+the banks of the stream were of easy access, the breadth being only 110
+yards. This spot was so favourable for effecting a passage that I
+determined on moving the party to it at once; and to entrust to Mr.
+Stapylton the further search for the junction of the Murrumbidgee, which
+could not be far from it.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON REACHES THE JUNCTION OF THE RIVERS.
+
+June 12.
+
+While I conducted the party to the point at which I intended to cross Mr.
+Stapylton returned along our old route to where we first traversed the
+now flooded creek and, by tracing it downward to the Murrumbidgee, and
+that river to the Murray, he ascertained the junction to be little more
+than a mile from the encampment which I had taken up with the intention
+of crossing the Murray. Meanwhile no time had been lost there in pitching
+the boats and sinking them in the adjacent basin of still water that the
+planks might swell and unite.
+
+June 13.
+
+I crossed early in the morning and found the opposite bank very
+favourable for the cattle to get out; this being a object of much
+importance.
+
+RECEPTION BY THE NATIVES OF THE LEFT BANK.
+
+I was met as favourably by the natives on this first passage of the
+Murray as I had been on our first approach to the Murrumbidgee. A small
+tribe came forward and laid a number of newly-made nets at my feet. I
+declined accepting anything however save a beautifully wrought bag,
+telling the owner through Piper that when the party should have passed to
+that side I would give him a tomahawk in return for it.
+
+PASSAGE OF THE MURRAY.
+
+As soon as the day had become rather warm we endeavoured to swim the
+bullocks across by driving them into the water at the mouth of the basin
+where the river seemed most accessible. But the bank was soft and muddy,
+and the animals, when driven into the water, got upon an island in a
+shallow part, whence they could not be dislodged, much less compelled to
+swim from it to the opposite shore. Not a little time was thus lost,
+while only a few could be drawn over by ropes attached to the boats; and
+by which process one was accidentally drowned. This was owing to the
+injudicious conduct of one of the men (Webb) who gave the animal rope
+instead of holding its head close aboard, so as to keep the mouth at
+least above water. The drivers then represented that the rest of the
+bullocks had been too long in the water to be able to cross before the
+next day but, having first tried their plan, I now determined to try my
+own; and I directed them to take the cattle to the steepest portion of
+the bank, overhanging the narrow part of the river, and just opposite to
+the few bullocks which had already gained the opposite shore.
+Notwithstanding the weakness of the animals this measure succeeded for,
+on driving them down the steep bank so that they fell into the water, the
+whole at once turned their heads to the opposite shore and reached it in
+safety. We next swam the horses over by dragging each separately at the
+stern of a boat, taking care to hold the head above water. Thus by sunset
+everything except one or two carts and the boat-carriage had been safely
+got across.
+
+The natives beyond the Murray were differently-behaved people from those
+of the Darling for, although one group sat beside that portion of our
+party which was still on the right bank, another, at a point of the
+opposite shore to the eastward of our new camp, and a third near my tent
+in the neck of a peninsula on which I found we had landed, not one of
+them caused us any anxiety or trouble. It was to the last party that I
+owed the tomahawk, and I went up with it as they sat at their fires. They
+were in number about twenty and unaccompanied by any gins. The man who
+had given me the bag seemed to express gratitude for the tomahawk by
+offering me another net, also one which he wore on his head; and he
+presented to me his son. He saw the two native boys who then accompanied
+me as interpreters dressed well and apparently happy, and I had no doubt
+the poor man was willing to place his own son under my care. I
+endeavoured to explain that we had no more tomahawks, that we had given
+none to any other tribe upon the Murray, and that our men were apt to be
+very saucy with their guns if too much troubled. Experience had taught me
+the necessity for thus perpetually impressing on the minds, even of the
+most civil of these savages that, although inoffensive, we were strong;
+an idea not easily conceived by them. They however came forward and sat
+down near us until very heavy rain, which fell in the night, obliged them
+to seek their huts.
+
+HEAVY RAINS SET IN.
+
+June 14.
+
+The morning dawned under the most steady fall of rain that I had seen
+during the journey; and this happened just after new moon, a time when I
+had hoped for a favourable change in the weather. Everything was got
+across the river this day, and we were prepared for the survey of a new
+region. I was occupied with the maps of the country which we had just
+left sufficiently to be regardless of the rain, even if it had continued
+to fall many days; and very thankful was I that we had got thus far
+without having been impeded by the weather.
+
+June 15.
+
+The rain ceased in the morning and the barometer had risen so much that
+no more was to be apprehended then; yet the blacksmith had still some
+work to do to the boat-carriage, and we were therefore obliged to halt
+another day.
+
+ROW UP THE MURRAY TO THE JUNCTION OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+In the afternoon I proceeded in one of the boats up the river to the
+junction of the Murrumbidgee; and I ascertained that there was a fresh in
+that river also. It was certainly narrower at the mouth than at Weyeba;
+and here indeed some fallen trees almost crossed the stream. There was a
+hollow or break in the bank of the Murray, about 100 yards lower down,
+which seemed to have been once an outlet of the Murrumbidgee. The opening
+formed a deep section through a stratum of ferruginous sandstone, and was
+fully equal to the present breadth of the tributary river. On pulling
+higher up, the Murray seemed rather smaller above this junction, although
+still a splendid stream. The natives on this side told Piper that the
+Darling tribe from the other had danced a corrobory with them about six
+weeks before, and promised to return in one moon. They also inquired
+whether Piper had seen any of that tribe as they were waiting for us
+whitefellows, to which Piper answered that he had NOT. I blamed him for
+this reply, and asked why he did not say that we had been obliged to fire
+upon and kill some of them: but he said he could not tell them that,
+because they would hate him so.
+
+COMMENCE THE JOURNEY UPWARDS, ALONG THE LEFT BANK.
+
+June 16.
+
+We left our encampment and commenced our travels up the left bank of the
+Murray over ground which seemed much better than any we had seen on the
+right bank. We crossed grassy plains bounded by sandhills on which grew
+pines (callitris); and open forests of goborro (or box-tree) prevailed
+very generally nearer the river. Where this tree grew we found the ground
+still good for travelling upon, notwithstanding the heavy rain, in
+consequence apparently of the argillaceous character of the soil; for in
+the plains of red earth, which before the last fall of rain we had found
+the best, the horses now sank above their fetlocks and the carts could
+scarcely be dragged along. In the course of the day we passed several
+broad lagoons in channels which probably were ana-branches of the river
+in high floods. On the largest plain crossed by the party four emus
+appeared, and one of them was killed after a fine chase by the dogs. The
+river appeared to come from the east-south-east but the course was very
+tortuous, and we encamped at a reach where it seemed to come from the
+south.
+
+STRANGE ANIMAL.
+
+The most remarkable incident of this days' journey was the discovery of
+an animal of which I had seen only the head among the remains found in
+the caves at Wellington Valley. This animal was of the size of a young
+wild rabbit and of nearly the same colour, but had a broad head
+terminating in a long very slender snout, like the narrow neck of a wide
+bottle; and it had no tail. The forefeet were singularly formed,
+resembling those of a hog; and the marsupial opening was downwards, and
+not upwards as in the kangaroo and others of that class of animals. This
+quadruped was discovered on the ground by our native guides, but when
+pursued it took refuge in a hollow tree from which they extracted it
+alive, all of them declaring that they had never before seen an animal of
+that kind.*
+
+(*Footnote. The original has been deposited in the Sydney Museum but,
+having shown my friend Mr. Ogilby a drawing of it, he has noticed the
+discovery in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1838
+describing the animal as "belonging to a new genus closely allied to
+Perameles, but differing in the form of the forefeet, which have only two
+middle toes resembling those of a hog, and in the total absence of tail.
+This genus has been named by Mr. Ogilby Chaeropus ecaudatus.)
+
+June 17.
+
+The cattle were not brought up until ten o'clock, an unusual
+circumstance, and one which curtailed the day's journey. The course of
+the river compelled us to travel southward, and even to the westward of
+south; but we found better ground by keeping on the open forest-land of
+box or goborro, which in general occupied a very extensive space between
+the river and the bergs of soft red sandhills on which grew the
+callitris.
+
+SALSOLAE ON THE PLAINS.
+
+The plains covered with salsolae which, as I have just remarked, before
+the rain, were considered to afford the best surface for travelling on,
+had now become so soft as to be almost impassable, at least by our
+wheels, and I this day avoided them as much as I could. The margin where
+the box or goborro grew was in many parts hollowed into lagoons or
+ana-branches of the river, so that it was desirable to shape our line of
+route as closely by the base of these bergs or sandhills as possible.
+
+PICTURESQUE SCENERY ON THE RIVER.
+
+On crossing the point of one of them we came upon a most romantic-looking
+scene where a flood branch had left a serpentine piece of water,
+enclosing two wooded islands of rather picturesque character, the whole
+being overhung by the steep and bushy slope of the hill. The scenery of
+some lakes thus formed was very fine, especially when their rich verdure
+and lofty trees were contrasted with the scrub which covered the
+sandhills nearest the river, where a variety of shrubs such as we had not
+previously seen formed a curious foreground. Amongst them was a creeper
+with very large pods, two of which were brought to me last year, while on
+the Darling, by one of the men, who could not afterwards find the tree
+again, or say what it was like. We also found one Eucarya murrayana with
+young unripe fruit. (See Plate 28 which represents the general character
+of the scenery on the Murray.)
+
+KANGAROOS NUMEROUS.
+
+The country abounded with kangaroos. On ascending some grassy ridges I
+perceived a verdant plain which extended as far as I could see to the
+westward. It was bounded on the south, not by scrub, but by a forest of
+large trees; and the horizon beyond presented something like an outline
+of hills, a refreshing sight, accustomed as we had been for several
+months to a horizon as level as that of the ocean. After travelling about
+three miles we were obliged to turn westward by a creek or ana-branch of
+the river, having on its banks large yarra trees resembling those in the
+main stream. It prevented us from approaching the Murray during the rest
+of the day, and we finally encamped on its margin having found there most
+excellent grass.
+
+June 18.
+
+Continuing along the firm ground between the bergs and this creek we
+pursued a course which for some miles bore to the westward of south. We
+passed through forests of the box or goborro, under which grew a
+luxuriant crop of grass and two of these flats (on which we saw yarra
+trees also) stretched away to the westward, breaking the elsewhere
+unvaried wilderness of sandhills and scrub. On crossing one of these
+forest flats we heard the sound of the natives' hatchet on some hollow
+trees before us; and Piper as usual hastened forward to communicate with
+them, but in vain for, as soon as they saw him, they ran like kangaroos,
+leaving the fortunate opossum which they had been seeking still alive in
+his hole in the tree. At length we got clear of the creek on reaching a
+bend of the river not far beyond the spot where we had seen the natives.
+
+COUNTRY IMPROVES AS WE ASCEND THE RIVER.
+
+The Murray was flowing rapidly in a narrower channel and within two or
+three feet of the top of the banks. The country appeared on the whole
+superior to any that we had seen on the other side of this river. The
+grassy flats backed by hills covered with callitris seemed very eligible
+for cattle runs, the chief objection to them being only that the banks of
+the river were so steep and yielding that the water was in general
+inaccessible. The breadth seldom exceeded 60 or 70 yards; and I suspected
+that we might be already above the junction of some stream on the right
+bank, especially as the course came now so much from the southward.
+
+A REGION OF REEDS.
+
+On crossing the extremity of a sandhill, about two miles from the spot
+where we afterwards encamped, I perceived that reeds covered a vast
+region before us. They grew everywhere, even under the trees, and
+extended back from the channel of the river as far as I could see and, no
+alternative presenting itself, we endeavoured to face them. The lofty
+ash-hills of the natives, used chiefly for roasting the balyan (or
+bulrush) a root found only in such places, again appeared in great
+numbers. We soon came upon a lagoon about a mile in circumference and
+surrounded on all sides by high reeds. One or two smooth grassy hills
+arose among them, but the ground, even where they grew, was as firm and
+good for travelling upon as any that we had recently crossed. They were
+no impediment to a man or bullock in motion, but grew to the height of
+about seven or eight feet.
+
+THE WATER INACCESSIBLE FROM SOFT AND MUDDY BANKS.
+
+Grass was also to be found among them and I was willing to encamp there;
+but the difficulty was in finding a spot where the cattle could approach
+the water. The flood ran high in the deep and rapid river; yet the margin
+was covered with high reeds and, although I ultimately encamped near a
+small lagoon within the reeds, the cattle would not venture to drink at
+it, instinctively shrinking back from the muddy margin. In the course of
+the evening one animal fell into the river and was extricated with great
+difficulty and after much digging in the bank. One remarkable difference
+between this river and the Murrumbidgee was that, in the latter, even
+where reeds most prevailed, a certain space near the bank remained
+tolerably clear: whereas on this river the reeds grew most thickly and
+closely on its immediate banks, thus presenting a much less imposing
+appearance than the Murrumbidgee, with its firmer banks crowned with
+lofty forests of yarra. Each Australian river seems to have some peculiar
+character, sustained with remarkable uniformity throughout the whole
+course.
+
+HABITS OF OUR NATIVE GUIDES.
+
+June 19.
+
+Piper, although so far from his country, could still point directly to
+it, but he had grown so homesick that he begged Burnett not to mention
+Bathurst. To return except with us was quite out of the question, and as
+we still receded he dragged, as the phrase is, a lengthening chain. He
+studied my visage however and could read my thoughts too well to doubt
+that I too hoped to return. The whole management of the chase now
+devolved on him and the two boys, his humble servants; and this native
+party usually explored the woods with our dogs for several miles in front
+of the column. The females kept nearer the party, and often gave us
+notice of obstacles in time to enable me to avoid them. My question on
+such occasions was Dago nyollong yannagary? (Which way shall we go? ) to
+which one would reply, pointing in the proper direction, Yalyai
+nyollong-yannar! (Go that way.) Depending chiefly on the survey for my
+longitude, my attention was for the most part confined to the
+preservation of certain bearings in our course by frequent observations
+of the pocket compass; but in conducting carts where no roads existed,
+propitiating savage natives, taking bearings and angles, observing rocks,
+soil and productions, so much care and anxious attention was necessary
+that I believe I was indebted to the sympathy even of my aboriginal
+friends for the zealous aid they at all times afforded.
+
+Notwithstanding the obvious necessity for closely watching the cattle,
+they had been suffered to ramble nine miles up the river during the
+night; and were not brought back to the camp until noon. This unusual and
+untoward circumstance was the more surprising as the whole country along
+the riverbank was covered with good grass. Whether they had instinctively
+set off towards the upper country, where most of them were bred; or that
+want of water after a hard day's work had occasioned such restlessness,
+it was difficult to say; but they wandered even beyond the camp that we
+reached this day in a journey commenced however only at half-past 12.
+
+NATIVES VERY SHY.
+
+The natives peeped over the reeds at us from a considerable distance; and
+some of those whom Piper saw when in search of the men with the cattle,
+immediately jumped into the river, carrying their spears and boomerangs
+with them. We had not proceeded above a mile and a half when I perceived
+among the reeds close to the berg on which we were travelling a small,
+deep and still branch of the river, apparently connected with numerous
+others, in all of which the water was quite still, although it had the
+same muddy colour as that flowing in the river, and they seemed to be
+equally deep. These still channels wound in all directions among the
+reeds. Further on the water was not even confined to such canals, large
+spaces between them being inundated, and lofty gum (or yarra) trees stood
+even in the water. Light appeared at length through the wood before us,
+which soon terminated on a sea of reeds bounded only by the horizon. On
+ascending some sandhills confining this basin of reeds on our side, I
+observed a low grassy ridge with pines upon it, and forming a limit to
+the reedy basin, except in a part of the horizon which bore 14 degrees
+South of East. A broad sheet of water (probably only an inundation
+occasioned by the late rain) filled the centre of the reedy space. About
+six miles from our last camp we came upon the river flowing with a strong
+current; and at its full width the water not more than a foot below the
+level of the right bank. Thus the Murray seemed to flow through that
+reedy expanse, unmarked in its course by trees or bushes, although one or
+two distant clumps of yarra probably grew on the banks of the permanent
+stream. At two miles further on these trees again grew plentifully, close
+under the berg along which we travelled, and where I hoped again to see
+the river. We found however that the yarras only enclosed shallow
+lagoons; and on a small oasis of dry ground near one of them we encamped
+for the night. A species of solanum forming a very large bush was found
+this day in the scrub, also several interesting shrubs, and among them
+some fine specimens of that rare one, the Eucarya murrayana. But in all
+these scrubs on the Murray the Fusanus acuminatus is common and produces
+the quandang nut (or kernel) in such abundance that it and gum acacia may
+in time become articles of commerce in Australia.*
+
+(*Footnote. Having brought home specimens of most of the woods of the
+interior, I find that several of the acacias would be valuable for
+ornamental work, having a pleasing perfume resembling that of a rose.
+Some are of a dark colour of various shades and very compact; others
+light-coloured and resembling in texture box or lancewood. The new caper
+tree also resembles the latter so much as not to be distinguished from
+it. Specimens of these woods may be seen at Hallet's, Number 83 High
+Holborn.)
+
+June 20.
+
+The morning was frosty and clear. Soon after we left our encampment we
+came to a ridge or berg, bare of trees with the exception of a fine clump
+on the highest part; and behind it was an extensive flat which was also
+destitute of wood, only a few atriplex bushes appearing upon it. I sent
+the carts across this flat while I rode along the crest of the ridge. The
+sea of reeds skirted this ridge on the north, and a meandro-serpentine
+canal full of water intersected the reedy expanse in almost all
+directions. The river flood had not reached it, at least if it had the
+water continued unmoved by any current. I perceived some smoke arising
+from the reeds at the distance of a mile, and at the extreme point of a
+tongue of firmer ground which extended into them.
+
+PIPER SPEAKS TO NATIVES ON THE RIVER.
+
+Piper went boldly up to the fire and found three families of blacks in as
+many canoes on the river. They told him there was a junction of rivers
+some way ahead of us; and I understood him to say that part of these
+natives had come across from Waljeers. The country opened more and more
+as we proceeded, and the basin of reeds was more extensive. The bergs on
+the opposite side (on which I had fixed several points) were distant on
+an average about eight miles, which was the breadth therefore of that low
+margin of reeds. The winding borders of this plain terminated on our side
+in rich grassy flats, some of which extended back farther than I could
+discover; and on two of these plains I perceived fine sheets of water,
+surrounded by shining verdure and enclosed by sheltering hills clothed
+with Callitris pyramidalis.
+
+GOOD LAND ON THE MURRAY.
+
+One or two spots seemed very favourable for farms or cattle stations. The
+soil in these grassy flats was of the richest description: indeed the
+whole of the country covered by reeds seemed capable of being converted
+into good wheat land, and of being easily irrigated at any time by the
+river. This stream was also navigable when we were there, and produce
+might be conveyed by it at such seasons to the seashore. There was no
+miasmatic savannah, nor any dense forest to be cleared; the genial
+southern breeze played over these reedy flats which may one day be
+converted into clover-fields. For cattle stations the land possessed
+every requisite, affording excellent winter grass back among the scrubs
+to which cattle usually resort at certain seasons; while at others they
+could fatten on the rich grass of the plains, or during the summer heat
+enjoy the reeds amid abundance of water. We found on these plains an
+addition to the common grasses.* The fine open country afforded extensive
+views, and to the eastward and south-east we saw hills with grassy sides
+and crowned with callitris.
+
+(*Footnote. An Andropogon allied to A. bombycinus.)
+
+WOOD AND WATER SCARCE.
+
+Through the intervening valley flowed the Murray, the course of which was
+seldom visible as no trees grew along its border. Under such
+circumstances we could not encamp upon the bank, neither could it be
+safely approached by cattle; and our prospect of obtaining wood and
+watering our animals was this day rather uncertain. At length we came
+upon a path which Mr. Stapylton pursued amongst high reeds for a mile
+without reaching the river as we both expected. I continued to travel
+towards four trees on the side of a green hill, still at a great distance
+but in the direction in which I wished to proceed.
+
+JUNCTION OF TWO BRANCHES. SWAN HILL.
+
+When we arrived there just before sunset we had the good fortune to find
+close under the hill a bend of the Murray, and to discover the junction
+of another river or branch with it at this point. Within the margin we
+found a small pond quite accessible to the cattle, and behind the hill
+was an extensive flat covered with the richest grass. Here therefore we
+could encamp most contentedly beside a clear hill, always a desirable
+neighbour, and an accessible river. We were also thus enabled to
+determine the junction perhaps of two rivers, an important object in
+geography. The latitude was 35 degrees 19 minutes 43 seconds South.
+
+The lesser stream was about 50 yards wide, but below the junction the
+main stream divided into two branches so that I was doubtful whether this
+might not be only the termination of an ana-branch. From the falling off
+of the bergs on the distant right bank, and the approach of a line of
+lofty trees from the same quarter, I was almost convinced that some
+junction took place thereabouts, as indeed the natives last seen had
+informed us. During the day columns of smoke arose behind us in the
+direction where we had seen these natives, and further eastward we
+perceived a widespreading conflagration, doubtless caused by them
+although this expression of ire troubled us but little so long as the
+flames did not approach our route. The scrubs now receded from the river,
+but the curious variety of acacias they contained still drew our
+attention towards them. We found this day several which were new. One
+with a rigid hard leaf, not in flower, resembled in many respects the A.
+farinosa met with two days later, but it was perfectly smooth in all its
+parts.* Another appeared to be related to A. hispidula, but with much
+narrower leaves without the ragged cartilaginous margin of that
+species.**
+
+(*Footnote. A. sclerophylla, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis angulatis
+glabriusculis, phyllodiis rigidis carnosis rectiusculis linearibus apice
+latioribus mucronulatis multinerviis glabris eglandulosis, capitulis 1-2
+sessilibus glaberrimis.)
+
+(**Footnote. A. aspera, Lindley manuscripts; phyllodiis
+oblongo-linearibus uninerviis mucronatis eglandulosis ramisque angulatis
+asperrimis, capitulis 1-2 axillaribus, pedunculis villosis phyllodiis
+duplo brevioribus.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.7.
+
+Exploring through a fog.
+Lakes.
+Circular Lake of Boga.
+Clear grassy hills.
+Natives on the lake.
+Scarcity of fuel on the bank of a deep river.
+Different character of two rivers.
+Unfortunate result of Piper's interview with the natives of the lake.
+Discovery of the Jerboa in Australia.
+Different habits of the savage and civilized.
+A range visible in the south.
+Peculiarities in the surface of the country near the river.
+Water of the lakes brackish, or salt.
+Natives fly at our approach.
+Arrival in the dark, on the bank of a watercourse.
+Dead saplings of ten years growth in the ponds.
+Discovery of Mount Hope.
+Enter a much better country.
+Limestone.
+Curious character of an original surface.
+Native weirs for fish.
+Their nets for catching ducks.
+Remarkable character of the lakes.
+Mr. Stapylton's excursion in search of the main stream.
+My ride to Mount Hope.
+White Anguillaria.
+View from Mount Hope.
+Return of Mr. Stapylton.
+
+SWAN HILL.
+
+June 21.
+
+Among the reeds on the point of ground between the two rivers was a
+shallow lagoon where swans and other wild fowl so abounded that, although
+half a mile from our camp, their noise disturbed us through the night. I
+therefore named this somewhat remarkable and isolated feature Swan Hill,
+a point which may probably be found to mark the junction of two fine
+streams.
+
+EXPLORING THROUGH A FOG.
+
+I wished to devote the day to meteorological observations as prearranged
+with my friends in the Colony, Mr. Dunlop and Captain King; but a thick
+fog in the morning promised a day of clear settled weather, and I was
+obliged to proceed; I observed the barometer however every hour during
+the journey. For several miles we travelled through the mist over plains
+partly covered with reeds and partly with grass. Having reconnoitred the
+country on the previous evening I had no difficulty in pursuing the
+direction I then chose for this day's route.
+
+LAKES. CIRCULAR LAKE OF BOGA.
+
+At eleven A.M. when the fog arose I perceived a low grassy ridge before
+us; and a fine lake covered with black swans, ducks and other waterfowl
+was afterwards discovered beyond it. We passed along the southern shore
+of this lake, thus keeping it between us and the river. It was surrounded
+with reeds and bulrushes, and appeared to be supplied by a small feeder
+from the river, like other similar lakes which we had seen near rivers
+elsewhere: but the water could pass by such small channels only during
+the highest floods, for the lake was even then very low, although the
+flood in the river was evidently high. This lake was about three miles in
+circumference.
+
+CLEAR GRASSY HILLS.
+
+As I ascended a grassy hill two miles beyond it I perceived on my left
+another smaller lake; with no reeds about it, but with grass growing to
+the water's edge; and there we also found a curious little plant covered
+with short imbricated silvery leaves, but not in flower. Behind the lake,
+or away from the river, was the low scrub of the back country in which I
+again saw, just coming into flower, the Cassia heteroloba discovered on
+the 6th instant. On reaching the top of the hill I discovered to the
+eastward a third lake, much larger than either of the others, and
+apparently of a different character for its banks were higher, and it
+contained one or two small islets while the surface of the water was
+covered with some brown aquatic weed. It was bounded on the east by a
+ridge which seemed green, smooth, and quite clear of trees. A low neck of
+firm ground separated the lake first seen from this; and it was also
+connected with the hill on which I then stood.
+
+NATIVES ON THE LAKE.
+
+In one place, a narrow line of high reeds appearing likely to impede us,
+Mr. Stapylton rode forward to examine it. As he reached the spot much
+smoke suddenly arose, evidently from natives whom he had thus
+accidentally disturbed. He nevertheless pressed forward amongst the
+reeds, and soon reappeared on the green hill beyond, thus showing us
+there was no obstruction, and the carts proceeded through. These reeds
+enveloped a small creek or hollow through which the floods of the river
+supplied the lake. In one part was a pool of water, and in another the
+bottom was so soft that the united strength of two teams was necessary to
+draw out the wheel of a cart which sunk into it. We found there the huts
+of natives who had fled on Mr. Stapylton's approach, having left their
+fishing spears, skin cloaks, shields, etc. They soon appeared on the lake
+in twenty-four canoes, all making for the little isle in the centre
+which, being covered with reeds, was probably their stronghold according
+to their modes of warfare. The aquatic tribes, as I have elsewhere
+observed, invariably take to the water in times of alarm, and from among
+the reeds in their little island these people could easily throw their
+spears at any assailant without being themselves exposed, or even seen.
+Piper found in their huts some fragments of blue earthenware, nicely
+attached with gum to threads by which it would appear that the gins wore
+them in their hair as ornaments.
+
+SCARCITY OF FUEL ON THE BANK OF A DEEP RIVER.
+
+Being desirous to learn the native names of these lakes, and to obtain
+some information respecting the rivers, I requested Piper and the two
+Tommies to remain behind for the purpose of obtaining a parley if
+possible. I should indeed have encamped by this lake had not the environs
+been entirely destitute of wood. Before us however, although at the
+distance of some miles, was a line of majestic trees which appeared to
+mark the course of a river; and I had directed Mr. Stapylton to lead the
+party through the reeds along an interval which appeared to be chiefly
+covered with grass, and by which I expected he would arrive at the line
+of high trees. Meanwhile I was occupied alone to the southward of the
+lake, surveying it. Near the margin I found a small fragment of highly
+vesicular lava.
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER.
+
+The ground traversed by the party was firm and, when I overtook it within
+a mile and a half of the line of trees, we came suddenly on a river full
+to the very margin, and flowing slowly to the westward, its width being
+about 50 yards. Not a tree grew near it, nor did I see any indication of
+a river until I reached the bank.
+
+The ground presented an unbroken level, or declined slightly towards the
+line of trees which still marked, as I supposed, the course of the
+Murray. We had no means of reaching it however, nor any alternative left
+but to change our route towards the east-south-east and travel along the
+bank of this river, in hopes it might at last approach the trees. We
+found on the contrary that it receded from them towards a country without
+a single bush; and thus while the sun was setting on a raw frosty evening
+we could not encamp for want of fuel, although water and grass were
+abundant. One solitary group of trees seeming to be on our side of the
+stream, though distant about two miles, Mr. Stapylton and myself galloped
+towards them, the party following. There too we found the river,
+separating us even from these trees, three very small ones only being on
+our side, and likely to fall when cut into the stream. It had become
+quite dark before we got to them but, by lighting some reeds, the rest of
+the party found its way to us; and there we encamped, although the green
+wood could not be made to burn, while the thermometer stood so low as 29
+degrees. We were perhaps more sensible of the want of fuel from the
+abundance so apparent on the banks of what seemed another river at so
+small a distance across the open plain.
+
+DIFFERENT CHARACTER OF TWO RIVERS.
+
+These streams flowing so near each other seemed in this respect
+distinctly different: the one being edged with only reeds, the other with
+lofty trees like almost every interior river of New South Wales.
+
+UNFORTUNATE RESULT OF PIPER'S INTERVIEW WITH THE NATIVES OF THE LAKE.
+
+Piper came in soon after the carts arrived, bringing a sad account of his
+interview with the natives. It appeared that, as soon as our party had
+proceeded to some distance from the lake, twelve men sprang from among
+the reeds armed with spears, boomerangs, etc., and when Piper accosted
+one of them, inquiring the name of the lake "I wont tell you," was the
+answer (murry coolah, i.e. very angrily). They then told him there was
+"too much ask" about him, and they blamed him for bringing the
+whitefellows there; adding that they did not like him; and an old man
+calling to the rest to kill him, for that he was no good, two spears were
+immediately thrown. These Piper parried with his carabine, and then
+instantly discharged it at the foremost, wounding him in the right jaw.
+The rest immediately disappeared among the reeds. The wounded savage
+fell, but Piper loaded again and killed him by another shot through the
+body. Such was Piper's story. I blamed him very much for firing at the
+wounded man, and I regretted exceedingly the result of his interview. I
+was besides most anxious to maintain a good understanding with these
+people.
+
+The spears used on this occasion were made of reed and pointed with bones
+of the emu; but we saw at their huts several heavy jagged ones of very
+hard wood for the purposes of fishing. The natives wore cloaks made of
+kangaroo skins.
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE JERBOA IN AUSTRALIA.
+
+A very curious and rare little quadruped was this day found by the two
+Tommies, who had never before seen such an animal. Its fore and hind legs
+resembled in proportion those of the kangaroo; and it used the latter by
+leaping on its hindquarters in the same manner as that animal. It was not
+much larger than a common fieldmouse, but the tail was longer in
+proportion to the rest of the body even than that of a kangaroo, and
+terminated in a hairy brush about two inches long.* (Plate 29.)
+
+(*Footnote. This appears to be a species of Jerboa, thus for the first
+time seen by us in Australia. My friend Mr. Ogilby has described this
+animal in the Linnean Transactions from my drawing and descriptions; the
+specimen itself having been deposited in the Australian Museum at Sydney.
+Dipus mitchellii, D. plantis subpentadactylis; corpore supra
+cinereo-fusco, subtus albido; auriculis magnis, cauda longissima,
+floccosa. Linnean Transactions volume page 129.)
+
+We also discovered a beautiful new species of the Cape genus Pelargonium,
+which would be an acquisition to our gardens. I named it P. rodneyanum*
+in honour of Mrs. Riddell at Sydney, grand-daughter of the famous Rodney.
+
+(*Footnote. P. rodneyanum, Lindley manuscripts; patentim pilosum, caule
+subterraneo horizontali crasso fragili ramos erectos promente apice
+tantum epigaeos foliosos, ramulis herbaceis erectis, foliis
+ovato-oblongis sublobatis basi cuneatis obtusis grosse crenatis tenuibus
+glabriusculis longipetiolatis, pedunculis erectis foliis longioribus,
+umbellis tomentosis 8-10-floris demum laxis divaricatis, petalis anguste
+obovatis calyce triplo longioribus, staminum tubo obliquo: sterilium 3
+denticuliformibus, fortilium 2 sterilibus interjectis caeteris
+longioribus.)
+
+DIFFERENT HABITS OF THE SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED.
+
+At this camp where we lay shivering for want of fire, the different
+habits of the aborigines and us, strangers from the north, were strongly
+contrasted. On that freezing night the natives, according to their usual
+custom, stripped off all their clothes previous to lying down to sleep in
+the open air, their bodies being doubled up around a few burning reeds.
+We could not understand how they could lay thus naked when the earth was
+white with hoar frost; and they were equally at a loss to know how we
+could sleep in our tents without a bit of fire to keep our bodies warm.
+For the support of animal heat, fire and smoke are almost as necessary to
+them as clothes are to us. The naked savage however is not without some
+reason on his side, for fire is the only means he possesses to warm his
+body when cold, and it is therefore the only comfort he ever knows;
+whereas we require both fire and clothing and have no conception of the
+intensity of enjoyment imparted to the naked body of a savage by the
+glowing embrace of a cloud of smoke in winter. In summer also he may
+enjoy, unrestrained by dress, the luxury of a bath in any pool when not
+content with the refreshing breeze that fans his sensitive body during
+the intense heat. Amidst all this exposure the skin of the Australian
+native remains as smooth and soft as velvet, and it is not improbable
+that the obstructions of drapery would constitute the greatest of his
+objections in such a climate to the permanent adoption of a civilised
+life.
+
+A RANGE VISIBLE IN THE SOUTH.
+
+June 22.
+
+A night of hard frost was succeeded by a beautifully clear morning. The
+refraction brought the summits of a distant range above the south-east
+horizon; and the sight was so welcome to us, after having found Australia
+a mere desert from the want of hills, that I was at a loss for a name to
+give these that should sufficiently express my satisfaction. I found the
+breadth of the river at our camp to be 50 yards; and the velocity 4
+chains (or 88 yards) in 127 seconds, being something less than a mile and
+a half per hour; and the height of the bank above the water to be 18
+inches.
+
+PECULIARITIES IN THE SURFACE OF THE COUNTRY NEAR THE RIVER.
+
+The entirely open country through which the nearer river or branch
+continued to flow, and the lofty and remarkable trees on the banks of the
+other enabled me, in chaining along our route, to survey the course of
+both by fixing points on the more distant, and tracing the nearer. At
+length we approached a better-wooded country where clear green hills
+appeared to our right. I ascended the highest of these and discovered a
+vast plain beyond which appeared to be, or rather to have been, the bed
+of an extensive lake. I was now struck with the uncommon regularity of
+the curve described by the hill or ridge, having previously observed the
+same peculiarity in that which overlooked the lake of the savage tribe.
+We passed over some slight undulations covered with luxuriant grass, and
+were not sorry to see a wood of pines (or callitris) on our left. Large
+gumtrees (yarra) grew beyond and, the general course I wished to pursue
+leading towards them, I hoped to reach there an angle of the river. We
+found however that they hung over a small ana-branch only, in which the
+muddy flood-water of the river was then flowing. This stream was
+nevertheless exactly what we wanted, being safely accessible to our
+cattle, which the river itself was not. We therefore pitched our tents on
+a spot where there was excellent grass, and wood was again to be had in
+great abundance. We found in the adjacent scrub a remarkably rigid bush
+with stiff sickle-shaped blunt leaves and mealy balls of flowers not
+quite expanded;* also an acacia resembling A. hispidula, but the leaves
+were quite smooth and much smaller.** In approaching this spot we had
+passed along a low sandy ridge, every way resembling a beach but covered
+with pines and scrub. A bare grassy hill extended southward from each end
+of it; and the intervening hollow containing some water was evidently the
+bed of a lake, nearly dry.
+
+(*Footnote. It is found to be an acacia related to A. multinervia. A.
+farinosa, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis angulatis glabriusculis,
+phyllodiis rigidis carnosis incurvis linearibus apice latioribus
+mucronatis multinerviis glabris: margine superiore infra medium
+glanduloso, capitulis 2-4 axillaribus breviter pedunculatis farinosis.)
+
+(**Footnote. For description see 19th September.)
+
+June 23.
+
+The most eastern of these smooth bare ridges was immediately above our
+camp and, observing in it the regularity of curve which I had noticed in
+others, I was struck with the analogy, and in these ridges being always
+on the eastern shore of hollows or lakes, while the western was
+irregularly indented, and was in some parts so abrupt as to have the
+character of cliffs. The southern end of the ridges was generally the
+highest.
+
+WATER OF THE LAKES BRACKISH, OR SALT.
+
+Perceiving no reeds near the lake nor any birds upon it I sent Mr.
+Stapylton to taste the water, which he found to be quite salt, like that
+of the sea. This and several of the other basins were surrounded by high
+ground and were without any communication with the river.
+
+NATIVES FLY AT OUR APPROACH.
+
+I passed soon after another of these circular basins which, although much
+smaller, presented similar features, and had some rather brackish water
+in pools in the deepest part. During the day's journey we passed several
+ridges connected with extensive basins in a similar manner, and in the
+bottom of one of these I perceived Polygonum junceum growing amongst
+yarra trees. On the western shore we saw the remains of large native
+ash-hills. They were old and overgrown with bushes, but they proved that
+this lake had once contained mussels and the balyan or bulrush, a root
+eaten by the natives and cooked in such ovens as these. The other lake
+was surrounded by a circle of yarra trees and had but recently become
+dry, the earth in it being still without vegetation and covered with
+innumerable native companions and white cockatoos. Finding no indication
+of the river, notwithstanding the presence of so many yarra trees, I
+turned to the east towards another line of them which appeared still more
+promising. There however we encountered the dry bed only of a small creek
+which we crossed, and continued eastward, passing over much grassy land,
+and through much wood of the box or goborro species of eucalyptus. We
+travelled thus upwards of seven miles beyond the dry creek without
+discovering any sign of the river, although we had previously traced it
+so far in pursuing a much more southerly direction.
+
+NATIVES FLY AT OUR APPROACH.
+
+The natives were heard in this wood chopping with their stone hatchets
+but they fled at our approach. On entering a small plain we saw their
+deserted fire on the opposite side. Beyond this another plain, still more
+extensive, appeared before us, and a few yarra trees on the horizon gave
+some promise of water, though not of the river.
+
+ARRIVAL IN THE DARK, ON THE BANK OF A WATERCOURSE.
+
+Before I reached the spot and while far ahead of the party darkness had
+overtaken us; but I found there a deep creek with some water in large
+ponds; and by lighting a fire the carts at length came up to us, after a
+journey of nineteen miles. This seemed by moonlight such a singular place
+that I was anxious for daylight to see at what we had arrived.
+
+June 24.
+
+I expected to find the main stream not far from the ponds, but the
+morning light shone over a plain which extended in a north-western
+direction to the very horizon. It was bounded on the north by very
+distant trees which had not the usual appearance of trees distinguishing
+the river. The country on all sides seemed perfectly level, and if there
+was any exception at all it was in the box forests to the southward
+whence we had come, and where the land seemed lower than the plain on
+which we had encamped. The bed of the creek was full twenty feet below
+the general surface. The symmetry of the curves described by it was
+remarkable, and it was rendered still more striking by a narrow line of
+rushes which had grown on the margin of the water when it had stood at a
+much higher level.
+
+DEAD SAPLINGS OF TEN YEARS GROWTH IN THE PONDS.
+
+A concentric border of grass of uniform breadth grew on the slope above
+the rushes, and one of fragrant herbs below the line of rushes, all being
+at nearly equal distances; while a single row of bare poles measuring
+from three to five inches in diameter stood where a row of saplings had
+grown in what had, at one time, been the very centre of the stream. These
+poles were the remains of yarra trees eight or ten years old, and marked
+the extent doubtless of a long period of drought which had continued
+until some high flood killed them.
+
+DISCOVERY OF MOUNT HOPE.
+
+The grass was excellent over the whole of the plains on both sides and,
+from a tree near the camp, Burnett descried a goodly hill bearing 36 1/2
+degrees East of South and distant, as afterwards ascertained, twenty-two
+miles.
+
+Near our camp we found some recent fireplaces of the natives, from which
+they must have hastily escaped on our approach for, in the branches of a
+tree, they had left their net bags containing the stalks of a vegetable
+that had apparently undergone some culinary process, which gave them the
+appearance of having been half boiled. Vegetables are thus cooked, I was
+told, by placing the root or plant between layers of hot embers until it
+is heated and softened. The stalks found in the bag resembled those of
+the potato, and they could only be chewed, such food being neither
+nutritious nor palatable for it tasted only of smoke.* A very large
+ash-hill, raised no doubt by repeated use in such simple culinary
+operations, and probably during the course of a great many years, was
+close to our camp. On its ample surface were just visible the vestiges of
+a very ancient grave, once encompassed by exactly the same kind of ridges
+that I had observed around the inhabited tomb near the junction of the
+Lachlan and Murrumbidgee. The natives were at length seen about two miles
+off on the skirts of the wood; and although I sent forward the overseer
+and Piper, each carrying a large green bough, they all ran away, leaving
+behind them their spears and skin cloaks.
+
+(*Footnote. July 17 1838. This plant has at length flowered in the
+Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick and proves to be a new species of
+Pieris of which Dr. Lindley has favoured me with the following
+description: P. barbarorum; sparse hispida, foliis ciliatis supra nitidis
+scabriusculis radicalibus spathulato-lanceolatis subdentatis caulinis
+oblongis sessilibus amplexi-caulibus recurvis dentatis integrisque, caule
+stricto ramoso, involucri foliolis lineari-lanceolatis acutis apice vel
+secus dorsum serie simplici pilorum longorum reflexorum appendiculatis,
+achaeniis badiis longe rostratis transverse rugosissimis disci
+sterilibus.)
+
+While the party proceeded eastward along the bank of Moonlight creek, as
+we named it, I sent Mr. Stapylton across the wide plain to ascertain, if
+possible, whether the river flowed through it without the usual
+indication of trees on its banks, as we had found to be the case below.
+Mr. Stapylton found beyond the northern limits of the plain, amongst
+yarra trees, an ana-branch only, but containing quite clear and still
+water.
+
+The course of the creek which I in the meantime traced first led me to
+the north-east where high trees seemed to mark its course, to the bed of
+the river; but a smaller branch, still dry, extended southward from it,
+which, on returning to the main party, I found it desirable that the
+carts should cross. We next passed for three miles through a forest of
+goborro, and then crossed a plain three miles in extent. Beyond the plain
+we approached a promising line of lofty yarra trees, but found it shaded
+only a hollow subject to inundations. Two miles and a half further we
+came to another similar line of trees, and we found within its shade an
+ana-branch full of clear water. A little in advance a much deeper branch
+afforded a good spot for our camp, as I intended to cross it by some
+means in the afternoon and seek for the river.
+
+ENTER A MUCH BETTER COUNTRY.
+
+The plains we had crossed this day were covered with excellent grass; and
+in many places detached groups of trees gave to the country a park-like
+appearance very unlike anything on the banks of the Darling.
+
+After crossing the creek by means of a fallen tree, I found the ground
+beyond to be of the richest description, with excellent grass and lofty
+yarra trees growing upon it. I passed through two separate strips of high
+reeds extending north-east and south-west; but I found they only
+enveloped lagoons of soft mud and, seeing no appearance of the river at
+two miles from the camp, I returned. We found on the hills a little bush,
+very like European heaths, having the branches covered with small
+three-cornered leaves and tipped with clusters of small pink flowers.*
+
+(*Footnote. Baeckea micrantha.)
+
+LIMESTONE.
+
+June 25.
+
+The country we passed over this day was upon the whole richer in point of
+grass than any we had seen since we left Sydney; I therefore suspected
+that the soil had some better rock for a basis than sandstone; and I had
+reason to believe that it was limestone, from indications of subsidence
+which I observed on the surface.
+
+CURIOUS CHARACTER OF AN ORIGINAL SURFACE.
+
+We had discovered no similar country during either of the two former
+journeys. There were none of the acacia trees we had seen on the lower
+Bogan; while the grasses were also different from any of those on the
+Darling. A fine new species of Daviesia, very like a Grevillea and
+forming a most singular bush, grew here. It had no leaves, but green
+branches formed into short, broad, thick vertical plates arranged
+spirally, and much lower than the little axillary clusters of flowers
+which were just beginning to open.* We also met with bushes of the rare
+Trymalium majoranaefolium, a hoary bush with clusters of small grey
+flowers, enclosed when young in a bright, large membranous involucre.
+Once or twice distant rows of lofty gumtrees appeared to indicate the
+line of the river; but on approaching them we found either dry hollows or
+the same ana-branch, as it seemed, on which we last encamped. I observed
+at several places that the more dense box-forests near this branch of the
+river were skirted with ground broken into low undulations six or eight
+feet square. These appeared where there was great depth of soil, and were
+probably caused by deep rents or cracks opened at the first induration of
+the deposit, and subsequently modified by rain and other atmospheric
+agents. This seems to be the state of the deep deposits at the present
+day where, from the absence of trees, the surface of tenacious soils
+remains visible. I was first struck with this effect in the clays near
+the Darling where alternate saturation and desiccation seemed to check
+all vegetation. On the upper parts of the Bogan also I saw these
+inequalities on a very large scale, but there the hollows still exist
+under dense forests of casuarinae, and are so deep and extensive that I
+for some time was induced to examine them in hopes of finding water; but
+from a small hole or fissure still remaining there I soon learnt that any
+such search was hopeless.
+
+(*Footnote. D. pectinata, Lindley manuscripts; glabra, aphylla, ramis
+lateralibus ensiformibus crassis rigidis spinosis verticalibus pectinatim
+spiralibus dorso decurrentibus racemulis glomeratis multo longioribus.)
+
+When we had travelled some miles, the hill we had seen from the camp on
+Moonlight creek bore exactly south by compass, and appeared to be about
+half the distance that it was from us when discovered. At 3 1/2 miles we
+again came upon the ana-branch; a slight current now appeared in it and
+the water was tinged with the turbid colour of the main stream.
+
+LAST CAMP ON THE MURRAY.
+
+After winding around several of its turnings we encamped at one P.M.
+beside a large pool. This day's journey was nearly fourteen miles.
+
+June 26.
+
+The barometer being unusually low, and some long journeys having
+prevented me from laying down my surveys of the lakes as well as having
+fatigued the cattle, I halted here with the intention of filling up my
+maps, refreshing the animals, and reconnoitring the country to the
+south-west, in which direction a vast extent was unexplored. The river we
+had endeavoured to trace thus far was now so shut in by ana-branches that
+it could rarely be seen at all; but I had now brought the survey of it so
+far upwards that I should be able to trace it, or its several
+tributaries, downwards upon the same point when returning to the
+northward, under the western extremities of the Snowy Range. I hoped then
+also to obtain a better knowledge of the branches composing the Murray
+than we possessed at this time.
+
+This day I requested Mr. Stapylton to cross the piece of water where we
+had encamped, and endeavour to find the river in a north-east direction;
+but he ascertained that the watercourse turned northward, and to the west
+of north, without entering the river, as far as he traced it. He then
+returned after having followed its course five miles without falling in
+with the main stream. His party saw some of the natives who could not be
+induced to stop by all the calls of Piper.
+
+NATIVE WEIRS FOR FISH.
+
+Mr. Stapylton observed in the channel he traced a net or fence of boughs
+which the natives had that morning set up; and which showed not only that
+they expected a flood, but also, from the manner in which it was placed,
+that the water would flow first up the channel. This circumstance, as
+already observed, is not unusual in ana-branches where the lower end is
+naturally on a lower level, having been worn by the currents into a
+deeper channel there than at the upper end, where the water not
+unfrequently leaves the river by overflowing its banks in various
+channels of small depth.
+
+THEIR NETS FOR CATCHING DUCKS.
+
+The natives had left in one place a net suspended across the river
+between two lofty trees, evidently for the purpose of catching ducks and
+other waterfowl. The meshes were about two inches wide, and the net hung
+down to within five feet of the surface of the stream. In order to obtain
+waterfowl with this net some of the natives proceed up, and others down,
+the river to scare the birds from other places and, when any flight comes
+into the net, it is suddenly lowered into the water, thus entangling the
+birds beneath until the natives go into the water and secure them. Among
+the first specimens of art manufactured by the primitive inhabitants of
+these wilds none come so near our own as the net which, even in quality,
+as well as the mode of knotting, can scarcely be distinguished from those
+made in Europe. As these natives possess but little besides what was
+essentially necessary to their existence, we may conclude that they have
+used spears for killing the kangaroo, stone-axes for cutting out the
+opossum, and nets for catching birds, or kangaroos, or fish, since their
+earliest occupation of Australia.* Almost every specimen of art they
+possess is the result of urgent necessity. Perhaps the iron tomahawk is
+the only important addition made to their implements during many
+centuries.
+
+(*Footnote. Isaiah 24:17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee.]
+"These images are taken from the different methods of hunting and taking
+wild beasts which were anciently in use. The snare or toils were a series
+of nets enclosing, at first, a great space of ground in which the wild
+beasts were known to be, and drawn in by degrees into a narrower compass
+till they were at last closely shut up and entangled in them." Harmer.
+This is precisely the method adopted by the Australian natives at present
+for the same or similar purposes.)
+
+REMARKABLE CHARACTER OF THE LAKES.
+
+On laying down my survey of the country which we had lately passed over I
+found that the lakes were nearly all circular or oval, and that a very
+regularly curved ridge, as before stated, bounded the eastern shore of
+all of them. The number of lakes or hollows of this character already
+seen by us to the south-west of the Murray amounted to eleven. In three
+of them the water was salt, and the greater number had no communication
+with the river; but between it and the others there was a narrow creek or
+gully, but accessible only to the highest floods. The northern margin of
+one of the salt lakes consisted of a bank of white sand on which grew
+thickly a kind of pine, different from the trees around. The channels
+between the river and the lakes seemed neither to belong to the original
+arrangement of watercourses, nor to ana-branches of the rivers; for they
+frequently extended upwards in directions opposed to that of the river's
+course. The fact being established that some of these lakes have no
+obvious connection with the river, it becomes probable that they are the
+remains of what the surface was before the fluviatile process began to
+carry off its waters. I had no difficulty in referring to an early system
+of this kind other lakes which we had seen elsewhere, the anomalous
+peculiarities of which were equally remarkable. Among these were
+Cudjallagong and others adjacent; Waljeers; the two smaller on the
+Murrumbidgee named Weromba; also Lake Benanee and Prooa its neighbour; in
+all which the peculiarities accorded with what I had observed in those on
+the left bank of the Murray.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON'S EXCURSION IN SEARCH OF THE MAIN STREAM.
+
+June 27.
+
+The morning was clear and Mr. Stapylton set out with a party of six men
+to trace, if possible, the branch on which we were encamped into the main
+stream. At ten the weather became hazy; at noon the sky was overcast; and
+at two P.M. a steady rain set in which continued until six P.M. when the
+barometer began to rise and, the moon soon after shining out, the sky
+became once more serene. A hill apparently covered with good grass was
+within sight of our present camp but inaccessible from it because a reach
+of deep and still water intervened. This day I sent Burnett with Piper to
+the hill, and they brought me some of the soil which I found consisted of
+loose red sand.
+
+MY RIDE TO MOUNT HOPE.
+
+June 28.
+
+The morning being fine I at length proceeded towards the hill which we
+had already twice seen from great distances. It bore 206 degrees 45
+minutes (from North) and was exactly ten miles from our camp. After
+riding six miles through box-forest we crossed a dry creek, and
+immediately entered upon an extensive plain beyond which I had the
+satisfaction of seeing the hopeful hill straight before me.
+
+This hill consisted of immense blocks of common granite composed of white
+felspar and quartz and black mica; and it appeared to form the western
+extremity of a low range. It was indeed a welcome sight to us all after
+traversing for several months so much flat country; and to me it was
+particularly interesting for, from its summit, I expected to obtain an
+extensive view over the unknown region between us and the southern coast.
+I accordingly named the hill Mount Hope.
+
+WHITE ANGUILLARIA.
+
+On the verdant plain near its foot we found a beautiful white
+anguillaria, a flower we had not seen elsewhere and which,
+notwithstanding the season, was in full bloom and had a pleasing perfume.
+It might indeed be called the Australian snowdrop for its hardy little
+blossom seemed quite insensible to the frost.
+
+VIEW FROM MOUNT HOPE.
+
+On reaching the summit of Mount Hope I saw various higher hills extending
+from south-south-west to west-south-west at a distance of about 35 miles.
+They were not all quite connected, and I supposed them to be only the
+northern extremities of some higher ranges still more remote. I perceived
+along their base a line of lofty trees, but it was most apparent on the
+horizon to the westward of the heights. The intervening country
+consisted, as far as the glass enabled me to examine it, of open grassy
+plains, beautifully variegated with serpentine lines of wood. In all
+other directions the horizon was unbroken and, as the trees of the Murray
+vanished at a point bearing 143 1/2 degrees from North on the border of a
+very extensive plain, I concluded that an important change took place
+there in the course of that river or the Goulburn (of Hovell and Hume);
+for it was uncertain then which river we were near. The granitic range of
+Mount Hope terminates in the plains, one or two bare rocks only
+projecting above ground on the flats westward of the hill. On its summit
+we found some plants quite new to us and, among the rocks on its sides, a
+species of anguillaria different from that on the plains, being larger in
+the stem and having a dark brown ring within the chalice, the edge of the
+leaves being tinged with the same colour.* We found here again the
+Baeckea micrantha seen on the 24th instant, also a remarkable new species
+of Eriostemon forming a scrubby spiny bush, with much the appearance of a
+Leptospermum,** and a new and very beautiful species of Pleurandra, with
+the aspect of the yellow Cistus of the Algarves.*** A remarkable hill of
+granite appeared 5 1/3 miles from Mount Hope, bearing 30 degrees 10
+minutes West of South. It is a triangular pyramid and, being quite
+isolated, it closely resembles the monuments of Egypt.
+
+(*Footnote. Anguillaria dioica.)
+
+(**Footnote. E. pungens, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis teretibus
+pilosulis, foliis acerosis pungentibus glandulosis, pedicellis solitariis
+axillaribus brevibus unifloris, staminibus glabriusculis, antheria
+inappendiculatis.)
+
+(***Footnote. P. incana, Lindley manuscripts; foliis linearibus obtusis
+tomentosis marginibus revolutis costam tangentibus, floribus sessilibus
+terminalibus, staminibus 6 ima basi monadelphis.)
+
+Soon after my return to the camp Mr. Stapylton came in with his party,
+having succeeded in finding the river by tracing the branch upwards of
+thirteen miles. This branch was connected with others on both sides, so
+that Mr. Stapylton was obliged at last to cross it, and make direct for
+the river which, at the point where he fell in with it, was running at
+the rate of 2940 yards per hour, and was 99 yards wide, being therefore
+probably still the Murray itself.
+
+RETURN OF MR. STAPYLTON.
+
+The country which I had seen this day beyond Mount Hope was too inviting
+to be left behind us unexplored; and I therefore determined to turn into
+it without further delay, and to pursue the bearing of 215 degrees from
+North as the general direction of our route, until we should fall in with
+the line of river trees before mentioned.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.8.
+
+The Party quits the Murray.
+Pyramid Hill.
+Beautiful country seen from it.
+Discovery of the river Yarrayne.
+A bridge made across it.
+Covered by a sudden rise of the river.
+Then cross it in boats.
+Useful assistance of Piper.
+Our female guide departs.
+Enter a hilly country.
+Ascend Barrabungalo.
+Rainy weather.
+Excursion southward.
+The widow returns to the party.
+Natives of Tarray.
+Their description of the country.
+Discover the Loddon.
+The woods.
+Cross a range.
+Kangaroos numerous.
+The earth becomes soft and impassable, even on the sides of hills.
+Discover a noble range of mountains.
+Cross another stream.
+Another.
+General character of the country.
+Proposed excursion to the mountains.
+Richardson's creek.
+Cross a fine stream flowing in three separate channels.
+A ridge of poor sandy soil.
+Cross another stream.
+Trap-hills and good soil.
+Ascend the mountain.
+Clouds cover it.
+A night on the summit.
+No fuel.
+View from it at sunrise.
+Descend with difficulty.
+Men taken ill.
+New plants found there.
+Repose in the valley.
+Night's rest.
+Natives at the camp during my absence.
+
+THE PARTY QUITS THE MURRAY.
+
+June 29.
+
+The party moved forward in the direction of Mount Hope and, leaving it on
+the left, we continued towards Pyramid Hill where we encamped at about
+three-quarters of a mile from its base. We were under no restraint now in
+selecting a camp from any scarcity of water or grass; for all hollows in
+the plains contained some water and grass grew everywhere. The strips of
+wood which diversified the country as seen from the hills generally
+enclosed a depression with polygonum bushes, but without any marks of
+having had any water in them although, in very wet seasons, some probably
+lodges there, as in so many canals, and this indeed seemed to me to be a
+country where canals would answer well, not so much perhaps for inland
+navigation as for the better distribution of water over a fertile country
+enclosed as this is by copious rivers.
+
+PYRAMID HILL.
+
+June 30.
+
+Having seen the party on the way and directed it to proceed on a bearing
+of 215 degrees from North I ascended the rocky pyramidic hill, which I
+found arose to the height of 300 feet above the plain.
+
+BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY SEEN FROM IT.
+
+Its apex consisted of a single block of granite, and the view was
+exceedingly beautiful over the surrounding plains, shining fresh and
+green in the light of a fine morning. The scene was different from
+anything I had ever before witnessed either in New South Wales or
+elsewhere. A land so inviting and still without inhabitants! As I stood,
+the first European intruder on the sublime solitude of these verdant
+plains as yet untouched by flocks or herds, I felt conscious of being the
+harbinger of mighty changes; and that our steps would soon be followed by
+the men and the animals for which it seemed to have been prepared. A
+haziness in the air prevented me however from perceiving clearly the
+distant horizon from that summit, but I saw and intersected those
+mountains to the southward which I had observed from Mount Hope.
+
+The progress of the party was still visible from that hill, pursuing
+their course over the distant plains like a solitary line of ants. I
+overtook it when a good many miles on; and we encamped after travelling
+upwards of fourteen miles in one uninterrupted straight line. Our camp
+was chosen on the skirts of a forest of box, having a plain on the east
+covered with rich grass, and where we found some small pools of
+rainwater.
+
+July 1.
+
+Proceeding still on the bearing followed yesterday we reached at three
+miles from our camp a fine chain of ponds. They were deep, full of water,
+and surrounded by strong yarra trees. Passing them we met a small scrub
+of casuarinae which we avoided; and we next entered on a fine plain in
+which the anthisteria or oatgrass appeared. This is the same grass which
+grows on the most fertile parts of the counties of Argyle and Murray and
+is, I believe, the best Australian grass for cattle: it is also one of
+the surest indications of a good soil and dry situation.
+
+DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER YARRAYNE.
+
+Beyond the plain the line of noble yarra trees, which I had observed from
+Mount Hope, gave almost certain promise of a river; and at 6 1/2 miles
+our journey was terminated by a deep running stream. The banks were steep
+and about twenty feet high, but covered thickly with grass to the edge of
+the water. The yarra trees grew by the brink of the stream and not on the
+top of the bank. The water had a brown appearance as if it came from
+melted snow but, from the equality of depth (about nine feet) and other
+circumstances, I was of opinion that it was a permanent running stream.
+The current ran at the rate of four chains in 122 seconds, or near 1 1/2
+mile per hour; thus it would appear from what we had seen that there is
+much uniformity in the velocity of the rivers, and consequently in the
+general inclination of the surface. The banks of this little river were
+however very different in some respects from any we had previously seen,
+being everywhere covered thickly with grass. No fallen timber impeded its
+course, nor was there any indication in the banks that the course was
+ever in the least degree affected by such obstructions.
+
+A BRIDGE MADE ACROSS IT.
+
+It was so narrow that I anticipated little difficulty in making a bridge
+by felling some of the overhanging trees. Finding a large one already
+fallen across the stream where the slopes of the banks could be most
+readily made passable, we lost no time in felling another which broke
+against the opposite bank and sunk into the water. No other large trees
+grew near but the banks were, at that place, so favourable for the
+passage of the waggons that I determined to take advantage of the large
+fallen tree; and to construct a bridge by bringing others of smaller
+dimensions to it, according to the accompanying plan, and not unmindful
+of the useful suggestions of Sir Howard Douglas respecting temporary
+bridges.
+
+July 2.
+
+Late in the evening of this day we completed a bridge formed of short but
+strong sleepers, laid diagonally to the fallen tree which constituted its
+main support, and the whole was covered with earth from cuttings made in
+the banks to render it accessible to the carts. At length everything was
+ready for crossing and we had thus a prospect of being able to advance
+beyond the river into that unknown but promising land of hill and dale.
+
+COVERED BY A SUDDEN RISE OF THE RIVER.
+
+July 3.
+
+This morning our bridge was no longer to be seen, the river having risen
+so much during the night that it was four feet under water. Yet no rain
+had fallen for five days previous, and we could account for this
+unexpected flood only by supposing that the powerful shining of the sun
+during the last two days had melted the snow near the sources of the
+stream. At noon the water had risen fourteen feet. A whispering sound
+much resembling wind among the trees now arose from it and, however
+inconvenient to us, the novelty of a sudden rise in the river was quite
+refreshing, accustomed as we had been so long to wander in the beds of
+rivers and to seek in vain for water. Our little bridge continued to be
+passable even when covered with four feet of water but, as it had no
+parapets, we could not prevent some of the bullocks from going over the
+side on attempting to cross when it was thus covered.
+
+THEN CROSS IT IN BOATS.
+
+The river still continuing to rise, we were compelled at last to launch
+the boats, and by this means we effected the passage of the whole party
+and equipment before sunset; the boats having been also again mounted on
+the carriage the same evening. The carts and boat-carriage were drawn
+through the bed of the river by means of the drag-chains which reached
+from the carriage on one side to a strong team of bullocks on the other.
+
+USEFUL ASSISTANCE OF PIPER.
+
+This was a very busy day for the whole party, black and white; I cannot
+fairly say savage and civilised for, in most of our difficulties by flood
+and field, the intelligence and skill of our sable friends made the
+whitefellows appear rather stupid. They could read traces on the earth,
+climb trees, or dive into the water better than the ablest of us. In
+tracing lost cattle, speaking to the wild natives, hunting, or diving,
+Piper was the most accomplished man in the camp. In person he was the
+tallest, and in authority he was allowed to consider himself almost next
+to me, the better to secure his best exertions. When Mr. Stapylton first
+arrived Piper came to my tent and observed that "That fellow had TWO
+coats," no doubt meaning that I ought to give one of them to him! The men
+he despised, and he would only act by my orders. This day he rendered us
+much useful assistance in the water; for instance, when a cart stuck in
+the bottom of the river, the rope by which it was to be drawn through
+having broken, Piper, by diving, attached a heavy chain to it, thereby
+enabling the party to draw it out with the teams.
+
+OUR FEMALE GUIDE DEPARTS.
+
+At this place The Widow, being far beyond her own country, was inclined
+to go back and, although I intended to put her on a more direct and safe
+way home after we should pass the heads of the Murrumbidgee on our
+return, I could not detain her longer than she wished. Her child, to whom
+she appeared devotedly attached, was fast recovering the use of its
+broken limb; and the mother seemed uneasy under an apprehension that I
+wanted to deprive her of this child. I certainly had always wished to
+take back with me to Sydney an aboriginal child with the intention of
+ascertaining what might be the effect of education upon one of that race.
+This little savage, who at first would prefer a snake or lizard to a
+piece of bread, had become so far civilised at length as to prefer bread;
+and it began to cry bitterly on leaving us. The mother however thought
+nothing of swimming, even at that season, across the broad waters of the
+Millewa, as she should be obliged to do, pushing the child before her,
+floating on a piece of bark.
+
+ENTER A HILLY COUNTRY.
+
+July 4.
+
+At the distance of about a mile to the southward a line of trees marked
+the course of another channel which, containing only a few ponds, we
+crossed without difficulty. Beyond it we traversed a plain five miles in
+extent, and backed by low grassy hills composed of grey gneiss. The most
+accessible interval between these hills still appeared to be in the
+direction I had chosen at Mount Hope, as leading to the lowest opening of
+a range still more distant: I therefore continued on that bearing, having
+the highest of those hills to our left at the distance of five or six
+miles. On entering the wood skirting the wide plain, our curiosity was
+rather disappointed at finding, instead of rare things, the black-butted
+gum and casuarinae, trees common in the colony. The woolly gum also grew
+there, a tree much resembling the box in the bark on its trunk, although
+that on the branches, unlike the box, is smooth and shining. In this wood
+we recognised the rosella parrot, and various plants so common near
+Sydney but not before seen by us in the interior.
+
+At ten miles we travelled over undulating ground for the first time since
+we left the banks of the Lachlan; and we crossed a chain of ponds
+watering a beautiful and extensive valley covered with a luxuriant crop
+of the anthisteria grass. Kangaroos were now to be seen on all sides, and
+we finally encamped on a deeper chain of ponds, probably the chief
+channel of the waters of that valley. A ridge of open forest-hills
+appearing before us, I rode to the top of one of the highest summits
+while the men pitched the tents; and from it I perceived a hilly country
+through whose intricacies I at that time saw no way, and beyond it a
+lofty mountain range arose in the south-west. To venture into such a
+region with wheel-carriages seemed rather hazardous when I recollected
+the coast ranges of the colony; and I determined to examine it further
+before I decided whether we should penetrate these fastnesses, or travel
+westward round them, thus to ascertain their extent in that direction and
+that of the good land watered by them.
+
+July 5.
+
+I proceeded with several men mounted towards the lofty hill to the
+eastward of our route, the highest of those I had intersected from Mount
+Hope and the Pyramid-hill, its aboriginal name, as I afterwards learnt,
+being Barrabungale.* Nearly the whole of our way was over granite rocks.
+We had just reached a naked mass near the principal summit when the
+clouds, which had been lowering for some time, began to descend on the
+plains to the northward, and soon closing over the whole horizon
+compelled me to return, without having had an opportunity of observing
+more than that the whole mass of mountains in the south declined to the
+westward. This was however a fact of considerable importance with respect
+to our further progress; for I could enter that mountain-region with less
+hesitation as I knew that I could leave it, if necessary, and proceed
+westward by following down any of the valleys which declined in that
+direction.
+
+(*Footnote. Warrabangle is a very similar name and belongs to a hill
+similarly situated five degrees further to the northward. See Map.)
+
+ASCEND BARRABUNGALE. RAINY WEATHER. EXCURSION SOUTHWARD.
+
+July 6.
+
+The morning being rainy, I could learn nothing more by ascending
+Barrabungale as I intended; but I rode into the country to the southward
+in order to examine it in the direction in which I thought it most
+desirable to lead the party. After passing over several well-watered
+grassy flats or valleys, each bounded by open forest-hills, we crossed at
+six miles from the camp a range the summit of which was covered by a low
+scrub, but it did not much impede our way. Beyond this range we again
+found open forest land, and we saw extensive flats still more open to our
+right, in which direction all the waters seemed to fall. At length, after
+travelling about twelve miles, we came upon a deep chain of ponds winding
+through a flat thickly covered with anthisteria and resembling a field of
+ripe grain. Smoke arose in all directions from an extensive camp of
+natives but, although I cooeyed and saw them at a distance, they
+continued to crouch behind trees and would not approach. I did not
+disturb them further, but returned with the intention of leading the
+party there the next day when I hoped to see more of these natives. An
+abundance of a beautiful white or pale yellow-flowered, herbaceous plant
+reminding me of the violets of Europe, to which it was nearly allied,
+grew on the sides of hills.*
+
+(*Footnote. This has been ascertained to be a new species of the genus
+Pigea. P. floribunda, Lindley manuscripts; caule erecto ramoso, foliis
+alternis linearibus et lineari-lanceolatis obtusis glabris, racemulis
+secundis paucifloris foliis brevioribus, sepalis petalisque glandulosis
+ovatis acutis, labelli lamina obovata rotundata basi bilamellata,
+antheris sessilibus syngenistis apice lamina oblonga membranacea acutis,
+processibus 2 corniformibus basi staminum 2 anteriorum.)
+
+THE WIDOW RETURNS TO THE PARTY.
+
+In the evening The Widow returned with her child on her back. She stated
+that after we left our late encampment a numerous tribe arrived on the
+opposite bank of the river and, seeing the fires on her side, called out
+very angrily, as Piper translated her tale, "murry coola" (very angry);
+inquiring who had made those fires, and that, receiving no reply (for she
+was afraid and had hid herself) they danced a corrobory in a furious
+style during which she and the child crept away, and had passed two
+nights without fire and in the rain. Piper seemed angry at her return,
+but I took particular care that she should be treated with as much
+kindness as before. She was a woman of good sense and had been with us
+long enough to feel secure under our protection, even from the wrath of
+Piper as displayed on this occasion; and I discovered that her attempted
+return home had been suggested by Piper's gin who probably anticipated a
+greater share of food after The Widow's departure.
+
+NATIVES OF TARRAY. THEIR DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+July 7.
+
+The party moved to the creek where I had before seen the natives; and
+Piper found at their fires an old woman and several boys. They said,
+pointing far to the south-east, doubtless to Port Phillip, that a station
+of whitefellows was there and that they had been themselves to the sea,
+which was not very distant. The old woman spoke with expressive gestures
+of a part of the coast she called Cadong, where the waves raged; and of a
+river she named Woollamaee running into it. It appeared that the rest of
+the tribe were at that time in search of opossums; but she promised that
+when they returned in the evening or next day some of them should visit
+our camp.
+
+July 8.
+
+This morning Piper prevailed on an old man with his gins and some boys to
+come to us. The former pointed towards Cadong in the direction of 232
+degrees from North and, in reply to my queries through Piper, said it was
+not Geelong (Port Phillip) but a water like it; and that no white men had
+ever been there. On mentioning lake Alexandrina by its native name
+Keyinga, he said that it was a place filled sometimes with rain (i.e.
+river-) water and not like Cadong which was saltwater. He described the
+whole country before us as abounding in good water and excellent grass;
+and he said that in the direction I was pursuing there was no impediment
+between me and the sea coast. Piper's countenance brightened up with the
+good news this man gave him; assuring me that we should "find water all
+about: no more want water." In return for all this intelligence I
+presented the old man with an iron tomahawk which he placed under him as
+he sat; and he continued to address me with great volubility for some
+time. I was told by Piper that he was merely saying how glad he was, and
+enumerating (apparently with a sort of poetic fervour) the various uses
+to which he could apply the axe I had given him. I left these natives
+with the impression on my mind that they were quiet, well-disposed
+people.
+
+FINE APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+Proceeding a little west of south-west we intersected this creek (Tarray)
+three times, leaving it finally flowing southward and to our left, into
+that of Dyoonboors which it joined at a mile and a half from where we had
+been encamped. At three miles, having crossed a low ridge of forest land,
+we entered a fine valley, backed on the west by romantic forest hills,
+and watered by some purling brooks which united in the woods on the east.
+The flat itself had a few stately trees upon it, and seemed quite ready
+to receive the plough; while some round hillocks on the north were so
+smooth and grassy that the men said they looked as if they had already
+been depastured by sheep. From an extremity of the clear ridge I obtained
+an extensive view of the mountain chain to the south-east; and I
+intersected most of its summits. The whole seemed smooth (i.e. not rocky)
+grassy, and thinly timbered. Crossing the lower or outer extremity of
+this forest ridge, we entered another fine valley watered by a creek
+which we passed at six miles from the commencement of the day's journey.
+This little channel was grassy to the water's edge, and its banks were
+firm and about eight feet high, the course being eastward. In the valley
+I saw the Banksia for the first time since we left the Lachlan. A
+calamifolia, or needle-leaved wattle, occurred also in considerable
+quantity. After crossing two more brooks and some flats of fine land with
+grassy forest-hills on our right, we reached the crest of a forest-range
+which afforded an extensive view over the country beyond it. The surface
+seemed to be low for some distance, but then to rise gradually towards
+some rocky points over which were partially seen the summits of a higher
+range still further southward.
+
+DISCOVER THE LODDON.
+
+The descent to the low country was easy for our carts; and we found there
+a beautifully green and level flat, bounded on the south by a little
+river flowing westward. The banks of this stream consisted of rounded
+acclivities and were covered with excellent grass. The bed was 18 or 20
+feet below the level of the adjacent flats and, from its resemblance in
+some respects to the little stream in England, I named it the Loddon. We
+encamped on its bank in latitude 36 degrees 36 minutes 49 seconds South,
+longitude 143 degrees 35 minutes 30 seconds East.
+
+July 9.
+
+By continuing the same line of route we crossed several minor rivulets,
+all flowing through open grassy vales bounded by finely undulating hills.
+At about three miles we came to a deep chain of ponds, the banks being
+steep and covered with grass. Keeping a tributary to that channel on our
+left, we passed some low hills of quartz; and a little beyond them we
+crossed poor hills of the same rock bearing an open box-forest.
+
+THE WOODS.
+
+After travelling through a little scrub we descended on one of the most
+beautiful spots I ever saw: The turf, the woods, and the banks of the
+little stream which murmured through the vale had so much the appearance
+of a well kept park that I felt loth to injure its surface by the passage
+of our cartwheels. Proceeding for a mile and a half along the rivulet and
+through a valley wholly of the same description, we at length encamped on
+a flat of rich earth (nearly quite black) and where the anthisteria grew
+in greater luxuriance than I had ever before witnessed in Australian
+grasses. The earth indeed seemed to surpass in richness any that I had
+seen in New South Wales; and I was even tempted to bring away a specimen
+of it. Our dogs killed three kangaroos, and this good fortune was most
+timely as I had that very morning thought it advisable to reduce the
+allowance of rations.
+
+July 10.
+
+Tracing upwards the rivulet of the vale we left this morning we passed
+over much excellent grassy land watered by it, the channel containing
+some very deep ponds surrounded by the white-barked eucalyptus.
+
+CROSS A RANGE.
+
+A hill on its bank consisted of a conglomerate in which the ferruginous
+matter predominated over the embedded fragments of quartz. The ground
+beyond was hilly, and we at length ascended a ridge, apparently an
+extremity of a higher range. On these hills grew the varieties of
+eucalypti known in the colony, such as ironbark, bluegum, and
+stringybark. The lower grounds were so wet and soft, and the watercourses
+in them so numerous, that I was desirous to follow a ridge as long as it
+would take us in the direction in which we were proceeding; and this
+range answered well for the purpose. Its crest consisted of ferruginous
+sandstone much inclined, the strike extending north-north-west. I found
+the opposite side much more precipitous, and that it overlooked a much
+lower country. In seeking a favourable line of descent for the carts, I
+climbed a still higher forest-hill on the left, which consisted chiefly
+of quartz-rock. I not only recognised from that hill some lofty points to
+the eastward, and obtained angles on them, but I also perceived very
+rugged summits of a range at a great distance in the south-west. Having
+selected among the various hills and dales before me that line of route
+which seemed the best and, having taken its bearing, I returned to
+conduct the carts by a pass along one side of that hill, having found it
+in a very practicable state for wheel-carriages. At three miles beyond
+the pass we crossed a deep creek running westward which I named the
+Avoca, and we encamped on an excellent piece of land beyond it.
+
+KANGAROOS NUMEROUS.
+
+This day we had even better fortune in our field sports than on the one
+before for, besides three kangaroos, we killed two emus, one of which was
+a female and esteemed a great prize, for I had discovered that the eggs
+found in the ovarium were a great luxury in the bush; and afforded us a
+light and palatable breakfast for several days.
+
+July 11.
+
+At the end of two miles on this day's journey we crossed a deep stream
+running westward. The height of its banks above the water was twelve
+feet, and they were covered with a rich sward. The land along the margins
+of the stream was as good as that we were now accustomed to see
+everywhere around us, so that it was no longer necessary to note the
+goodness or beauty of any place in particular. At four miles we passed
+over a forest-hill composed of mica-slate and, after crossing another
+good valley at six miles, I saw before us, on gaining a low forest ridge,
+other grassy hills of still greater height, connected by a rock that cost
+us less trouble to ascend than I expected.
+
+THE EARTH BECOMES SOFT AND IMPASSABLE, EVEN ON THE SIDES OF HILLS.
+
+It was in the valleys now that we met most difficulty, the earth having
+become so soft and wet that the carts could be got through some places
+only by the tedious process of dragging each successively with the united
+strength of several teams.
+
+DISCOVER A NOBLE RANGE OF MOUNTAINS.
+
+From a high forest-hill about a mile east of our route I first obtained a
+complete view of a noble range of mountains rising in the south to a
+stupendous height, and presenting as bold and picturesque an outline as
+ever painter imagined. The highest and most eastern summit was hid in the
+clouds although the evening was serene. It bore West of South 26 degrees
+54 minutes; and the western extremity, which consisted of a remarkably
+round hill, bore 16 degrees 30 minutes South of West. Having descended
+from the range by an easy slope to the southward, we passed through a
+beautiful valley in which we crossed, at a mile and a quarter from the
+hills, a fine stream flowing also westward; and in other respects similar
+to those we had already met. I named it Avon water and we encamped on its
+left bank.
+
+CROSS ANOTHER STREAM.
+
+July 12.
+
+At two miles and a half from the spot where we had slept we crossed
+another stream flowing west-north-west which I named the Small-burn.
+Beyond it the ground was good and grassy, but at this season very soft,
+so that the draught was most laborious for the cattle. At seven miles we
+crossed a wet flat with ponds of water standing on it, and beyond we
+entered on a clay soil altogether different from any hitherto passed on
+this side the Yarrayne.
+
+ANOTHER.
+
+About eight miles from our camp we reached a fine running brook with
+grassy banks, its course being to the north-west. The bed consisted of
+red-sand and gravel, and the banks were about fourteen feet high,
+presenting fine swelling slopes covered with turf. On this stream, which
+I named the Dos casas, I halted, as it was doubtful whether some of the
+carts could be brought even so far before night, the ground having proved
+soft and rotten to such a degree, especially on the slopes of low hills,
+that in some cases the united strength of three teams had been scarcely
+sufficient to draw them through. It was night before the last cart
+arrived, and two bullocks had been left behind in an exhausted state.
+
+GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+July 13.
+
+We had at length discovered a country ready for the immediate reception
+of civilised man; and destined perhaps to become eventually a portion of
+a great empire. Unencumbered by too much wood, it yet possessed enough
+for all purposes; its soil was exuberant and its climate temperate; it
+was bounded on three sides by the ocean; and it was traversed by mighty
+rivers, and watered by streams innumerable. Of this Eden I was the first
+European to explore its mountains and streams, to behold its scenery, to
+investigate its geological character and, by my survey, to develop those
+natural advantages certain to become, at no distant date, of vast
+importance to a new people. The lofty mountain range which I had seen on
+the 11th was now before us, but still distant between thirty and forty
+miles; and as the cattle required rest I determined on an excursion to
+its lofty eastern summit. Such a height was sure to command a view of the
+country between these mountains and the sea in the direction of Lady
+Julia Percy's Isles; and of that region between the range and those less
+connected forest-hills I had seen to the eastward.
+
+PROPOSED EXCURSION TO THE MOUNTAINS.
+
+When I first discovered these mountains I perceived that the land
+immediately to the eastward of them was very low and that, if I found it
+necessary, I might conduct the party in that direction to the coast. I
+was however more desirous to level my theodolite on that summit first,
+and thus obtain valuable materials for the construction of an accurate
+map of the whole country around it. I accordingly left the party encamped
+and proceeded towards the mountain, accompanied by six men on horseback,
+having previously instructed Mr. Stapylton to employ the men during my
+absence in forming a way down the bank, and a good ford across the stream
+in order that there might be no impediment to the immediate advance of
+the party on my return.
+
+RICHARDSON'S CREEK.
+
+Pursuing the bearing of 193 degrees we crossed, at three miles from the
+camp, a deep creek similar to that on which it was placed; and the first
+adventure of the morning occurred here. The fordable place was so narrow
+that the horse of one of the party plunged into the deep water with its
+rider who, while the animal was swimming, incautiously pulled the bridle
+and of course overturned it, so that they parted company in the water,
+the horse reaching one bank, the rider the other. The latter, who was my
+botanical collector Richardson, took his soaking on a cold frosty morning
+so philosophically, talking to his comrades as he made his way to the
+bank, partly swimming, partly floating on two huge portfolios, that I
+gave his name to the creek, the better to reconcile him to his wet
+jacket. We entered soon after upon one of the finest tracts of grassy
+forest land we had ever seen. The whole country recently crossed was
+good, but this was far better, having several broad and deep ponds, or
+small lakes, in the woods, and all full of the clearest water. At eight
+miles I perceived a forest-hill on my left (or to the eastward) and the
+country before us was so open, sloping and green, that I felt certain we
+were approaching a river; and we soon came upon one, which was full,
+flowing and thirty feet wide, being broader than the Yarrayne but not so
+uniformly deep. Unlike the latter river, reeds grew about its margin in
+some places, and its banks, though grassy and fifteen feet high, were
+neither so steep as those of the Yarrayne, nor so closely shut together.
+
+CROSS A FINE STREAM FLOWING IN THREE SEPARATE CHANNELS.
+
+We swam our horses across, but our progress had scarcely commenced again
+on the other side when it was impeded by another similar stream or
+channel. In this we managed, with Piper's assistance, to find a ford but,
+at less than a quarter of a mile, we met a third channel, more resembling
+the first in the height of its banks and velocity of the current, and
+also from its flowing amongst bushes. This we likewise forded, and
+immediately after we ascended a piece of rising ground which convinced me
+that we had at length crossed all the branches of that remarkable river.
+It is probable we came upon it where it received the waters of
+tributaries, and some of these channels might be such.
+
+A RIDGE OF POOR SANDY SOIL.
+
+We next fell in with some undulating ground different in many respects
+from any that we had traversed during the morning. The soil was poor and
+sandy; and the stunted trees and shrubs of the Blue mountains grew upon
+it, instead of the novelties we expected at such a great distance from
+home. We also recognised the birds common about Sydney. On reaching the
+higher part of this ground (at nine miles) I again saw the mountain which
+then bore 196 degrees. The intervening ground seemed to consist of a low
+ridge rather heavily wooded, its crest presenting a line as level as the
+ocean. At eleven miles I supposed we were upon the dividing ground
+between the sea-coast country and that of the interior, and on what
+appeared to be the only connection between the forest mountains to the
+eastward and the lofty mass then before us. We found upon this neck huge
+trees of ironbark and stringybark; some fine forest-hills appeared to the
+eastward and distant only a few miles.
+
+CROSS SEVERAL FINE STREAMS.
+
+At the end of sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one, and twenty-three
+miles we crossed small rivers, all flowing westward, and the third over
+sandstone. After passing the last or fifth stream, we halted on a very
+fine open, dry and grassy flat. We found a large fallen tree which we set
+on fire and passed the night, a very mild one, most comfortably on the
+ground beside it, with the intention of renewing our journey at daylight
+in the morning.
+
+TRAP-HILLS AND GOOD SOIL.
+
+July 14.
+
+On leaving our bivouac we crossed some hills of trap-rock which were
+lightly wooded and covered with the finest grass in great abundance. The
+scenery around them, the excellent quality of the soil, the abundance of
+water and verdure, contrasted strangely with the circumstance of their
+lying waste and unoccupied. It was evident that the reign of solitude in
+these beautiful vales was near a close; a reflection which, in my mind,
+often sweetened the toils and inconveniences of travelling through such
+houseless regions. At the foot of the last hill, and about a mile on our
+way, we crossed a chain of deep ponds running to the south-west. Beyond
+them was a plain of the very finest open forest-land, on which we
+travelled seven miles; and then came upon a river with broad deep reaches
+of very clear water, and flowing towards the north-west. We easily found
+a ford and, on proceeding, entered upon a tract of white sand where
+banksia and casuarinae were the chief trees. There was also some good
+grass but it grew rather thinly upon it. The next water we crossed was a
+small mountain-torrent hurrying along to the eastward in a deep and rocky
+channel overhung with bushes.
+
+ASCEND THE MOUNTAIN.
+
+Being now close under the mountain, we dismounted and sent our horses
+back for the sake of food to the bank of the last-mentioned river. The
+first part of our ascent, on foot, was extremely steep and laborious,
+although it was along the most favourable feature I could find. Above it
+the impediments likely to obstruct our further ascent were two high and
+perpendicular rocky cliffs; but I had observed before ascending those
+crevices and intervals between rocks where we might most easily effect an
+ascent; and through these we accordingly penetrated without much
+difficulty. The upper precipice consisted of cliffs about 140 feet in
+perpendicular height. Fortunately the ablest of the men with me was a
+house carpenter and, being accustomed to climb roofs, he managed to get
+up and then assist the rest.
+
+CLOUDS COVER IT.
+
+Having gained the top of this second precipice, we found winter and
+desolation under drizzling clouds which afforded but partial and
+transient glimpses of the world below. The surface at the summit of the
+cliffs was broad and consisted of large blocks of sandstone, separated by
+wide fissures full of dwarf bushes of banksia and casuarinae. These rocks
+were inclined but slightly towards the north-west and, the bushes being
+also wet and curiously encrusted with heavy icicles, it was by no means a
+pleasant part of our journey to travel nearly half a mile upwards, either
+on the slippery rock or between fissures among wet bushes. At length
+however we reached the highest point and found that it consisted of naked
+sandstone. The top block was encrusted with icicles, and had become hoary
+under the beating of innumerable storms. At the very summit I found a
+small heath-like bushy Leucopogon, from six inches to a foot high. It was
+in flower although covered with ice.* Also a variety of Leucopogon
+villosus, with rather less hair than usual, and another species of the
+same genus, probably new. Near the highest parts of the plateau I found a
+new species of eucalyptus with short broad viscid leaves, and
+rough-warted branches.**
+
+(*Footnote. L. glacialis, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis pubescentibus,
+foliis lineari-lanceolatis erectis contortis acutis ciliatis margine
+scabris, floribus terminalibus solitaririis et aggregatis, pedicellis
+pubescentibus distanter squamatis, calcibus glabris.)
+
+(**Footnote. E. alpina, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis brevibus rigidis
+angulatis, foliis alternis petiolatis ovato-oblongis viscosis basi
+obliquis, umbellis axillaribus paucifloris petiolis brevioribus, operculo
+hemisphaerico verrucoso inaequali tubo calycis turbinato verrucoso
+breviore.)
+
+A NIGHT ON THE SUMMIT.
+
+All around us was hidden in mist. It was now within half an hour of
+sunset, but the ascent had cost so much trouble, and the country this
+summit commanded was so interesting to us that I was unwilling to descend
+without trying whether it might not be clear of clouds at sunrise. We had
+not come prepared in any way to pass the night on such a wild and
+desolate spot, for we had neither clothing nor food, nor was there any
+shelter; but I was willing to suffer any privations for the attainment of
+the object of our ascent. One man, Richardson, an old traveller, had most
+wisely brought his day's provisions in his haversack, and these I divided
+equally among FIVE. No rocks could be found near the summit to shelter us
+from the piercing wind and sleet.
+
+NO FUEL.
+
+The thermometer stood at 29 degrees, and we strove to make a fire to
+protect us from the piercing cold; but the green twigs, encrusted with
+icicles, could not by our united efforts be blown into a flame sufficient
+to warm us. There was abundance of good wood AT THE FOOT OF THE
+CLIFFS--huge trees of ironbark, stringybark and bluegum but, had we
+descended, a second ascent might have appeared too laborious on a mere
+chance of finding the summit clear; so we remained above. The men managed
+to manufacture some tea in a tin pot, and into the water as it boiled I
+plunged a thermometer which rose to exactly 95 degrees of the centigrade
+scale. We got through that night of misery as well as might have been
+expected under the circumstances, and we succeeded in keeping the fire
+alive although, while twigs were blown into red heat at one end, icicles
+remained at the other, even within a few inches of the flame. In order to
+maintain it through the night we divided, at eleven o'clock, the stock of
+branches which had been gathered before dark into eight parcels, this
+being the number of hours we were destined to sit shivering there; and as
+each bundle was laid on the dying embers we had the pleasure at least of
+knowing that it was an hour nearer daylight. I coiled myself round the
+fire in all the usual attitudes of the blacks, but in vain; to get warm
+was quite impossible, although I did once feel something like comfort
+when one of the men gave me for a seat a flat stone on which the fire had
+been blown for some hours. Partial cessations in the fall of sleet were
+also cheering occasionally; but the appearance of stars two hours before
+daylight promised to reward our enterprise and inspired me with hope.
+
+VIEW FROM IT AT SUNRISE.
+
+July 15.
+
+At six o'clock the sky became clear, the clouds had indeed left the
+mountain and, as soon as it was day, I mounted the frozen rock. In the
+dawn however all lower objects were blended in one grey shade, like the
+dead colouring of a picture. I could distinguish only a pool of water,
+apparently near the foot of the mountain. This water I afterwards found
+to be a lake eight miles distant and in my map I have named it Lake
+Lonsdale, in honour of the Commandant then or soon after appointed at
+Port Phillip. I hastily levelled my theodolite but the scene, although
+sublime enough for the theme of a poet, was not at all suited to the more
+commonplace objects of a surveyor. The sun rose amid red and stormy
+clouds, and vast masses of a white vapour concealed from view both sea
+and land save where a few isolated hills were dimly visible. Towards the
+interior the horizon was clear and, during a short interval, I took what
+angles I could obtain. To the westward the view of the mountain ranges
+was truly grand. Southward or towards the sea I could at intervals
+perceive plains clear of timber and that the country was level, a
+circumstance of great importance to us; for I was apprehensive that
+between these mountains and the coast it might be broken by mountain
+gullies as it is in the settled colony and all along the Eastern coast.
+If such had proved to be the case the carts could not have been taken
+there; and I must have altered the plan of my intended route. Before I
+could observe the angles so desirable clouds again enveloped the
+mountain, and I was compelled to quit its summit without completing the
+work. The wind blew keenly, the thermometer stood as low as 27 degrees,
+and in the morning the rocks were more thickly encrusted with ice.
+
+DESCEND WITH DIFFICULTY.
+
+The difficulty of our descent under such circumstances was therefore
+increased but no impediment could have arrested us then, the lower
+regions having so many attractive charms for such cold and hungry beings.
+
+MEN TAKEN ILL.
+
+That night on the summit materially injured the health of two of my best
+men who had been with me on all three of my expeditions. Muirhead was
+seized with ague and Woods with a pulmonary complaint; and although both
+recovered in a few weeks they were never so strong afterwards.
+
+NEW PLANTS FOUND THERE.
+
+We found upon the mountain, besides those already mentioned, various
+interesting plants which we had seen nowhere else. Amongst them:
+
+A most beautiful downy-leaved Epacris with large, curved, purple flowers,
+allied to E. grandiflora but much handsomer.*
+
+(*Footnote. E. tomentosa, Lindley manuscripts; foliis ovatis acutis
+planis crassis tomentosis, floribus cernuis, corolla arcuata
+infundibulari laciniis obtusis apiculatis.)
+
+A most remarkable species of Phebalium* with holly-like leaves and bright
+red flowers resembling those of a Boronia. It was related to P.
+phylicifolium but quite distinct.
+
+(*Footnote. P. bilobum, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis tomentosis, foliis
+glabris cordato-ovatis retusis bilobis dentatis margine revolutis,
+pedicellis axillaribus pubescentibus folio brevioribus, ovario tricorni.)
+
+A new Cryptandra remarkable for its downy leaves.*
+
+(*Footnote. C. tomentosa, Lindley manuscripts; undique dense tomentosa,
+ramulis racemosis, foliis fasciculatis linearibus obtusis marginibus
+revolutis contiguis, capitulis terminalibus congestis, calycibus
+campanulatis bracteis acutis scariosis parum longioribus. Next to C.
+propinqua.)
+
+A beautiful species of Baeckea, with downy leaves and rose-coloured
+flowers resembling those of the dwarf almond.*
+
+(*Footnote. B. alpina, Lindley manuscripts; tota pubescens, foliis
+lineari-ovatis petiolatis obtusis concavis, pedicellis axillaribus et
+terminalibus foliis longioribus supra medium bibracteatis: bracteis
+oppositis obovatis cucullatis, laciniis calycinis cordatis obtusis
+petalis denticulatis duplo brevioribus, antheris apice verruciferis.)
+
+A new Pultenaea allied to P. biloba, but more hairy and with the flowers
+half concealed among the leaves.*
+
+(*Footnote. P. montana, Lindley manuscripts; foliis obcordatis muticis
+lobis rotundatis supra scabris utrinque ramulisque hirsutis, capitulis
+solitariis terminalibus sessilibus foliis parum longioribus, calycibus
+villosis laciniis subulatis appressis.)
+
+A new species of Bossiaea which had the appearance of a rosemary bush,
+and differed from all the published kinds in having linear pungent
+leaves.*
+
+(*Footnote. B. rosmarinifolia, Lindley manuscripts; ramis teretibus
+villosis, foliis linearibus pungentibus margine revolutis supra glabris
+subtus pallidis pilosis, floribus solitariis axillaribus.)
+
+A beautiful new and very distinct species of Genetyllis, possessing
+altogether the habit of a Cape Diosma, the heath-like branches being
+terminated by clusters of bright pink and white flowers.*
+
+(*Footnote. G. alpestris, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis piloso-hispidis,
+foliis linearibus tetragonis scabro-pilosis, capitulis sessilibus
+terminalibus nudis rachi lanata, tubo ovarii pentagono pubescente,
+sepalis petalis pluries brevioribus, stigmate glaberrimo.)
+
+Several species of Grevillea, particularly a remarkable kind with leaves
+like those of a European holly, but downy.*
+
+(*Footnote. G. aquifolium, Lindley manuscripts propria; foliis oblongis
+extra medium incisis: lobis triangularibus apice spinosis; adultis super
+glabratis: subter mollibus pubescentibus, racemis pedunculatis, calycibus
+villosis, ovario hirsutissimo, stylo glabro.)
+
+Another fine new species with leaves like those of a European oak.*
+
+(*Footnote. G. variabilis, Lindley manuscripts propria; incana, foliis
+cuneatis angulatis oblogisve basi cuneatis pinnatifidis sinuatis
+angulatisque subtus tomentosis lobis mucronatis triangularibus vel
+rotundatis, racemis tomentosis pedunculatis.)
+
+And a third with brownish red flowers and hoary leaves; varying from an
+erect straight-branched bush to a diffuse entangled shrub.*
+
+(*Footnote. G. alpina, Lindley manuscripts Ptychocarpa; foliis
+lineari-oblongis tomentosis muticis margine revolutis supra subtus pilis
+appressis sericeis, racemis paucifloris, pistillis basi hirsutissimis,
+calycibus ferrugineis tomentosis. alpha, ramis erectis, foliis
+longioribus angustioribus. beta, ramis diffusis intricatis, foliis
+brevioribus nunc mollibus nunc supra scabris.)
+
+Lastly a new Leucopogon, besides that found on the summit as already
+mentioned.*
+
+(*Footnote. L. rufus, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis foliis que subtus
+pubescentibus, foliis ovatis acuminatis apice spinosis erectis concavis
+supra laevigatis subtus striatis margine laevibus, floribus subsolitariis
+sessilibus axillaribus, barba corollae cinnamomea.)
+
+ON THE APPLICATION OF NAMES.
+
+In adding this noble range of mountains to my map I felt some difficulty
+in deciding on a name. To give appellations that may become current in
+the mouths of future generations has often been a perplexing subject with
+me, whether they have been required to distinguish new counties, towns,
+or villages, or such great natural features of the earth as mountains and
+rivers. I have always gladly adopted aboriginal names and, in the absence
+of these, I have endeavoured to find some good reason for the application
+of others, considering descriptive names the best, such being in general
+the character of those used by the natives of this and other countries.
+Names of individuals seem eligible enough when at all connected with the
+history of the discovery or that of the nation by whom it was made. The
+capes on the coast I was then approaching were chiefly distinguished with
+the names of naval heroes and, as such capes were but subordinate points
+of the primitive range, I ventured to connect this summit with the name
+of the sovereign in whose reign the extensive, valuable, and interesting
+region below was first explored; and I confess it was not without some
+pride as a Briton that I more majorum* gave the name of the Grampians to
+these extreme summits of the southern hemisphere.
+
+(*Footnote.
+Procedo, et parvam Trojam, simulataque magnis
+Pergama, et arentem Xanthi cognomine rivum,
+Agnosco. Aen. lib 3.)
+
+REPOSE IN THE VALLEY.
+
+We reached the banks of the little river where the horses awaited us in
+three hours, the distance being eight miles from the summit of Mount
+William. There we found a large fire and, under a wide spreading
+casuarina during a delightful interval of about twenty minutes, I enjoyed
+the pleasures of eating, sleeping, resting, and warming myself, almost
+all at the same time. To all who would know how to enjoy most intensely a
+good fire, shelter, sunshine, and the dry soft turf I would recommend, by
+way of whet, a winter night on a lofty mountain, without fire, amidst
+frost-covered rocks and clouds of sleet. I shall long remember the
+pleasure of those moments of repose which I enjoyed on my arrival in the
+warm valley after such a night. We could afford no longer delay however,
+having brought provisions only for one day with us, whereas this was the
+morning of the third of our absence from the camp. Retracing our steps we
+reached the little river only at eight in the evening and, as I hoped to
+find a ford in it at daylight, we lay down on its bank for the night.
+
+NIGHT'S REST.
+
+July 16.
+
+I slept on a snug bit of turf within two feet of the stream; so that the
+welcome murmur of its rippling waters assisted my dreams of undiscovered
+rivers. As soon as morning dawned I succeeded in finding a ford on that
+branch across which we swam our horses on the 13th. We thus met with less
+cause of delay and reached the camp at an early hour, with excellent
+appetites for breakfast.
+
+NATIVES AT THE CAMP DURING MY ABSENCE.
+
+Two natives had visited the party during my absence and had slept by the
+fires. They had been at cattle stations and could say "milk." They
+consequently approached our camp boldly, and during the night showed much
+restlessness, endeavouring to decoy the gins away with them. But The
+Widow gave the alarm, and very properly handed over these insidious
+wooers to the especial surveillance of the man on duty. Notwithstanding
+they were vigilantly watched they contrived to steal a tomahawk, and went
+off leaving their wooden shovels at our camp, saying they should return.
+I had now several men on the sicklist, but under the treatment of
+Drysdale, our medical attendant, they speedily recovered.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.9.
+
+Plains of stiff clay.
+The Wimmera.
+Difficult passage of its five branches.
+Ascend Mount Zero.
+Circular lake, brackish water.
+The Wimmera in a united channel.
+Lose this river.
+Ascend Mount Arapiles.
+Mr. Stapylton's excursion northward.
+Salt lakes.
+Green Hill lake.
+Mitre lake.
+Relinquish the pursuit of the Wimmera.
+The party travels to the south-west.
+Red lake.
+Small lakes of fresh water.
+White lake.
+Basketwork of the natives.
+Muddy state of the surface.
+Mr. Stapylton's ride southward.
+Disastrous encounter of one man with a native.
+A tribe makes its appearance.
+More lakes of brackish water.
+Escape at last from the mud.
+Encamp on a running stream.
+Fine country.
+Discovery of a good river.
+Granitic soil.
+Passage of the Glenelg.
+Country well watered.
+Pigeon ponds.
+Soft soil again impedes the party.
+Halt to repair the carts and harness.
+Natives very shy.
+Chetwynd rivulet.
+Slow progress over the soft surface.
+Excursion into the country before us.
+Beautiful region discovered.
+The party extricated with difficulty from the mud.
+
+PLAINS OF STIFF CLAY.
+
+July 17.
+
+The ground on the sides of the low hills was still so soft (and in this
+respect I had found the country we had lately crossed even worse than
+that previously traversed by the carts) that the only prospect which
+remained to us of being able to continue the journey was by proceeding
+over the plains extending along the interior side of the Grampians of the
+South. The soil of such plains consisted chiefly of clay, and we had
+recently found that it bore the wheels of the waggons much better during
+the winter season than the thin and loose soil on the sides of hills;
+apparently because this lay on rock, or a substratum so tenacious as to
+support the water in or just under the surface. The wheels and also the
+feet of the cattle sunk at once to this rocky subsoil whatever its depth,
+and up came the water, so that on level parts our track resembled a ditch
+of mud and water, and on slopes it formed a current of water and a drain
+from the sides of hills. I had observed the plains during my
+reconnaissance of the interior from the side of Mount William, and I now
+directed our course towards them. We crossed without difficulty the
+little river by the passage Mr. Stapylton had prepared during my absence
+and, after travelling about four miles first west and then north-west, we
+came upon an extensive plain. The soil consisted of good strong clay on
+which the cattle travelled very well, and it was covered with the best
+kind of grass. On reaching it I resumed my former course which was nearly
+west-south-west towards Mount Zero, a name I applied to a remarkable cone
+at the western extremity of the chain of mountains. After travelling 2
+1/2 miles over the plain we again reached the banks of Richardson's
+creek, and forded it after some delay and considerable difficulty on
+account of the softness of the bottom. We next entered on a tract of
+grassy forest land, the trees being chiefly box and casuarinae. At 2 1/2
+miles beyond Richardson's creek we crossed a small run of water flowing
+west-north-west, apparently towards it. After passing over similar ground
+for some miles further and having had another plain on our right, we at
+length encamped near a large serpentine pond or lake which was broad,
+deep, and bordered with lofty gum trees.
+
+July 18.
+
+We continued for five miles along good firm ground on which there was
+open forest of box and gumtrees; and part of the bold outline of the
+Grampians appeared to our left.
+
+THE WIMMERA.
+
+At nine miles we fell in with a flowing stream, the water being deep and
+nearly as high as the banks. I did not doubt that this was the channel of
+the waters from the north side of these mountains, and I was convinced
+that it contained the water of all the streams we had crossed on our way
+to Mount William, with the exception of Richardson's creek, already
+crossed by the party where it was flowing to the north-west. The richness
+of the soil and the verdure near the river, as well as the natural beauty
+of the scenery could scarcely be surpassed in any country. The banks were
+in some places open and grassy and shaded by lofty yarra trees, in others
+mimosa bushes nodded over the eddying stream.
+
+Continuing along the right bank in a north-west direction we travelled
+two miles on a grassy plain; and we then turned towards the river,
+encamping on its banks in latitude 36 degrees 46 minutes 30 seconds
+South, longitude 142 degrees 39 minutes 25 seconds East. Magnetic
+variation 5 degrees 21 minutes 45 seconds East.
+
+Some natives being heard on the opposite bank, Piper advanced towards
+them as cautiously as possible; but he could not prevail on them to come
+over, although he ascertained that the name of the river was the Wimmera.
+
+DIFFICULT PASSAGE OF ITS FIVE BRANCHES.
+
+July 19.
+
+On examining the Wimmera with Piper's assistance I found that it was
+fordable in some places; but in order to effect a passage with greater
+facility we took over several of the loads in one of the boats. Thus the
+whole party had gained what I considered to be the left bank by ten A.M.
+On proceeding I perceived some yarra trees before me which grew, as we
+soon discovered, beside a smaller branch, the bottom of which was soft.
+We had however the good fortune to pass the carts across this branch
+also. At a quarter of a mile further we came upon another flowing stream,
+apparently very deep and having steep but grassy banks. The passage of
+this occupied the party nearly two hours, one of the carts having sunk up
+to the axle in a soft bank or channel island. While the men were
+releasing the cart I rode forward and found a FOURTH channel, deep, wide,
+and full to the brim. In vain did Tally-ho (trumpeter, master of the
+horse, etc. to the party) dash his horse into this stream in search of a
+bottom; though at last one broad favourable place was found where the
+whole party forded at a depth of not more than 2 1/2 feet. Beyond these
+channels another similar one still obstructed our progress; but this we
+also successfully forded, and at length we found rising ground before us,
+consisting of an open plain which extended to the base of the mountains.
+On its skirt we pitched our tents at a distance of not quite one mile and
+a half from our last camp; a short journey certainly, but the passage of
+the five branches of the Wimmera was nevertheless a good day's work. I
+had frequently observed in the Australian rivers a uniformity of
+character throughout the whole course of each, and the peculiarities of
+this important stream were equally remarkable, it being obviously the
+same we had crossed in three similar channels when on our way to Mount
+William, twenty miles above this point. The shrubs on the banks at the
+two places were also similar.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT ZERO.
+
+July 20.
+
+While Mr. Stapylton conducted the party across the plains in a
+west-south-west direction I proceeded towards Mount Zero, the most
+western extremity of the mountain range and distant from our camp 8 1/2
+miles. I found this hill consisted also of highly micaceous sandstone;
+the whole being inclined towards the north-west. Having planted my
+theodolite on the summit I intersected various higher points to the
+eastward, and also a very remote, isolated hill on the low country far to
+the northward which I had also seen from Mount William, and from several
+stations on our route. Several specimens of shrubs and flowers that had
+not been previously seen by us were gathered on the sides of this rocky
+hill. Among them was a very singular hairy Acacia covered with a
+profusion of the most brilliant yellow flowers. In some respects it
+resembled A. lanigera, but it proved upon examination to be undescribed.*
+
+(Footnote. A. strigosa, Lindley manuscripts; glanduloso-hirsuta,
+phyllodiis linearibus v. lineari-oblongis obovatisque uninerviis
+eglandulosis apice rotundatis mucronatis obliquis, stipulis subulatis
+villosis, capitulis solitariis sessilibus.)
+
+An isolated mass appeared to the westward, having near its base a most
+remarkable rock resembling a mitre. Beyond this the distant horizon was
+not quite so level as the plains of the interior usually are and, as far
+as I could see northward with a good telescope, I perceived open forest
+land and various fine sheets of water. I observed with great satisfaction
+that the Grampians terminated to the westward on a comparatively low
+country. This was an important object of attention to me then as it
+comprised all that intervened between us and the southern coast; in which
+direction I perceived only one or two groups of conical hills. I resolved
+however, before turning southwards, to extend our journey to the isolated
+mass already mentioned, which I afterwards named Mount Arapiles. After
+descending from Mount Zero I proceeded towards the track of the carts and
+found that the plains, unlike any hitherto seen, undulated so much that
+in one place I could perceive only the tops of trees in the hollows. On
+these plains I found small nodules of highly ferruginous sandstone,
+apparently similar to that which occurs near Jervis Bay and in other
+places along the eastern coast.
+
+CIRCULAR LAKE, BRACKISH WATER.
+
+Reaching at length a low green ridge of black soil very different from
+that of the plains, I found it formed the eastern bank of another of
+those remarkable circular lakes of which I had seen so many near the
+Murray. The bed of this hollow consisted of rich black earth and was
+thirty-two feet below the level of the adjacent plain. It seemed nearly
+circular, the diameter being about three-quarters of a mile. One
+peculiarity in this lake was a double bank on the eastern side consisting
+first of a concentric break or slope from the plain, the soil not being
+clay as usual, but a dry red sand; and then arose the green bank of black
+earth, leaving a concentric fosse or hollow between. A belt of yarra
+trees grew around the edge of this singular hollow which was so dry and
+firm that the carts, in the track of which I was riding, had traversed it
+without difficulty. I learnt from Mr. Stapylton, on reaching the camp,
+that the party had previously passed near two other lakes, the largest
+containing salt water; and in the neighbourhood of these he had also
+remarked a great change of soil; so that what with the verdure upon it,
+the undulating surface, and clumps of casuarinae on light soil, or lofty
+yarra trees growing in black soil, that part of the country looked
+tolerably well.
+
+THE MACKENZIE AND THE NORTON.
+
+July 21.
+
+At a quarter of a mile from the camp we crossed a running stream which
+also contained deep and apparently permanent pools. Several pine or
+callitris trees grew near its banks being the first we had seen for some
+time. I named this mountain stream the Mackenzie. Beyond it were grassy
+undulating plains with clumps of casuarinae and box trees (eucalypti). At
+three miles and a half we crossed another chain of ponds, and at four
+miles we came to a deep stream, running with considerable rapidity over a
+bed of sandstone rock. It was overhung with mimosa-bushes; and it was not
+until after considerable search that I could find a convenient place for
+fording it. This I named the Norton. Good grassy hills arose beyond, and
+after crossing them we found an undulating country and sandy soil where
+there were shallow lagoons and but little grass.
+
+THE WIMMERA IN A UNITED CHANNEL.
+
+At nine miles I was aware, from the sloping of the ground, of the
+vicinity of a river; and we soon came once more upon the Wimmera, flowing
+in one deep channel nearly as broad as the Murrumbidgee, but in no other
+respect at all similar. The banks of this newly discovered river were not
+water-worn but characterised by verdant slopes, the borders being fringed
+with bushes of mimosae. The country was indeed fine adjacent to the
+Wimmera, and at the point where we came to it the river was joined by a
+running creek from the south which we crossed, and at two miles and a
+quarter further we encamped on a spot overlooking a reedy lagoon, from
+which some long slopes descended towards the river, distant from our camp
+about half a mile. When we thus again intersected the Wimmera I was
+travelling due west, partly with a view to ascertain its ultimate course.
+
+LOSE THIS RIVER.
+
+The isolated hill lay before me, and it was now to be ascertained whether
+the course of the stream was to the south or north of it. The appearance
+of the country from Mount Zero certainly afforded no prospect of our
+falling in with the river where we did, but at this camp Burnett, having
+climbed to the top of a high tree, thought he could trace the course to
+the southward of the hill before us, which bore nearly west. This
+prospect accorded with my wishes, and I hoped to trace it to the coast
+without deviating too far to the westward of my intended route.
+
+July 22.
+
+A small stream from the south crossed our way when we had proceeded about
+half a mile. At six miles and a half we met with another; and three miles
+beyond it I perceived a change in the appearance of the country. We had
+been for some time travelling through forest land which now opened into
+grassy and level plains, variegated with belts and clumps of lofty trees
+giving to the whole the appearance of a park. We had now the hilly mass
+of Mount Arapiles on our right, or north of us, but to my surprise there
+was no river flowing between us and those heights as I had reason to
+suppose from what had been seen from the tree by Burnett. Turning towards
+the north-west therefore and at last northward, we finally encamped on a
+spot to the westward of the hill after a journey of sixteen miles. Much
+of the ground near this hill was so soft that one of the carts could not
+be brought in before midnight, although assisted by several teams sent
+back from the camp. We were now encamped on a dark-coloured soil from
+which arose the same peculiar smell that I had remarked at Cudjallagong
+(Regent's Lake of Oxley). What had become of the Wimmera I could scarcely
+imagine but, anxious to ascertain its course, I hastened before sunset to
+a western extremity of the hill; but instead of the river, of which I
+could see no trace, I beheld the sun setting over numerous lakes: the
+nearest, two miles and a half to the northward, being apparently six
+miles in circumference. It seemed to be nearly circular and a group of
+low grassy hills formed a concentric curve around the eastern margin, and
+from the total absence of any reeds, trees, or smoke of natives, it was
+too obvious that the water was salt. From the spot where I then stood I
+counted twelve such lakes, most of them appearing to have a
+crescent-shaped mound or bank on the eastern side. This certainly was a
+remarkable portion of the earth's surface, and rather resembled that of
+the moon as seen through a telescope. The eastern and principal summit of
+the hill was at some distance; and I returned to the camp in hopes of
+being able to discover from that point in the morning some indication of
+the further course of the Wimmera.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT ARAPILES.
+
+July 23.
+
+Having ascended the highest summit I counted from that height
+twenty-seven circular lakes, two of the largest being about seven miles
+to the north-east, the direction in which I expected to see the river.
+Beyond these however I observed an extensive woody valley whence much
+smoke arose, marking, to all appearance, the course of the Wimmera which
+must have taken a turn in that direction, not far below the junction of
+the last creek crossed by the party. Beyond that supposed bed of the
+Wimmera the country appeared to be undulated, open, and grassy; and it
+was probably covered with lakes similar to those on this side, for I had
+observed from Mount Zero patches of water in that direction. From this
+summit I had a good view of the Grampians of the South and, discovering
+that a lofty range extended from them southward, I named it the Victoria
+range having also recognised and intersected Mount William, distant 53
+1/2 miles. I could see no high land to the westward, and the hill on
+which I stood seemed to divide the singular lacustrine country from that
+where the character of the surface was fluviatile. Mount Arapiles is a
+feature which may always be easily recognised both by its isolated
+position and by its small companion the Mitre Rock, situated midway
+between it and the lake to the northward, which I named Mitre Lake after
+the little hill, its neighbour. Like the mountains in the east Mount
+Arapiles consists of sandstone passing into quartz, the whole apparently
+an altered sandstone, the structure being in one part almost destroyed,
+in others perfectly distinct and containing pebbles of quartz. At the
+western extremity this rock occurs in columns, resembling, at a distance,
+those of basalt. (See Plate 31.) On the steep slopes grew pines,
+casuarinae, and a variety of shrubs among which we found a new species of
+Baeckea, forming a handsome evergreen bush, the ends of whose graceful
+branches were closely covered with small white delicate flowers.* This
+mass occupies about two square miles, its highest summit being elevated
+above Mitre Lake 726 feet. I ascended this hill on the anniversary of the
+battle of Salamanca and hence the name.
+
+(Footnote. B. calycina, Lindley manuscripts; glaberrima, foliis planis
+sparse punctatis oblongo-cuneatis acutis, floribus pedicellatis
+terminali-axillaribus, laciniis calycinis petaloideis petalis
+longioribus. Near B. virgata.)
+
+MR. STAPYLTON'S EXCURSION NORTHWARD.
+
+July 24.
+
+While Mr. Stapylton rode northward in search of the Wimmera I proceeded
+to examine and survey some of these remarkable lakes.
+
+SALT LAKES.
+
+On the margin of one of them, bearing 55 1/2 degrees West of North from
+our camp, a green hill of rather singular shape rose to a considerable
+height above the surrounding country. I found the water in the lake
+beside it shallow and quite salt. The basin was nearly circular though
+partially filled with firm level earth which was water-worn at the brink,
+its surface being about three feet higher than the water. This was
+surrounded by a narrow beach of soft white mud or clay in which we found
+no change on digging to the depth of several feet.
+
+GREEN HILL LAKE.
+
+The green hill was the highest of several semicircular ridges whose forms
+may perhaps be better understood by the accompanying plan.* There was a
+remarkable analogy in the form and position of all these hills; the form
+being usually that of a curve, concentric with the lake, and the position
+invariably on the eastern or north-eastern shores, a peculiarity I had
+previously observed not only in the lakes near the banks of the Murray
+but also in others on the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan where the ridge
+consisted of red sand. The country on the western shore of these lakes
+is, on the contrary, low and wooded like the surrounding country. In such
+hills concretions of indurated marl frequently occur, but the earth they
+consist of is sometimes light-coloured, in other cases very dark, like
+the soil from trap-rock, and the ridges beside the lakes on the
+Murrumbidgee, consisted of red sand.
+
+(*Footnote. Having modelled this feature I have the satisfaction of
+presenting to the reader the first specimen of a plan of ground worked
+from a model by the anaglyptograph, an important invention recently
+perfected in this country by Mr. Bates and likely to be of very
+considerable value in the representation of the earth's surface under the
+skilful management of Mr. Freebairn.)
+
+MITRE LAKE.
+
+The water of Mitre Lake was also salt,* but there were numbers of ducks
+and black swans upon it. The western shore was low, and the soil where it
+had been thrown up in the roots of fallen trees was nearly as white as
+chalk. A gray rather fine quartzose sand occurred in some places; and
+along the water's edge a very minute shell had been cast up in
+considerable quantities by the waves.** The hills to the eastward of this
+lake were arranged in a crescent around the basin, but this being
+composed of a number of hills almost separate from each other had a less
+regular or uncommon appearance, although they were apparently the remains
+of a curve equally as symmetrical as the others. The basin of this lake
+was very extensive but partly filled on the side next the low hills by a
+level tract of dry land covered with a brown bush (Salicornia arbuscula
+of Brown); and the concentric curves in which it grew, as if closing on
+the lake, seemed to record its progressive diminution. The breadth of
+this heathy-looking flat between the water and the crescent of low hills
+was nearly half a mile. A small rill of fresh water oozed into the lake
+from the sides of Mount Arapiles. The bed of this watercourse was soft
+and boggy near the lake, so that I could cross only by going up its
+channel much nearer to the hill and at a point where some rocks protruded
+and prevented our horses from sinking.
+
+(*Footnote. For Professor Faraday's analysis of these waters see below.)
+
+(**Footnote. This was a truncatella, a saltwater shell of which there are
+several species on the English and French coasts. The one found here has
+been named by Mr. J. De Carl Sowerby T. filosa.)
+
+Mr. Stapylton, in his search for the Wimmera, rode about six miles to the
+northward without reaching the river, although he saw the valley through
+which he thought it flowed; and where the river seemed likely to resume a
+course to the southward of west. Upon the whole I think that the estuary
+of the Wimmera will most probably be found either between Cape Bernouilli
+and Cape Jaffa, or at some of the sandy inlets laid down by Captain
+Flinders to the northward of the first of these capes. The country which
+Mr. Stapylton crossed assumed the barren character of the lower parts of
+the Murray. He actually passed through a low scrub of the Eucalyptus
+dumosa; but I have no doubt that the country on the immediate banks of
+the Wimmera continues good, whatever its course may be, even to the
+sea-coast.
+
+RELINQUISH THE PURSUIT OF THE WIMMERA.
+
+At all events I here abandoned the pursuit of that river and determined
+to turn towards the south-west that we might ascertain what streams fell
+in that direction from the Grampians; and also the nature of the country
+between these mountains and the shores of the Southern Ocean.
+
+THE PARTY TRAVELS TO THE SOUTH-WEST.
+
+July 25.
+
+Proceeding accordingly about south-west, we crossed at less than a mile
+from our camp the dry bed of a circular lake. The ground on the eastern
+shore was full of wombat holes which had been made in a stratum of
+compact tuff about a foot in thickness. The tuff was irregularly
+cavernous and it was loose, calcareous, or friable in the lower part
+where the wombats had made their burrows. On the opposite margin of this
+dry lake the surface was covered with concretions of indurated marl; and
+the burrows of the wombat were even more numerous there than in the other
+bank; the stratum of compact tuff occurring also and being three feet in
+thickness.
+
+RED LAKE.
+
+At 2 1/4 miles we came upon the shores of Red lake which I so named from
+the colour of a weed growing upon its margin. The lake was nearly a mile
+in length and half a mile broad; the water was so slightly brackish that
+reeds grew upon the borders which were frequented by many swans and
+ducks. A very symmetrical bank overlooked the eastern shore, the ground
+on the westward being low and wooded with the ordinary trees of the
+country. We next crossed a flat of dry white sand on which banksia grew
+thickly; and then we reached some low white sandhills on which were
+stunted ironbark trees (eucalypti). In the higher part of those hills we
+crossed a small dry hollow or lake which had also its bank on the eastern
+side.
+
+SMALL LAKES OF FRESH WATER.
+
+At the end of 5 1/2 miles we passed two small lakes of fresh water about
+half a mile to the right and, soon after, another about the same distance
+to the left. On completing seven miles we crossed a low ridge of white
+sand on which grew stunted trees of stringybark and black-butted gumtrees
+(both belonging to the genus eucalyptus). Beyond this we crossed a
+country in which wet, reedy swamps of fresh water, white sandhills, and
+fine flats of good forest land occurred alternately. Towards the end of
+our day's journey, the barren sandhills seemed to prevail, but at length
+we descended from them rather suddenly to a smooth firm plain, clothed
+with the finest grass and on the edge of this we pitched our tents for
+the night.
+
+July 26.
+
+We proceeded through a thick fog and found the plain studded with clumps
+of casuarinae. About a mile from the camp we came upon an extensive swamp
+or lake, full of grass and rushes. Turning this by the left we crossed
+some more good country, and then reached the banks of an extensive
+lagoon, also full of green rushes and water. The western bank was high
+and consisted of rich grassy land, very open; a small stream of water
+fell into the lake on the north-west side, and another on the south-east.
+It was surrounded by lofty gum trees and had a wood on the south and
+east. We met with sandhills and stunted timber beyond. They enclosed a
+long grassy flat covered with water, stretching away to the south-east.
+We next entered on a fine flat of forest land bounded by a low ridge with
+Callitris pyramidalis, or pine trees.
+
+WHITE LAKE.
+
+From this I perceived a circular lake a little to our right and on riding
+to it I found the water salt and of a very white colour. No trees grew on
+the margin and the surrounding scene was so dreary that it resembled a
+mountain-tarn. Two solitary ducks were upon it, apparently of a species
+new to us, but this I could not ascertain, having had only my rifle with
+me and, the cap missing fire, I lost even that chance of killing them.
+The bed of the lake also consisted of a very white marl. A high
+semicircular bank swept round the eastern shore; that opposite, or
+towards the west being low and swampy. On that side I saw two natives at
+a distance making the best of their way to the southward. We had this day
+noticed some of their huts which were of a very different construction
+from those of the aborigines in general, being large, circular, and made
+of straight rods meeting at an upright pole in the centre; the outside
+had been first covered with bark and grass and then entirely coated over
+with clay. The fire appeared to have been made nearly in the centre; and
+a hole at the top had been left as a chimney. The place seemed to have
+been in use for years as a casual habitation.
+
+BASKETWORK OF THE NATIVES.
+
+In this hut the natives had left various articles such as jagged spears,
+some of them set with flints; and an article of their manufacture which
+we had not before seen, namely, bags of the gins, very neatly wrought,
+apparently made of a tough small rush. Two of these also resembled
+reticules and contained balls of resin, flints for the spearheads etc.
+The iron bolt of a boat was likewise found in one of these huts. The
+natives invariably fled at our approach, a circumstance to be regretted
+perhaps on account of the nomenclature of my map; but otherwise their
+flight was preferable to the noisy familiarity of the natives of the
+Darling, perplexing us between their brands of defiance and treacherous
+invitations to dance. Indeed the two regions were as different in
+character as the manners of their respective inhabitants. Instead of
+salsolaceous deserts and mesenbryanthemum we now found a variety of
+everything most interesting in a newly discovered country. Every day we
+passed over land which for natural fertility and beauty could scarcely be
+surpassed; over streams of unfailing abundance and plains covered with
+the richest pasturage. Stately trees and majestic mountains adorned the
+ever-varying scenery of this region, the most southern of all Australia
+and the best. Beyond the White lake, which may be the distinguishing name
+of the last mentioned, we passed over several tracts of open forest land
+separated by dry sandhills, and at length encamped on a rich flat.
+
+MUDDY STATE OF THE SURFACE.
+
+The cattle were very much fatigued from the heaviness of the draught
+owing to the extreme softness of the surface, especially on the more open
+forest lands; and one bullock-driver remained behind with a cart until we
+could send back a team by moonlight to his assistance.
+
+NATIVES AND THE BULLOCK-DRIVER.
+
+July 27.
+
+The cart which had fallen behind came in about three o'clock in the
+morning. The natives had soon been heard about the solitary driver, and
+four of them came up to him and demanded tomahawks; but being an old
+bushranger, he, on their approach, laid out all his cartridges one by one
+before him on a tarpaulin with his pistol and carabine, ready for action;
+but fortunately his visitors did not proceed to extremities. The morning
+was very foggy and, as this weather did not admit of my choosing a good
+line of route, and as the surface of the country was so soft that it was
+imperatively necessary to look well before us, I halted. I could thus at
+least bring up my maps and journals and rest the jaded cattle after so
+much long-continued toil in travelling through the mud.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON'S RIDE SOUTHWARD.
+
+I directed Mr. Stapylton to ride in the direction of 30 degrees West of
+South (my intended route) and ascertain whether we were approaching any
+river. The country we were in, being still lacustrine, I hoped to find
+the surface more favourable for travelling upon where it was drained by
+rivers; for on that amongst the salt lakes, although the land was very
+good in point of fertility, there was evidently a deficiency of slope and
+consequently much more water retained in the soil. Still the ground
+presented undulations, being rarely quite level like the plains except
+indeed in the beds of swamps. Recent experience had taught us to avoid
+the very level parts and to seek any kind of rising ground. The hills we
+occasionally fell in with consisted of white sand, and at first looked
+like connected ridges where we might find streams; but we ascertained
+that they always parted without enclosing any channels and left us in the
+mud. The sand itself still consisted of the same rock (decomposed) which
+appeared to be so generally spread over the country then between us and
+the eastern shores of New Holland. Mr. Stapylton did not return this
+evening, a circumstance which very much alarmed me as he had taken only
+one man with him and was to have come back before sunset.
+
+July 28.
+
+Supposing that Mr. Stapylton had gone past our camp in returning, the
+afternoon having been very rainy, I this morning sent out two parties,
+the one to proceed east, the other west, in search of his track which, if
+found by either, was to be followed until he was overtaken. Mr. Stapylton
+returned however before midday, having ridden twenty miles in the
+direction pointed out without having seen any river. He had passed a
+number of circular lakes similar to those already described; the seventh
+and most remote having appeared the largest. Just then as he turned his
+horse he perceived that the land beyond became higher, indicating a
+change of country. The party which had gone eastward heard our signal
+shot on Mr. Stapylton's arrival and returned, having also seen four
+similar lakes; but the party sent westward did not reach the camp until
+some hours after the other.
+
+DISASTROUS ENCOUNTER OF ONE MAN WITH A NATIVE.
+
+They had unfortunately come upon some huts of the natives, where one of
+them remained and who, refusing to listen to Piper's explanations, was
+about to hurl his spear at Pickering, when this man, at Piper's desire,
+immediately fired his carabine and wounded the native in the arm. I
+regretted this unlucky collision exceedingly and blamed Pickering for
+having been so precipitate; but his defence was that Piper told him
+unless he fired he would be instantly speared.
+
+July 29.
+
+We endeavoured to proceed today in a direction more to the eastward than
+the route of Mr. Stapylton, in the hope of finding firmer ground than he
+had seen, by following that which was highest and sandy. But even in this
+way we could not accomplish five miles and a half, although the last of
+the carts did not arrive at the spot where we were at length compelled to
+re-encamp until long after it became dark. The wheels sank up to the
+axles, and the cattle from wallowing in the mud had become so weak as to
+be scarcely able to go forward when unyoked, much less to draw the laden
+carts. I had with difficulty found a spot of firm ground where we could
+encamp, but during that evening I had reconnoitred a more
+favourable-looking line which I meant to try in the morning.
+
+A TRIBE MAKES ITS APPEARANCE.
+
+Soon after we commenced this day's journey, while I was watching in some
+anxiety the passage of a soft hollow by the carts, a man was sent back by
+the chaining party to inform me that a number of natives had come before
+them pointing their spears. On going forward I found they had retired,
+having probably with their usual quickness of perception observed the
+messenger sent back and guessed his errand.
+
+JUST REMONSTRANCE OF A TRIBE.
+
+But their conduct as I then explained it to the men was quite reasonable
+on this occasion. One (I was told) had spoke very loud and fast, pointing
+west towards where the man had been fired at the day before and then,
+touching his shoulder in allusion to the wound, he finally poised his
+spear at Blanchard as if in just resentment.
+
+PLANT OF A NEW GENUS.
+
+While awaiting the slow progress of the carts through the mud I found a
+most curious new genus allied to Correa, with the habit of C. speciosa,
+and with long tubular four-petaled green flowers. It had been previously
+observed by Mr. Cunningham, who called it Sida correoides; it was however
+not a Sida, nor even a Malvaceous plant, but a new form of Australasian
+Rutaceae, differing from Correa in having the petals each rolled round a
+pair of stamens in its quadripartite conical calyx, and in there being
+constantly two seeds in each cell of the fruit.*
+
+(*Footnote. Didimeria aemula, Lindley manuscripts; undique pilis
+stellatis lutescentibus furfuracea. Rami stricti. Folia subrotunda
+cordata obtusa opposita brevi petiolata, pellucido-punctata. Pedunculi
+axillares, filiformes, uniflori, supra medium bracteolis 2 subulatis
+acuti. Calyx conicus, membranaceus, 4-partitus: laciniis acuminatis.
+Petala 4, longissima, distincta, linearia, convoluta circa staminum
+paria, extus tomentosa intus glabra. Stamina 8, hypogyna; filamentis
+liberis, lineari-lanceolatis, membranaceis, alternis brevioribus;
+antheris sagittatis inappendiculatis. Stylus filiformis glaber. Discus 0.
+Capsula 4-cocca, villosissima, coccis dispermis, endocarpio solubili;
+seminibus uno supra alterum positis.)
+
+MORE LAKES OF BRACKISH WATER.
+
+July 30.
+
+By pursuing a course towards the base of the friendly mountains I hoped
+that we should at length intercept some stream, channel, or valley where
+we might find a drier soil and so escape, if possible, from the region of
+lakes. We could but follow such a course however only as far as the
+ground permitted and, after travelling over the hardest that we could
+this day find for a mile and a half, I discovered a spacious lake on the
+left, bounded on the east by some fine-looking green hills. These
+separated it from a plain where I found the ground firm, and also from
+several smaller lakes to the right of my intended route. I accordingly
+proceeded along the ground between them, and I found that it bore the
+wheels much better than any we had recently crossed. The lakes were
+however still precisely similar in character to those of which we had
+already seen so many. The water in them was rather too brackish to be fit
+for use, and the ridges were all still on the eastern shores. From the
+highest of these ridges the pinnacled summits of the Victoria range
+presented an outline of the grandest character. The noble coronet of
+rocks was indeed a cheering object to us after having been so long half
+immersed in mud. We had passed between the lakes and were proceeding as
+lightly as we could across the plain when down went the wheel of a cart,
+sinking to the axle, and the usual noise of flogging (cruelty which I had
+repeatedly forbidden) and a consequent delay of several hours followed.
+
+ESCAPE AT LAST FROM THE MUD.
+
+In the meantime I rode to some grassy hills on the right, and found
+behind them on the south-west another extensive lake on which I saw a
+great number of ducks. Its bed consisted of dark-coloured mud and the
+water was also salt. The green hills before mentioned were curiously
+broken and scooped out into small cavities much resembling those on
+Green-hill Lake near Mount Arapiles. The plain rose gradually towards the
+east to some scrubby ground nearly as high as these hills and, in a fall
+beyond this scrub, I found at length to my great delight a small hollow
+sloping to the south-east and a little water running in it.
+
+ENCAMP ON A RUNNING STREAM.
+
+Following it down I almost immediately perceived a ravine before me, and
+at a mile and a quarter from the first fall of the ground I crossed a
+chain of fine ponds in a valley, where we finally encamped on a fine
+stream flowing to the south-west over granite rocks.*
+
+(*Footnote. Consisting of white felspar and quartz and silvery mica.)
+
+FINE COUNTRY.
+
+Thus suddenly were we at length relieved from all the difficulties of
+travelling in mud. We had solid granite beneath us; and instead of a
+level horizon the finely rounded points of ground presented by the sides
+of a valley thinly wooded and thickly covered with grass. This transition
+from all that we sought to avoid to all we could desire in the character
+of the country was so agreeable that I can record that evening as one of
+the happiest of my life. Here too the doctor reported that no men
+remained on the sick-list, and thus we were in all respects prepared for
+going forward and making up for so much time lost.
+
+DISCOVERY OF A GOOD RIVER. THE GLENELG.
+
+July 31.
+
+We now moved merrily over hill and dale, but were soon however brought to
+a full stop by a fine river flowing, at the point where we met it, nearly
+south-west. The banks of this stream were thickly overhung with bushes of
+the mimosa, which were festooned in a very picturesque manner with the
+wild vine. The river was everywhere deep and full and, as no ford could
+be found, we prepared to cross it with the boats. But such a passage
+required at least a day and, when I saw the boats afloat, I was tempted
+to consider whether I might not explore the further course of this river
+in them and give the cattle some rest. It was likely, I imagined, soon to
+join another where we might meet with less obstruction. During the day
+everything was got across save the empty carts and the boat-carriage, our
+camp being thus established on the left bank. One bullock was
+unfortunately drowned in attempting to swim across, having got entangled
+in the branches of a sunken tree which, notwithstanding a careful search
+previously made in the bottom of the stream, had not been discovered.
+
+The river was here, on an average, 120 feet wide and 12 feet deep.
+
+GRANITIC SOIL.
+
+Granite* protruded in some places, but in general the bold features of
+the valley through which this stream flowed were beautifully smooth and
+swelling; they were not much wooded but on the contrary almost clear of
+timber and accessible everywhere. The features were bold and round but
+only so inclined that it was just possible to ride in any direction
+without obstruction; a quality of which those who have been shut up among
+the rocky gullies of New South Wales must know well the value. I named
+this river the Glenelg after the Right Honourable the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, according to the usual custom.
+
+(*Footnote. This granite varied consequently in the size of its component
+parts which sometimes, especially in quartz and felspar, exceeded a foot
+square, and in this I found distinctly imbedded friable masses,
+apparently of sandstone, but which proved to consist of a very
+fine-grained grey granite, approaching in character to mica-slate.)
+
+PASSAGE OF THE GLENELG.
+
+August 1.
+
+The first part of this day was taken up in dragging the carts and
+boat-carriage through the river. At one P.M. I embarked in the boats,
+taking in them a fortnight's provisions and leaving Mr. Stapylton in a
+strong position with nine men, the stores, and the cattle. We proceeded
+for two miles without encountering much obstruction, but we found on
+going further that the river ran in several channels, all of these being
+overgrown with bushes, so that it was not without great difficulty that
+we could penetrate about a mile farther by the time it had become nearly
+quite dark. It was no easy matter to push through the opposing branches
+even to reach the bank. Many similar branches had been cut during this
+day's navigation, Woods, Palmer and most of the other men having been
+more in the water than in the boats during the last mile. Every article
+having been at length got to land, we encamped on the side of a steep
+hill for the night, and I made up my mind to resume our land journey next
+day unless I saw the river more favourable ahead. By the banks of the
+Glenelg we found a stiff furze-like bush with small purple flowers, spiny
+branches, and short stiff spiny leaves. It proved to be a new Daviesia
+allied to D. colletioides.* Bossiaea cordifolia, a hairy shrub with
+beautiful purple and yellow flowers, was common.
+
+(*Footnote. D. brevifolia, Lindley manuscripts; glabra, ramis rigidis
+strictis apice spinescentibus, foliis conicis spinosis subrecurvis,
+racemis foliis duplo longioribus, bracteolis obovatis cucullatis.)
+
+COUNTRY WELL WATERED.
+
+August 2.
+
+There was a noble reach a quarter of a mile below the point to which we
+had brought the boats, and it was terminated by a rocky fall which we had
+heard during the night. Beyond that point the river turned southward and,
+this being the direction of our intended journey, I perceived that we
+could more conveniently in less time pursue its course by land. The
+country on its banks was, as far as I could see, the finest imaginable,
+either for sheep and cattle or for cultivation. A little rill then
+murmured through each ravine:
+
+Whose scattered streams from granite basins burst,
+Leap into life, and sparkling woo your thirst.
+
+But it was in returning along a winding ridge towards the camp that I was
+most struck with the beauty and substantial value of the country on the
+banks of this river. It seemed that the land was everywhere alike good,
+alike beautiful; all parts were verdant, whether on the finely varied
+hills or in the equally romantic vales which seemed to open in endless
+succession on both banks of the river. No time was lost this morning in
+raising the boats out of the water and, having proceeded myself to the
+camp at an early hour, and led the carts round, and the carriage to take
+up the boats, the whole party was once more in movement by eleven
+o'clock. As far as I had yet traced the course of the river it appeared
+to flow towards the west-south-west, and it was thus doubtful, at that
+stage of our progress, whether the estuary might not be to the westward
+of Cape Northumberland; whereas my chief inducement in looking for a
+river on this side of the Grampians was the promising situation afforded
+by the great bay to the eastward of that cape for some harbour or
+estuary, and this being more likely, considering the position of the
+mountains. I had little doubt that under such circumstances some river
+would be found to enter the sea there and, having left the Wimmera
+flowing westward, and crossed as I imagined the highest ground that could
+extend from the mountain range to Cape Bernouilli, I expected to meet at
+length with rivers falling southward. The ultimate course of the Glenelg
+could only be ascertained by following it down, and to do this by land
+was not easy; first because it was joined by many small tributaries
+flowing through deep valleys and from all points of the compass; and
+secondly, because the general horizon was so level that no point
+commanding any extensive view over the country could be found. Thus while
+our main object was to pursue the river, we were obliged to grope our way
+round the heads of ravines often very remote from it, but which were very
+perplexing from their similarity to the ravine in which the main stream
+flowed. A more bountiful distribution of the waters for the supply of a
+numerous population could not be imagined, nor a soil better adapted for
+cultivation. We this day crossed various small rivulets or chains of
+ponds, each watering a grassy vale, sheltered by fine swelling hills. The
+whole country consisted of open forest land on which grew a few gumtrees
+(or eucalypti) with banksia and occasionally a few casuarinae.
+
+FISHES PECULIAR TO DIFFERENT PONDS.
+
+August 3.
+
+The ponds where we had encamped were large and deep, and I endeavoured to
+ascertain whether the cod-perch (Gristes peelii) inhabited these waters.
+Neither this fine fish nor either of the two others found in the streams
+flowing towards the interior from the eastern coast range have ever been
+seen in the rivers which reach the eastern shores; and I had now
+ascertained that all the waters in which we had procured the fish in
+question belonged to the extensive basin of the Murray. We were at length
+on channels evidently distinct, both from those leading to the eastern
+coast and those belonging to the basin of the Murray. The beds of the
+rivers flowing to the east coast are chiefly rocky, containing much sand
+but very little mud, consequently no reeds grow on their banks, nor is
+the freshwater mussel found in them, as in rivers on the interior side,
+which in general flow over a muddy bed and are not unfrequently
+distinguished by reedy banks. Judging therefore from the nature of the
+soil of this southern region, the fishes peculiar to the Murray might be
+looked for in the rivers of the south, rather than those fishes known in
+the rivers falling eastward. It was important to ascertain at least what
+point of the coast separated the rivers containing different kinds of
+fish. In these ponds we caught only some very small fry, and the question
+could not be satisfactorily determined, although the natives declared
+that none of them were the spawn of cod-perch.
+
+It was no easy matter now to ascertain in what direction the waters of
+the valley ran, but by the tendency of the hollows on each side they
+appeared to decline in general to the left or northward. In proceeding on
+our route, the heads of other similar ravines rendered our course very
+intricate: to have been shut in between any such ravine and the river
+must have been rather embarrassing, and seemed then almost inevitable. We
+had the good fortune however to avoid this; and at length, keeping along
+dry ground, a beautiful scene appeared on the left in an open valley
+about two miles in width where the hills sloped gradually to the
+confluence of two streams, brimful of water, which shone through some
+highly ornamental wood. Both streams came from valleys of a similar
+character; and beyond them I saw hills of the finest forms, all clothed
+with grass to their summits and many entirely clear of timber.
+
+PIGEON PONDS.
+
+A bronze-winged pigeon flew up just as I discovered the stream and, as
+this bird had not been before seen by us on that side of the mountains, I
+named the waters Pigeon ponds. we descended to that part of the valley
+which lay in our proposed course and found that some of these ponds
+rather deserved to be styled lakes. The soil was everywhere black and
+rich.
+
+SOFT SOIL AGAIN IMPEDES THE PARTY.
+
+August 4.
+
+Proceeding over ground of a similar character we crossed several fine
+streams, some flowing in shallow channels over rocks, others in deep
+ravines. The ground on the higher parts was however still so soft as to
+yield to the wheels, and very much impeded the progress of the party,
+especially at one place where an extensive lake, full of reeds or rushes,
+appeared to the right. The drays sunk to the axles, the whole of the soil
+in our way having become so liquid that it rolled in waves around the
+struggling bullocks. The passage of some of the streams could not be
+accomplished until we had filled up the bed with large logs, covered them
+with boughs, and strewed over the whole, the earth cut away from the
+steep banks. Under such circumstances I considered six miles a good day's
+journey, and indeed too much for the cattle. I halted for the night with
+a small advanced party only on a fine little stream running over a rocky
+bed; while the main body was compelled to remain with the carts several
+miles behind, having broken, in the efforts made to extricate the carts
+and boat-carriage, many of the chains, and also a shaft. The small river
+I had reached ran in a bed of little width, but was withal so deep that
+it seemed scarcely passable without a bridge. At the junction however of
+a similar one, some rocks, favourably situated, enabled us to effect a
+passage by bedding logs between them and covering the whole with branches
+and earth, leaving room for the water to pass between.
+
+HALT TO REPAIR THE CARTS AND HARNESS.
+
+August 5.
+
+A halt was this day unavoidable, but the necessity was the less to be
+regretted as the weather was very unfavourable. Indeed we had scarcely
+seen one fine day for some weeks. Mr. Stapylton set out to trace the
+rivulet downwards, and returned in the evening after having reached its
+junction with the Glenelg at the distance of nine miles in a north-west
+direction. The course of the river thus determined to that junction
+appeared to be more to the westward than I had previously expected, and I
+began again to think its estuary might still be to the westward of Cape
+Northumberland, and this prospect induced me to alter our course. The
+carts having come up about one P.M., the blacksmith was set to work and
+wrought throughout the night to repair all the claw-chains.
+
+NATIVES VERY SHY.
+
+While other men were employed at the log-bridge some natives were heard
+coming along the most southern of the two streams; whereupon Piper went
+towards them as usual and found they were females with children; but from
+the moment they discovered us until they were fairly out of hearing their
+shrieks were so loud and incessant that it seemed, for once, our presence
+in that country had been unknown to the surrounding natives, a proof
+perhaps of the smallness of their numbers. In the evening other natives
+(men) were heard approaching along the creek, and we at first supposed
+they had come to that place as their rendezvous to meet the gins and
+their families whom we had unwillingly scared; but Mr. Stapylton, during
+his ride home along one side of the ravine, had observed four natives
+very intent on following the outward track of his horses' hoofs on the
+other; and these were doubtless the same men guided by his tracks to our
+camp. They could not be brought to a parley however, although Piper and
+Burnett at first invited them towards the camp and, when they set off,
+pursued them across the opposite ridge.
+
+CHETWYND RIVULET.
+
+On the bank of this little stream I found a charming species of
+Tetratheca, with large rich purple flowers and slender stems growing in
+close tufts about a foot high. It was perhaps the most beautiful plant we
+met with during the expedition.*
+
+(*Footnote. T. ciliata, Lindley manuscripts; caulibus erectis tomentosis
+filiformibus, foliis oppositis verticillatisque obovatis ovatisque
+ciliatis subtus glabris, pedicellis setosis, sepalis ovatis concavis
+acutis, petalis obovatis.)
+
+August 6.
+
+The passage of the rivulet which I named the Chetwynd, after Stapylton
+who had explored it at considerable risk, was effected with ease by the
+temporary bridge and we proceeded, soon crossing by similar means two
+other running streams, probably tributaries to this.
+
+SLOW PROGRESS OVER THE SOFT SURFACE.
+
+When we had travelled four miles we came to a swamp where a considerable
+current of water was flowing into it through some ponds; the margin of
+this running water being broad, flat, and grassy, and having also lofty
+gumtrees (white bark and eucalypti) growing on it. Unfortunately it was
+so soft and rotten, as the men described it, that all the wheels sunk to
+the axles and, although in such cases it was usual to apply the combined
+force of several teams to draw each vehicle through in turn, we found
+that the rising ground opposite was equally soft and yielding, so that
+the cattle could have no firm footing to enable them to pull. It was
+night before we could, with the strength of all the teams united by long
+chains and yoked to each vehicle successively, bring the whole through,
+the broad wheels of each cart actually ploughing to the depth of the axle
+in soft earth; the labour of the cattle may therefore be imagined. We
+encamped on a small barren plain much resembling a heath and just beyond
+the swamp which had proved so formidable an impediment.
+
+August 7.
+
+Our progress this day was still less than that made during the preceding
+one for it did not much exceed a mile. To that distance we had proceeded
+tolerably well, having crossed two small running brooks, and all appeared
+favourable before us. But a broad piece of rising ground which, being
+sandy with banksia and casuarinae trees on it, I had considered firm
+proved so very soft that even my own horse went down with me and wallowed
+in the mud.
+
+EXCURSION INTO THE COUNTRY BEFORE US.
+
+There was no way of avoiding this spot, at least without delay, and I
+ordered the men immediately to encamp, being determined to go forward
+with a party on horseback and ascertain the position of some point where
+the ground was more favourable, and then to adopt such a mode of
+extricating the carts and proceeding thither as circumstances permitted.
+I took with me provisions for three days that I might explore the
+country, if necessary, to the coast.
+
+BEAUTIFUL REGION DISCOVERED.
+
+I had not proceeded above five miles southward when I perceived before me
+a ridge in bluey distance, rather an unusual object in that close
+country. We soon after emerged from the wood and found that we were on a
+kind of tableland and, approaching a deep ravine coming from our right
+and terminating on a very fine-looking open country below, watered by a
+winding river. We descended by a bold feature to the bottom of the ravine
+and found there a foaming little river hurrying downwards over rocks.
+After fording this stream with ascended a very steep but grassy
+mountain-side, and on reaching a brow of high land, what a noble prospect
+appeared! a river winding amongst meadows that were fully a mile broad
+and green as an emerald. Above them rose swelling hills of fantastic
+shapes, but all smooth and thickly covered with rich verdure. Behind
+these were higher hills, all having grass on their sides and trees on
+their summits, and extending east and west throughout the landscape as
+far as I could see. I hastened to ascertain the course of the river by
+riding about two miles along an entirely open grassy ridge, and then
+found again the Glenelg, flowing eastward towards an apparently much
+lower country. All our difficulties seemed thus already at an end, for we
+had here good firm ground, clear of timber, on which we could gallop once
+more. The river was making for the most promising bay on the coast (for I
+saw that it turned southward some miles below the hill on which I stood)
+through a country far surpassing in beauty and richness any part hitherto
+discovered. I hastened back to my men in the mud and arrived before
+sunset with the good news, having found most of the intervening country
+fit for travelling upon. Thus the muddy hill which had before seemed
+unsurmountable led to the immediate discovery of the true course of the
+river, and prevented me from continuing my route into the great angle of
+its course over unfavourable ground instead of thus reaching it so much
+sooner by a much less deviation from the course I wished to pursue. I now
+hoped to extricate the carts in the morning and henceforward to
+accomplish journeys of considerable length.
+
+THE PARTY EXTRICATED WITH DIFFICULTY FROM THE MUD.
+
+August 8.
+
+It was in vain that I reconnoitred the environs of the hill of mud for
+some portion of surface harder than the rest; and we could only extricate
+ourselves by floundering through it. Patches of clay occurred but they
+led only to places where the surface under the pressure of the cattle was
+immediately converted into white and liquid mud. It was necessary to take
+the loads from the carts and carry them by hand half a mile, and then to
+remove the empty vehicles by the same means. After all this had been
+accomplished the boat-carriage (a four-wheeled waggon) still remained
+immovably fixed up to the axle-tree in mud in a situation where the block
+and tackle used in hoisting out the boats could not be applied. Much time
+was lost in our attempts to draw it through by joining all the chains we
+possessed and applying the united strength of all the bullocks; but even
+this was at length accomplished after the sun had set; the wheels, four
+inches broad, actually cutting through to the full depth of the spokes.
+On the eastern side of the hill the ground descended into a ravine where
+it was grassy and firm enough; and it was a great relief to us all to
+feel thus at liberty, even by sunset, to start next morning towards the
+beautiful country which we now knew lay before us.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.10.
+
+Cross various rivulets.
+Enter the valley of Nangeela.
+Native female and child.
+Encamp on the Glenelg.
+Cross the Wannon.
+Rifle range.
+Mount Gambier first seen from it.
+Sterile moors crossed by the party.
+Natives numerous but not accessible.
+Again arrive on the Glenelg.
+Indifferent country on its banks.
+Breadth and velocity of the river.
+Encamp on a tributary.
+Difficult passage.
+The expedition brought to a stand in soft ground.
+Excursion beyond.
+Reach a fine point on the river.
+The carts extricated.
+The whole equipment reaches the river.
+The boats launched on the Glenelg.
+Mr. Stapylton left with a depot at Fort O'Hare.
+Character of the river.
+Ornithorynchus paradoxus.
+Black swans.
+Water brackish.
+Isle of Bags.
+Arrival at the seacoast.
+Discovery bay.
+Mouth of the Glenelg.
+Waterholes dug in the beach.
+Remarkable hollow.
+Limestone cavern.
+One fish caught in the Glenelg.
+Stormy weather.
+Return to the depot.
+Difference in longitude.
+
+CROSS VARIOUS RIVULETS.
+
+August 9.
+
+Once more in a state of forward movement we crossed green hills and
+running brooks until, when we had travelled nearly six miles from Muddy
+Camp and had crossed six fine streams or burns, we met with a more
+formidable impediment in the seventh. The sides of this ravine were so
+uncommonly steep that our new difficulty was how to move the vehicles
+down to the bank of the stream. In one place where a narrow point of
+ground projected across, a passage seemed just possible; and after we had
+made it better with spades we attempted to take a light cart over. The
+acclivity was still however rather too much, and over went the cart,
+carrying the shaft bullock with it, and depositing all my instruments
+etc. under it in the bed of the stream. With travellers on roads this
+might have been thought a serious accident, but in our case we were
+prepared for joltings, and nothing was in the least degree injured;
+neither was the animal hurt, and we ascertained by the experiment,
+dangerous though it was, that still more was necessary to be done for the
+passage of the heavy carts and boats which were still some way behind;
+and I encamped on the bank beyond that the men might set about this work.
+No time was lost in filling up the hollow with all the dead trees that
+lay about and what others we could cut for the purpose; and thus before
+sunset the three carts and one waggon were got across. The rocks in the
+bed of this stream consisted of grey gneiss, and on the hills beyond it I
+found nodules of highly ferruginous sandstone.
+
+ENTER THE VALLEY OF NANGEELA.
+
+August 10.
+
+By means of a block and tackle attached to a large tree the remaining
+carts and the boat-carriage were safely lowered to the bed of the stream.
+To draw them up the opposite bank was practicable only by uniting the
+strength of several teams, yet this too was effected successfully and the
+whole party were enabled to go forward in the morning. At a mile and a
+half from the camp a scene was displayed to our view which gladdened
+every heart. An open grassy country extending as far as we could
+see--hills round and smooth as a carpet, meadows broad, and either green
+as an emerald or of a rich golden colour from the abundance, as we soon
+afterwards found, of a little ranunculus-like flower. Down into that
+delightful vale our vehicles trundled over a gentle slope, the earth
+being covered with a thick matted turf, apparently superior to anything
+of the kind previously seen. That extensive valley was enlivened by a
+winding stream, the waters of which glittered through trees fringing each
+bank.
+
+NATIVE FEMALE AND CHILD.
+
+As we went on our way rejoicing I perceived at length two figures at a
+distance who at first either did not see or did not mind us. They proved
+to be a gin with a little boy and as soon as the female saw us she began
+to run. I presently overtook her, and with the few words I knew prevailed
+on her to stop until the two gins of our party could come up; for I had
+long been at a loss for the names of localities. This woman was not so
+much alarmed as might have been expected; and I was glad to find that she
+and the gins perfectly understood each other. The difference in the
+costume on the banks of the Wando immediately attracted the notice of the
+females from the Lachlan. The bag usually carried by gins was neatly wove
+in basketwork and composed of a wiry kind of rush. She of Wando carried
+this bag fastened to her back, having under it two circular mats of the
+same material, and beneath all a kangaroo cloak, so that her back at
+least was sufficiently clothed, although she wore no dress in front. The
+boy was supported between the mats and cloak; and his pleased and
+youthful face, he being a very fine specimen of the native race,
+presented a striking contrast to the miserable looks of his whining
+mother. In the large bag she carried some pieces of firewood and a few
+roots, apparently of tao, which she had just been digging from the earth.
+Such was the only visible inhabitant of this splendid valley resembling a
+nobleman's park on a gigantic scale. She stated that the main river was
+called Temiangandgeen, a name unfortunately too long to be introduced
+into maps. We also obtained the gratifying intelligence that the whole
+country to the eastward was similar to these delightful vales and that,
+in the same direction, as Piper translated her statement, "there was no
+more sticking in mud." A favourable change in the weather accompanied our
+fortunate transition from the land of watery soil and dark woody ravines
+to an open country. The day was beautiful; and the balmy air was
+sweetened by a perfume resembling hay which arose from the thick and
+matted herbs and grass. Proceeding along the valley the stream on our
+left vanished at an isolated rocky hill; but, on closer examination, I
+found the apparent barrier cleft in two, and that the water passed
+through, roaring over rocks. This was rather a singular feature in an
+open valley where the ground on each side of it was almost as low as the
+rocky bed of the stream itself. The hill was composed of granular felspar
+in a state of decomposition; the surrounding country consisting chiefly
+of very fine-grained sandstone. It is not easy to suppose that the river
+could ever have watered the valley in its present state and forced its
+way since through that isolated hill of hard rock; as to believe that the
+rock, now isolated, originally contained a chasm, and afforded once the
+lowest channel for the water before the valley now so open had been
+scooped out on each side by gradual decomposition. Another rivulet
+approached this hill, flowing under its eastern side and joining the
+Wando just below. According to my plan of following down the main river
+it was necessary to cross both these tributaries.
+
+ENCAMP ON THE GLENELG.
+
+In the open part of the valley the channels of these streams were deep
+and the banks soft; but at the base of the hill of Kinganyu (for such was
+its name) we found rock enough and, having effected a passage there of
+both streams that afternoon, we encamped after travelling about three
+miles further on the banks of the Glenelg once more. Our route lay
+straight across an open grassy valley at the foot of swelling hills of
+the same description. Each of these valleys presented peculiar and very
+romantic features, but I could not decide which looked most beautiful.
+All contained excellent soil and grass, surpassing in quality any I had
+seen in the present colony of New South Wales. The chase of the emu and
+kangaroo, which were both numerous, afforded us excellent sport on these
+fine downs. When about to cross the Wando I took my leave of the native
+woman before mentioned, that she might not have the trouble of fording
+the river, and I presented her with a tomahawk of which our females
+explained to her the use, although she seemed still at a loss to conceive
+the meaning of a present. The use of the little hatchet would be well
+enough known however to her tribe so, leaving her to return to it and
+assuring her at the same time of our friendly disposition towards the
+natives, we proceeded.
+
+The left bank of the principal stream was very bold where we reached it
+on this occasion, but still open and covered with rich turf. The right
+bank was woody and this was generally its character at the other points
+where we had seen the Glenelg. It was flowing with considerable rapidity
+amongst the same kind of bushes we had met with above, but they did not
+appear so likely here to obstruct the passage of boats.
+
+On the plains we found a singular acacia, the leaves being covered with a
+clammy exudation resembling honey-dew. It differed from A. graveolens in
+its much more rigid habit, shorter and broader leaves, and much shorter
+peduncles.*
+
+(*Footnote. A. exudans, Lindley manuscripts; ramis crassis rigidis
+angulatis leviter pubescentibus, phyllodiis oblongo-lanceolatis
+mucronatis oblique binerviis viscido-punctatis basi obsolete glandulosis,
+capitulis 1-2 axillaribus, pedunculis lanatis, bracteolis rigidis acutis
+pubescentibus alabastris longioribus (capitulis echinatis).)
+
+August 11.
+
+Passing along the bank of the river under the steep grassy hills which
+consisted of very fine-grained, calcareous sandstone, we began two miles
+on to ascend these heights; as well to avoid a place where they closed
+precipitously on the Glenelg as to gain a point from which I hoped to
+command an extensive view of its further course, and so cut off some of
+the windings. From that point, or rather on riding through the woods to
+some distance beyond it, I perceived that the river was joined by another
+coming from the south-east through an open country of the finest
+character. Below their junction the principal river disappeared on
+passing through a woody range, and turned towards the south-west.
+
+JUNCTION OF THE WANNON.
+
+Nothing could be seen beyond the crest which seemed a very predominant
+feature bounding the fine valley of the Wannon on the south. By turning
+round the eastern brow of the high ground on which we then were we gained
+a long ridge of smooth grassy land, leading by an easy descent from this
+height to the junction of the rivers. This high ground was thickly wooded
+with stringybark trees of large dimensions, and a few other eucalypti,
+together with banksia and casuarinae. The soil there was soft and sandy
+and the substratum contained masses of ironstone. The shrubs upon the
+whole reminded me of those in the wooded parts of the sandhills on the
+shores of Port Jackson. Smoke arose from various parts of the distant
+country before us; and we perceived one native running at prodigious
+speed across the plain below.
+
+CROSS THE WANNON.
+
+On reaching the banks of the Wannon we found it a deep flowing stream,
+about half as large as the river itself. We succeeded in finding a ford
+and crossed after cutting away some bushes and levelling the banks.
+Beyond the Wannon we travelled 2 3/4 miles over a portion of very fine
+country and encamped in a little vale in the bosom of a woody range, the
+western side of which overhung the river at the distance of two miles.
+
+August 12.
+
+A fine clear morning gave full effect to the beauty of the country which
+I now saw to the eastward from a hill near our camp. The summit of the
+Victoria range crowned the distant landscape; and the whole of the
+intervening territory appeared to consist of green hills, partially
+wooded. We crossed a mountain-stream by filling up its bed with logs and,
+as we ascended the slopes beyond, we found the country grassy until we
+reached the high and wooded crest. Lofty stringybark trees and other
+timber grew there on a white sandy soil; but we found among the bushes
+abundance of the anthisteria or kangaroo grass.
+
+After travelling some miles beyond this crest we at length found the
+ground sloping to the southward; and some swampy hollows with reeds in
+them obliged us to turn to the right or south-west, as the water in these
+depressed parts falling eastward, or to the left, showed that we were not
+so very near the river, on the right, which I was endeavouring to follow.
+We were delayed in several of these hollows by the sinking of the carts
+and boat-carriage.
+
+RIFLE RANGE.
+
+We next traversed an extensive moor or heath on which the rising ground
+was firm, and a little way beyond it some rising ground bounded our view.
+On ascending this highest feature which I named the Rifle range I found
+it commanded an extensive view over a low and woody country.
+
+MOUNT GAMBIER FIRST SEEN FROM IT.
+
+One peaked hill alone appeared on the otherwise level horizon and this
+bore 68 degrees West of South. I supposed this to be Mount Gambier near
+Cape Northumberland which, according to my survey, ought to have appeared
+in that direction at a distance of forty-five miles.
+
+STERILE MOORS CROSSED BY THE PARTY.
+
+I expected to find the river on reaching the lower country beyond this
+range; but instead of the Glenelg and the rich country on its banks we
+entered on extensive moors of the most sterile description. They were
+however firm enough for travelling upon, the surface being very level and
+the soil a whitish sand. These open wastes were interrupted in some parts
+by clumps of stringybark forest which entirely concealed from view the
+extent of this kind of country. Swamps full of water and containing reeds
+of a dark yellow colour at length became numerous; and although I
+succeeded in pursuing a course clear of these obstacles, we were obliged
+to encamp at twilight without having any immediate prospect of a better
+country before us. There was however abundance of grass in these wet
+swamps and our carts passed over one quite covered with water without
+sinking. Our camp was marked out on a low hill of white sand on which
+grew mahogany and stringybark trees of large dimensions. The ridge from
+which we had descended now appeared continuous as far as we could see
+eastward.
+
+NATIVES NUMEROUS BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE.
+
+Much smoke arose from this lower country when we entered upon it and
+after sunset the incessant calls of a native were heard near our camp as
+if he had lost some comrade. I sent up a rocket that he might be
+convinced we had not arrived by stealth as the tribes do when they
+insidiously make war on each other, but he only reiterated his calls the
+more.
+
+August 13.
+
+At daybreak the cries of the native were renewed. I then made Piper cooey
+to him whereupon he became silent and I heard him no more, the natives of
+that country being, as Piper expressed it "still very wild." This morning
+we were on the march as soon as the sun rose, all being very anxious to
+see the river again and a better country. At two miles we passed along a
+sandy ridge between two extensive swamps; but at a mile and a half
+farther I found at length a small hollow and water running in it, a
+feature which convinced me at once that the river could not be very
+distant. In the bank there was a thin stratum of shelly limestone bearing
+a resemblance to some of the oolitic limestones of England; and in the
+bed were irregular concretions of ironstone containing grains of quartz,
+some of the concretions having externally a glazed appearance arising
+from a thin coating of compact brown haematite.
+
+AGAIN ARRIVE ON THE GLENELG.
+
+Casuarinae and banksia growing on grassy slopes were the next marks of a
+different country from that of the swamps, and at less than a mile from
+this point we came upon the river.
+
+INDIFFERENT COUNTRY ON ITS BANKS.
+
+Its banks had a different character from that which they presented above
+but they were still fine.
+
+BREADTH AND VELOCITY OF THE RIVER.
+
+The river now flowed in a narrow valley, the bed being about 70 feet
+below the common level of the swampy flats. At sharp bends the banks
+consisted of cliffs of a soft limestone, composed in part of comminuted
+fragments of corallines, the interstices being rarely filled up; the rock
+contained also a few specimens of Foraminifera, most probably of recent
+species. In the narrow valley all was flourishing and green, attesting
+the rich luxuriance of the alluvial soil. The mimosa trees predominated,
+but still the bushes of leptospermum darkened the stream which was deep,
+rapid, and muddy, its breadth being about 40 yards and the bed consisting
+of a friable or soft calcareous sandstone. In accompanying it in its
+course downward we met with less difficulty than I had expected, but I
+perceived that the barren swampy land, or more frequently the stringybark
+forests, approached the higher banks on both sides the river. The few
+ravines falling in our way were only the drains from swamps close at hand
+and they were easily crossed by the party at the fall of the ground,
+where we found rocky strata.
+
+ENCAMP ON A TRIBUTARY.
+
+After tracing the river more than four miles we encamped on an elevated
+point overlooking a flat of good grass, so necessary for the cattle.
+
+August 14.
+
+Some of the bullocks were missing and we were compelled to wait an hour
+or two while parties went in search of them; one party being guided by
+Piper, the other by the two Tommies. I availed myself of the leisure
+afforded by this delay to measure the breadth, depth, and velocity of the
+river which were respectively as follows:
+
+Average breadth: 35 yards.
+Mean depth: 17 feet.
+Velocity of the current: 1,863 yards per hour; the general course, as far
+as we had traced this portion being nearly South-East.
+
+When most of the cattle had been brought in we proceeded and, in
+endeavouring to keep along the highest ground between the swamps, I
+unavoidably left the river at some distance on our right, a circumstance
+I considered of less consequence as the ground appeared to be falling on
+my left towards some tributary; and at four miles we came upon a small
+river flowing rapidly in a valley nearly as deep and wide as the main
+stream. The country on its immediate bank looked better than that last
+found on the main stream. Limestone rock appeared in the bank opposite
+and at the foot of some cliffs we found fossil oyster-shells. Mr.
+Stapylton traced this stream to its junction with the river about two
+miles lower down.
+
+August 15.
+
+Two bullocks were still missing and I had recourse to compulsory measures
+with Piper and the man who lost them in order to find them again: I
+declared that unless they were found Piper should have no provisions for
+a week; and I condemned the man who lost them to be kept every second
+night on watch during the remainder of the journey.
+
+DIFFICULT PASSAGE OF THE STOKES.
+
+The passage of the little river (which named the Stokes in memory of a
+brother officer who fell at Badajoz) was not to be easily accomplished,
+owing to the depth and softness of the alluvial soil through which it
+flowed. One place passable on horseback was found after long search by
+Mr. Stapylton and myself. Out of the bed of the stream at that part we
+drew some dead trees and after two hours of great exertion the passage of
+the boat-carriage and carts was effected, the latter sinking deeper in
+the water than they ever had done in any river which we had previously
+forded.
+
+THE EXPEDITION BROUGHT TO A STAND IN SOFT GROUND.
+
+We found the country beyond very intricate, being so intersected with
+swamps draining off in all directions, and so divided by stringybark
+forests, that it was next to impossible to avoid the soft swampy ground
+or reach the riverbank again. We headed one deep ravine falling towards
+it, and had indeed travelled in the desired direction about four miles
+further on dry ground, but only by winding about as the swamps permitted
+when at length the ground appeared to slope towards the river, being also
+covered with the fine grass and the kind of trees which usually grew near
+it. But this ground notwithstanding its firm appearance proved to be as
+soft as that of Mount Mud; and it spread at length around us on all sides
+except that from which we had approached it by so circuitous a route.
+
+EXCURSION BEYOND.
+
+We had no alternative but to cross this bad ground and, after finding out
+by careful examination the narrowest part, we prepared to puts to the
+nearest firm ground beyond, an undertaking infinitely more difficult and
+laborious to us than the passage of the broadest river. One of the carts
+was with much labour taken across and, being anxious to know the actual
+situation of the river, I rode southward into the wood taking with me the
+chain or measuring men, and leaving the rest of the people at work in the
+mud. I found much of the ground equally soft as I proceeded, but all
+consisted of excellent open forest land covered with good grass. I found
+there a woolly Correa, profusely covered with pink bell-shaped blossoms
+and small round rufous leaves;* and the beautiful Kennedya prostrata was
+climbing among the bushes and rendering them brilliant with its rich
+crimson flowers.
+
+(*Footnote. C. rotundifolia, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis rufis
+villosissimis, foliis subrotundis brevi-petiolatis supra scabris subtus
+villosis saepius emarginatis, corollis campanulatis brevibus
+subtetrapetalis, calyce truncato rufo villosissimo.)
+
+REACH A FINE POINT ON THE RIVER.
+
+At length I approached a ravine on the left which I at first took for
+that of the river; but I soon perceived through the trees on my right a
+still greater opening, and there I at last found the valley of the
+Glenelg. In the ravine to the left ran another small stream rather larger
+than that crossed yesterday. We reached the bank of this at 2 3/4 miles
+from the place where we left the party and at about half a mile above its
+junction with the main stream. The high ground between the two streams
+terminated in a round grassy promontory overlooking one of the finest
+flats imaginable. I determined to endeavour once more to explore the
+river's course with the boats; provided we should succeed in transporting
+them over the mud to this spot; and I returned with this intention to the
+muddy scene where I had left the men. It was quite dark before I found it
+again and then they had succeeded in getting through only the three light
+carts. I did not despair of accomplishing the passage, at least in the
+course of time; but I was indeed impatient for daylight that I might
+carefully examine with that view all parts of the country between our
+camp and the place where I intended to launch the boats into the Glenelg
+again.
+
+THE CARTS EXTRICATED BY PROCEEDING WITH GREAT CAUTION.
+
+August 16.
+
+This morning it rained heavily and there was a balmy and refreshing
+mildness in the air, probably owing to the vicinity of the sea. It
+occurred to me that, as the ground appeared to slope towards the
+south-east, we might reach some hollow on that side leading to the little
+river we discovered yesterday; and that such a hollow would afford the
+best chance of escape from the soft flats which now impeded us, since the
+drainage they afforded to the immediate banks was likely to leave them at
+least firm enough to be travelled upon. On this principle alone I
+understood why the ground on the banks of the stream seen yesterday was
+so firm; and I therefore hoped that the head of any ravine found near our
+camp would lead by a dry though perhaps circuitous route first to the
+tributary, and next by its bank to the point already mentioned where it
+joined the Glenelg. I accordingly instructed Mr. Stapylton to examine the
+ground in the direction proposed while I superintended the exertions of
+the party to drag the boat-carriage through the mud. We finally succeeded
+in this last effort and, just as I stood watching with joy the ascent of
+the carriage to the firm ground beyond, Mr. Stapylton came to me with the
+intelligence that he had found the head of a ravine and firm ground on
+its bank in the direction where he had been. One bad place alone
+intervened between our present position and the firm ground at the head
+of the ravine but this Mr. Stapylton said was very bad indeed. By 10 A.M.
+everything was got across the first swamp, the loads of all the carts
+having been carried by the men. To the new difficulty mentioned by Mr.
+Stapylton I therefore led them next, and we soon accomplished the passage
+of the light carts; after which I proceeded, leaving to Mr. Stapylton the
+management of the rest, having first brought the boat-carriage within
+reach of the firm ground opposite by means of blocks and tackle attached
+to trees and drawn by five bullocks. On going forward with the carts I
+was guided altogether by the course of the ravine or gully, keeping along
+the fall of the ground and so avoiding the softer soil above. Thus we
+proceeded successfully for, although another ravine came in our way, I
+managed to travel round its head near which I found a place where we
+crossed the small watercourse it contained by filling up the chasm with
+logs. On passing this we entered the stringybark forest which I had
+traversed on the day previous; and I at length recognised through the
+trees the hill from which I had seen the junction of the streams. A
+tremendous hailstorm met us in the face just as we descended to encamp in
+the valley near the bank of the river, but this troubled us but little
+while we were up to the waist in the thickest crop of grass growing on
+the richest black soil I had ever seen. Mr. Stapylton and Burnett came up
+in the evening with the intelligence that the whole party had effected a
+safe passage across the swampy ground; but that the wheels of the
+boat-carriage and some of the carts had sunk deep in the earth where I
+had previously crossed on horseback followed by the light carts without
+leaving any impression, and that consequently they had made but little
+progress beyond the camp.
+
+August 17.
+
+I sent Burnett back with some spare bullocks to assist the people in
+bringing on the carts and the boat-carriage, a man having been despatched
+from them early to inform me that the carriage had again stuck fast.
+Piper drew my attention to the sound of a distant waterfall which he said
+he had heard all night and wished now to go down the river to look at. I
+directed him to do so and to examine the river also still further if he
+could, that he might bring back information as to how the boats might get
+down the stream. On his return in the afternoon he stated that the river
+was joined just below by several large streams from the left, and by one
+still larger from the right which, falling on rocks, made the noise he
+had heard during the night; also that on climbing a high tree he had seen
+the river very large "like the Murray," adding that it was excellent for
+boats. All this news only made me the more impatient to embark in them
+while they were still afar on the muddy hills.
+
+THE WHOLE EQUIPMENT REACHES THE RIVER.
+
+The whole day passed without any tidings of their approach, and another
+night had closed over us before I heard the distant calls of the
+bullock-drivers; but I had the satisfaction soon after of seeing the
+whole party and equipment again united on the banks of this promising
+stream. The barometer was rising, the spring advancing, and the
+approaching warmth might be expected to harden the ground. The cattle
+would be refreshed by a week's rest in the midst of the rich pasture
+around us, while our labours to all appearance were on the eve of being
+crowned by the discovery of some harbour which might serve as a port to
+one of the finest regions upon earth. At all events if we could no longer
+travel on land, we had at length arrived with two boats within reach of
+the sea, and this alone was a pleasing reflection after the delays we had
+lately experienced.
+
+THE BOATS LAUNCHED ON THE GLENELG.
+
+August 18.
+
+An uncommonly fine morning succeeded a clear frosty night. The boats were
+hoisted out to be launched once on the bosom of the newly discovered
+Glenelg; and they were loaded with what the party going with them might
+require for ten days. I left with Mr. Stapylton instructions that the men
+under his charge should move up to and occupy the round point of the
+hill, a position which I named Fort O'Hare in memory of a truly brave
+soldier, my commanding officer who fell at Badajoz in leading the forlorn
+hope of the Light Division to the storm.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON LEFT WITH A DEPOT AT FORT O'HARE.
+
+At twelve o'clock I embarked on the river with sixteen men in two boats,
+leaving eight with Mr. Stapylton in the depot.
+
+CHARACTER OF THE RIVER.
+
+We met with many dead trees for the first mile or two, but none of these
+either prevented or delayed our passage; and the river then widened into
+fine reaches wholly clear of timber, so that the passage further down was
+quite uninterrupted. The scenery on the banks was pleasing and various:
+at some points picturesque limestone cliffs overhung the river, and
+cascades flowed out of caverns hung with stalactites; at others the
+shores were festooned with green dripping shrubs and creepers, or
+terminated in a smooth grassy bank sloping to the water's edge. But none
+of the banks consisted of water-worn earth; they were in general low and
+grassy, bounding the alluvial flats that lay between the higher points of
+land. Within the first three or four miles from Fort O'Hare two
+tributaries joined the main stream from the right or westward, and one
+from the left or eastward: one of the former ending in a noisy cascade at
+the junction. The river soon opened to a uniform width of sixty yards,
+its waters being everywhere smooth and unruffled and the current scarcely
+perceptible.
+
+Ornithorynchus paradoxus.
+
+Ducks were always to be seen in the reaches before us, and very
+frequently the Ornithorynchus paradoxus, an animal which had not, I
+believe, been hitherto seen so near the sea. After rowing about sixteen
+miles we landed on the left bank near a cascade falling from under a
+limestone cliff and there we encamped for the night. The sun was setting
+in a cloudless sky while I eagerly ascended the highest cliffs in hopes
+of obtaining a sight of the coast, but nothing was visible beyond a
+gently undulating woody country, some swamps alone appearing in it to the
+westward. The land about the cliffs of limestone was tolerably good and
+grassy, but towards the end of this day's pull forests of the stringybark
+sort of eucalyptus, having in them trees of large dimensions, closed on
+the river. We endeavoured but in vain to catch fish, and whether the
+waters contained the cod-perch (Gristes peelii) or not remained a
+question. Our position and our prospects were now extremely interesting
+and throughout the night I was impatient for the light of the next day.
+
+COURSE OF THE RIVER.
+
+August 19.
+
+I arose at three in order to determine the latitude more exactly by the
+altitude of various stars then approaching the meridian. These were Aries
+and Menkar; while the two feet of the Centaur, both fine circumpolar
+stars, were so steadily reflected in the placid stream that I obtained by
+that means the altitude of both BELOW THE POLE. It was most essential to
+the accuracy of my survey of the river that I should determine the
+latitude as frequently and exactly as possible. The sun afterwards rose
+in a cloudless sky and I ascertained the breadth of the river by means of
+a micrometer telescope to be exactly 70 yards. We continued our
+interesting voyage and found the river of very uniform width and that its
+depth increased.
+
+The current was slower but still perceptible although we found the water
+had ebbed six inches during the night an indication that it was already
+influenced by the tide although it tasted perfectly fresh. At a place
+where I observed the sun's meridian altitude I found the breadth on
+measurement to be 71 yards and the depth on sounding, 4 1/2, 3 1/2 and 3
+fathoms. The direction of the course had there however changed. To the
+camp of last night it had been remarkably straight towards
+south-south-east although full of turnings being what may be termed
+straight serpentine,* and I had accordingly expected to find the estuary
+at Portland Bay in which case it was likely to be sheltered sufficiently
+by Cape Nelson to form a harbour. Now however the general course was
+nearly west and it preserved the same general direction without much
+winding during the progress we made throughout the day. I had therefore
+every reason to suppose that it would thus terminate in the wide bay
+between Cape Northumberland and Cape Bridgewater. The scenery on the long
+reaches was in many places very fine from the picturesque character of
+the limestone-rock and the tints and outline of the trees, shrubs, and
+creepers upon the banks. In some places stalactitic grottoes covered with
+red and yellow creepers overhung or enclosed cascades; at other points
+casuarinae and banksia were festooned with creeping vines whose hues of
+warm green or brown were relieved by the grey cliffs of more remote
+reaches as they successively opened before us.
+
+(*Footnote. See Colonel Jackson's paper also referred to above.)
+
+BLACK SWANS.
+
+Black swans being numerous, we shot several; and found some eggs which we
+thought a luxury among the bulrushes at the water's edge. But we had
+left, as it seemed, all the good grassy land behind us; for the
+stringybark and a species of Xanthorrhoea (grass-tree) grew to the
+water's edge both where the soil looked black and rich and where it
+possessed that red colour which distinguishes the best soil in the
+vicinity of limestone rock. One or two small tributaries joined the river
+the principal one coming from the left bank at that point or angle where
+the great change takes place in its course. When the sun was near setting
+we put ashore on this bank and from a tree on the highest part of the
+country behind it we now once again saw Mount Gambier bearing 57 degrees
+West of North.
+
+WATER BRACKISH.
+
+Here the water was slightly brackish but still very good for use; the
+saltness being most perceptible when the water was used for tea. The
+river had increased considerably both in width and depth; for here the
+measured breadth was 101 yards and the mean depth five fathoms. (See
+section on general Map.) It was upon the whole considering the permanent
+fulness of its stream the character of its banks and uniformity of width
+and depth the finest body of fresh water I had seen in Australia; and our
+hopes were that day sanguine that we should find an outlet to the sea of
+proportionate magnitude.
+
+August 20.
+
+This morning I found there was a rise of six inches in the river,
+evidently the effect of tide as the water was brackish although still fit
+for use. The reach on which we embarked afforded us a view for a mile
+further down the river; the vista being truly picturesque and with the
+interest attached to the scene it looked indeed quite enchanting. We
+pulled on through the silent waters, awakening the slumbering echoes with
+many a shot at the numerous swans or ducks. At length another change took
+place in the general course of the river which from west turned to
+east-south-east. The height of the banks appeared to diminish rapidly and
+a very numerous flock of the small sea-swallow or tern indicated our
+vicinity to the sea. The slow-flying pelican also with its huge bill
+pursued, regardless of strangers its straight-forward course over the
+waters.
+
+ISLE OF BAGS.
+
+A small bushy island next came in sight having on it some rocks
+resembling what we should have thought a great treasure then, a pile of
+flour-bags and we named it accordingly the Isle of Bags.
+
+ARRIVAL AT THE SEACOAST.
+
+Soon after passing the island a few low, sandy-looking hills appeared
+before us; and we found ourselves between two basins where in the water
+was very shallow although we had sounded just previously to entering one
+of them in four fathoms. The widest lay directly before us but having no
+outlet we steered into the other on the right and on rounding a low rocky
+point we saw the green rolling breakers of the sea through an opening
+which proved to be the mouth of the river. It consisted of two low rocky
+points and as soon as we had pulled outside of them we landed on the
+eastern one. In the two basins we had seen there was scarcely sufficient
+water to float the boats and thus our hopes of finding a port at the
+mouth of this fine river were at once at an end. The sea broke on a sandy
+beach outside and on ascending one of the sandhills near it I perceived
+Cape Northumberland; the rocks outside called the Carpenters bearing 7
+degrees 20 minutes South of West (variation 3 degrees 30 minutes) and
+being distant, as I judged, about fifteen miles. Mount Gambier bore 23
+degrees 40 minutes North of West and a height which seemed near the
+extreme point of the coast on the eastward and which I therefore took for
+Cape Bridge water bore 52 degrees East of South.
+
+DISCOVERY BAY.
+
+These points seemed distant from each other about forty miles; the line
+of coast between forming one grand curve or bay which received this river
+at the deepest part and which I now named Discovery Bay.
+
+MOUTH OF THE GLENELG.
+
+There was no reef of rocks upon the bar; a circumstance to be regretted
+in this case for it was obvious that the entrance to this fine river and
+the two basins was choked merely by the sand thrown up by the sea. The
+river was four fathoms deep, the water being nearly fresh enough for use
+within sight of the shore. Unfortunately perhaps for navigation there is
+but little tide on that coast; the greatest rise in the lower part of the
+river (judging by the floating weeds) did not exceed a foot. I was too
+intent on the completion of my survey to indulge much in contemplating
+the welcome sight of old ocean; but when a plank was picked up by the men
+on that desolate shore and we found the initials IWB and the year 1832
+carved on wood which had probably grown in old England the sea really
+seemed like home to us. Although it was low water a boat might easily
+have been got out and it is probable that in certain states of the tide
+and sand small craft might get in; but I nevertheless consider the mouth
+of this river quite unavailable as a harbour.
+
+WATERHOLES DUG IN THE BEACH.
+
+Near the beach were holes dug apparently by the natives in which we found
+the water perfectly sweet. The hills sheltering the most eastern of the
+two basins were well wooded as were also those behind. The line of
+sandhills on the beach seemed to rise into forest hills at about five
+miles further eastward and all those in the west to within a short
+distance of the coast were equally woody. The day was squally with rain;
+nevertheless during an interval of sunshine I obtained the sun's meridian
+altitude making the latitude 38 degrees 2 minutes 58 seconds South. I
+also completed by two P.M. my survey of the mouth of the river and
+adjacent country; and we then again embarked to return a few miles up the
+river and encamp where wood and water were at hand. On reentering the
+river from the sea I presented the men with a bottle of whisky with which
+it was formally named the Glenelg after the present Secretary of State
+for the Colonies according to my previous intention.
+
+REMARKABLE HOLLOW.
+
+August 21.
+
+We had encamped in a rather remarkable hollow on the right bank at the
+extreme western bend of the river. There was no modern indication that
+water either lodged in or ran through that ravine although the channel
+resembled in width the bed of some considerable tributary; the rock
+presenting a section of cliffs on each side and the bottom being broad
+but consisting of black earth only in which grew trees of eucalyptus. I
+found on following it some way up that it led to a low tract of country
+which I regretted much I could not then examine further. I found shells
+embedded in limestone varying considerably in its hardness being
+sometimes very friable and the surface in some places presenting
+innumerable fragments of corallines, with pectens, spatangi, echini,
+ostrea and foraminifera.
+
+LIMESTONE CAVERN.
+
+In the opposite bank of the river I found several thin strata of compact
+chert containing probably fragments of corallines, not only on the
+surface but embedded in the limestone. In pulling up the river this
+morning we observed a cavern or opening in the side of the limestone rock
+and having ascended to it by means of a rope we entered with lights. It
+proved to be only a large fissure and after penetrating about 150 yards
+underground we met with red earth, apparently fallen from the surface. We
+found at the mouth of the fissure some fine specimens of shells, coral,
+and other marine productions, embedded in several thin strata of a
+coarser structure under one of very compact limestone upwards of 20 feet
+thick.*
+
+(*Footnote. In the fragments brought home Mr. George Sowerby found a
+nucula, very much resembling some species of South America although not
+like any from Australia. Portions of lucinae, echinus, spatangi, and
+turritella or melania, were comprised in specimens from a softer stratum
+which was the lowest.)
+
+ONE FISH CAUGHT IN THE GLENELG.
+
+While the people in the boat awaited us there a fish was taken by
+Muirhead who had also caught the first fish in the river Darling. That of
+the Glenelg was a saltwater fish known at Sydney by the name of Snapper.*
+
+(*Footnote. This was the only fish caught in the Glenelg notwithstanding
+the men threw in their lines whenever we encamped on its banks. The
+weather was too cold for it was evident the river did contain fish from
+the trellised work which the natives had set across it in the upper
+parts.)
+
+STORMY WEATHER.
+
+The weather was more moderate today although still showery; and the
+scenery as we proceeded upwards was very picturesque and full of variety.
+At sunset we encamped about a mile and a half short of our camp of the
+18th and just as the trees were groaning under a heavy squall which
+obliged us to land on the first spot where sufficient room was left in
+the thick woods for our tents. This spot happened to be on a steep bit of
+bank; and in the evening I was called in haste to a new danger. The wind
+had suddenly changed and blew with great fury filling my tent with sparks
+from a large fire which burnt before it. I had placed in it according to
+usual custom our stock of ammunition in a keg; and notwithstanding these
+precautions its preservation now between the two elements of fire and
+water was rather doubtful. We contrived however to avert the danger and
+were no more disturbed during the night except by the storm.
+
+RETURN TO THE DEPOT.
+
+August 22.
+
+The squally weather continued until noon when sunbeams again adorned the
+river-scenery. We met with no impediment in the current until within
+about six miles of the depot camp when dead trees in the channel began
+again to appear; but we passed them all without hindrance and reached
+Fort O'Hare at two o'clock where we found all well. Mr. Stapylton had set
+Vulcan to repair the broken chains etc., a ford had been cleared across
+the stream from the north-east which I named the Crawford; and the cattle
+being refreshed we were once more in trim to continue the land journey.
+The height of the water in the river had undergone no change during our
+absence and was probably about its usual level there although I observed
+abundant marks of flood in the branches of trees where dry floated matter
+remained at the height of fifteen feet above the water as it stood then.
+The rock about this position consisted of limestone apparently similar to
+that seen on its banks higher up. (See August 15.) It possessed a
+stalactitic aspect by the infiltration of calcareous matter and in
+crevices below I found a reddish stalagmite containing grains of sand.
+Large petrified oyster shells lay loosely about the bank above these
+cliffs. No natives had approached the depot during our absence and we had
+indeed reason to believe that the adjacent country contained but few
+inhabitants.
+
+DIFFERENCE IN LONGITUDE.
+
+During the afternoon I laid down my survey of the estuary of the Glenelg
+and completed by 10 P.M., not only my plan of it but that of the river
+also. I found a considerable difference between the result of my survey
+and the Admiralty charts not only in the longitude but also in the
+relative position of the two capes with respect to Mount Gambier a
+solitary hill easily recognised.*
+
+(*Footnote. At that time I supposed the difference had arisen from some
+error or omission in my map and took much pains to discover it; but not
+having succeeded my work having also closed to a mile and three-quarters
+on my return to the country connected by trigonometrical survey with
+Sydney I have been obliged to represent these parts of the coast
+according to this land survey.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.11.
+
+Leave the Glenelg and travel eastward.
+Cross the Crawford.
+Boggy character of its sources.
+Recross the Rifle range.
+Heavy timber the chief impediment.
+Travelling also difficult from the softness of the ground.
+Excursion southward to Portland Bay.
+Mount Eckersley.
+Cross the Fitzroy.
+Cross the Surry.
+Lady Julia Percy's Isle.
+Beach of Portland Bay.
+A vessel at anchor.
+House and farming establishment there.
+Whale fishery.
+Excursion to Cape Nelson.
+Mount Kincaid.
+A whale chase.
+Sagacity of the natives on the coast.
+Mount Clay.
+Return to the camp.
+Still retarded by the soft soil.
+Leave one of the boats, and reduce the size of the boat carriage.
+Excursion to Mount Napier.
+Cross some fine streams.
+Natives very timid.
+Crater of Mount Napier or Murroa.
+View from the summit.
+Return to the Camp.
+Mr. Stapylton's excursion to the north-west.
+The Shaw.
+Conduct the carts along the highest ground.
+Again ascend Murroa and partially clear the summit.
+Mount Rouse.
+Australian Pyrenees.
+Swamps harder than the ground around them.
+Again reach the good country.
+Mounts Bainbrigge and Pierrepoint.
+Mount Sturgeon.
+Ascend Mount Abrupt.
+View of the Grampians from the summit.
+Victoria range and the Serra.
+Mud again, and a broken axle.
+Mr. Stapylton examines the country before us.
+At length get through the soft region.
+Cattle quite exhausted.
+Determine to leave them in a depot to refresh while I proceed forward.
+Specimens of natural history.
+Situation of depot camp at Lake Repose.
+
+LEAVE THE GLENELG AND TRAVEL EASTWARD.
+
+August 23.
+
+Having at length disposed of the course of the Glenelg, my next object
+was to cross and examine the high ground which enclosed its basin on the
+east supplying those tributaries which the river received from its left
+bank, and evidently extending from the Grampians to Cape Bridgewater. I
+had named this the Rifle range in crossing that branch of it extending
+north-westward when I ascertained its characteristics to be lofty woods
+and swamps; but its ramifications in other directions and how it was
+connected backwards with the mountains still remained to be discovered;
+and from what I did know of this range I apprehended considerable
+difficulty in getting over it with our heavy carriages at such a season.
+That we might if possible escape the bogs, I devoted the day to an
+extensive reconnaissance of the country before us; my guide in this case
+being the river Crawford which, flowing in deep ravines, was likely to
+afford (so long as its general course continued to be nearly parallel to
+our route) one means at least of avoiding those soft swampy flats which
+could not possibly impede us so long as the side of such a ravine as that
+of the river was within reach. I had the good fortune to find that the
+range in general was firm under the hoof, and its direction precisely
+such as I wished. Extensive swamps occasionally appeared on my right; but
+I had on the left the deep ravines of the Crawford, and I travelled
+across the highest slopes of the ground. Having thus found good sound
+turf for twelve miles in the direction in which I wished to take the
+carriages, I returned on descending from a trap range where the rock
+consisted of granular felspar and hornblende with crystals of glassy
+felspar. On this hill the soil was exceedingly rich and the grass green
+and luxuriant. I obtained thence a most useful bearing on Mount Gambier,
+and saw also some heights to the eastward beyond the Rifle range. The
+timber grew to an enormous size on the ranges which I traversed this day;
+it consisted chiefly of that species of eucalyptus known as stringybark.
+Some of the trees we measured were 13 feet and one as much as 14 1/2 feet
+in circumference, and 80 feet was no uncommon height. The fallen timber
+was of such magnitude as to present a new impediment to our progress for
+we had not previously met with such an obstruction on any journey.
+
+CROSS THE CRAWFORD.
+
+August 24.
+
+The carriages were taken across the Crawford without much delay
+considering its depth and the softness of the banks. The carts sank at
+least five feet in the water yet nothing was damaged for we had taken
+care to pack the flour and other perishable articles on the tops of the
+loads. We succeeded in crossing the rivulets at the heads of several
+ravines by filling up their channels with logs; and thus, after crossing
+the last of these, and ascending the steep bank beyond it, we encamped
+after a journey of seven miles. The weather had been stormy on both days
+since I crossed the Crawford, a circumstance very much against our
+progress. Near this camp we found a new Correa, resembling C. virens but
+having distinctly cordate toothed leaves with less down on their
+underside and a much shorter calyx.*
+
+(*Footnote. C. cordifolia, Lindley manuscripts; stellato-tomentosa,
+foliis subsessilibus cordatis ovatis denticulatis obtusis planis supra
+glabris, corollis tubulosis cernuis, calyce truncato brevissimo.)
+
+BOGGY CHARACTER OF ITS SOURCES.
+
+August 25.
+
+In our progress eastward we were still governed by the line of the
+Crawford; and the tortuous direction of the ravines connected with it
+required constant attention, while the very variable character of the
+swamps at the head of them was still more perplexing. We succeeded in
+finding a passage between all this day also and, on again crossing a
+small mountain torrent by filling up the chasm with dead timber, we
+encamped after another journey of seven miles. On our left to the
+northward lay a deep valley in which we found a broad sheet of water
+covered with ducks, the banks being soft and overgrown with reeds. A
+considerable stream flowed westward from this lake through a narrow part
+of the valley, so that I concluded we were still on the principal branch
+of the Crawford. Trees of large dimensions were abundant and the fallen
+timber impeded our progress even more than any unusual softness of the
+earth.
+
+August 26.
+
+After proceeding several miles without lett or hindrance, having
+successfully crossed some swampy rivulets all flowing to the left amidst
+thick scrubs, we at length arrived at a watercourse in which my horse
+went down, and which filled a very wide swampy bed enclosed by a thick
+growth of young mimosa trees, through which it was necessary to cut a
+passage wide enough for the carts. The scrub having been thus cleared to
+the extent of about 100 yards with much labour, I found only then
+unfortunately that although the roots grew very closely, and that water
+flowed over the surface, the earth was withal so soft that I could at
+every point with ease push a stick five feet down without reaching any
+firm bottom. The loose cattle were driven in, an experiment which until
+then we had tried with success in doubtful places, but they with
+difficulty got across this, for one of them sank and could not be
+extricated without considerable delay. While the men were busily employed
+there I rode to the head of the swamp which extended about a mile to the
+southward. On this swampy plain I at length succeeded in finding, with
+Mr. Stapylton's assistance, a line of route likely to bear the carts and
+we passed safely in that direction, not one carriage having gone down.
+While on this swampy surface we distinctly heard the breakers of the sea
+apparently at no great distance to the south-west, and I was convinced
+that the head of this swamp was about the highest ground immediately
+adjacent to Discovery Bay. On travelling a mile and a half further we
+reached a small rivulet, the first we had crossed flowing to the south.
+Beyond it the country appeared open and good, consisting of what is
+termed forest land with casuarinae and banksia growing upon it.
+
+RECROSS THE RIFLE RANGE.
+
+We had at length reached the highest parts of the range and were about to
+descend into the country beyond it. We continued to travel a considerable
+distance further than the rivulet flowing to the south. Crossing others
+running northward or to the left, and leaving also on the same side a
+swamp, we finally came to a higher range clothed with trees of gigantic
+size, attesting the strength and depth of the soil, and here enormous old
+trunks obstructed our passage, covering the surface so as to form an
+impediment almost as great to us as the swampy ground had been; but this
+large timber so near the coast was an important feature in that country.
+Piper, having climbed to the top of one of these trees, perceived some
+fine green hills to the south-east, saying they were very near us and
+that the sea was visible beyond them. It was late in the afternoon when I
+reluctantly changed my intended route, which had been until then
+eastward, to proceed in the direction recommended by Piper, or to the
+south-east and so to follow down a valley, instead of my proposed route
+which had been along a favourable range.
+
+HEAVY TIMBER THE CHIEF IMPEDIMENT.
+
+I had still less reason to be satisfied with the change when, after
+pushing my horse through thick scrubs and bogs until twilight and looking
+in vain for a passage for the carts, I encountered at length bushes so
+thickly set and bogs so soft that any further progress in that direction
+was out of the question; and thus on the evening when I hoped to have
+entered a better sort of country after so successful a passage of the
+range we encamped where but little grass could be found for the cattle,
+our tents being not only under lofty trees but amongst thick bushes and
+bogs during very rainy weather.
+
+TRAVELLING ALSO DIFFICULT FROM THE SOFTNESS OF THE GROUND.
+
+August 27.
+
+I was so anxious to get into open ground again that, as soon as daylight
+permitted, I carefully examined the environs of our camp, and I found
+that we occupied a broad flat where the drainage from the hills met and
+spread among bushes, so that at one time I almost despaired of
+extricating the party otherwise than by returning to the hill at which I
+had first altered my route. The track we made had been however so much
+cut up by our wheels that I preferred the chance of finding a passage
+northward which, of course, was also less out of our way. We reached an
+extremity of the hill (the nearest to us on that side) with much less
+difficulty than I had reason to apprehend and, keeping along that
+feature, we soon regained a range which led us east-north-east. By
+proceeding in this direction however we could not avoid the passage of a
+valley where the water was not confined to any channel, but spread and
+lodged on a wide tract of very soft ground, also covered with mimosa
+bushes and a thick growth of young saplings of eucalyptus. The light
+carts and the first heavy cart got over this soft ground or bog, but the
+others and the boat carriage sank up to the axles so that we were obliged
+to halt after having proceeded about five miles only. This was near a
+fine forest-hill consisting of trap-rock in a state of decomposition, but
+apparently similar to that of the trap-rock I had ascended on the 23rd of
+August; and from a tree there Burnett thought he saw the sea to the
+north-east, and even to the northward of a remarkable conical hill. The
+discovery of the sea in that direction was so different from the
+situation of the shore as laid down on the maps that I began to hope an
+inlet might exist there as yet undiscovered, the "Cadong," perhaps, of
+the native woman, "where white men had never been."*
+
+(*Footnote. See above.)
+
+EXCURSION SOUTHWARD TO PORTLAND BAY.
+
+I had now proceeded far enough to the eastward to be able to examine the
+coast about Portland Bay and extend my survey to the capes in its
+neighbourhood, the better to ascertain their longitude. I therefore
+determined to make an excursion in that direction and thus afford time
+not only for the extrication of the heavy carts still remaining in the
+mud but also for the repose of the cattle after their labours.
+
+August 28.
+
+By the survey proposed I hoped to extend my map of the country
+sufficiently in that direction to be at liberty, on my return to the
+party, to pursue a route directly homeward; not doubting that at a short
+distance to the northward of our camp we should again enter the beautiful
+open country which, when seen from the mouth of the Wannon, seemed to
+extend as far as could be seen to the eastward. In our ride to the south
+we reached, at four miles from the boggy ground, a fine green hill
+consisting of trap-rock and connected with a ridge of the same
+description which extended about two miles further to the southward.
+
+MOUNT ECKERSLEY.
+
+There we found it to terminate abruptly in a lofty brow, quite clear of
+timber and commanding an extensive view to the east and south over a much
+lower country. This hill had a very remarkable feature--a deep chasm
+separating it from the ridge behind, the sides being so steep as to
+present a section of the trap-rock which consisted principally of compact
+felspar. The hill which I named Mount Eckersley was covered, as well as
+the ridge to which it belonged, with a luxuriant crop of anthisterium, or
+kangaroo grass. Unfortunately the weather was squally but, by awaiting
+the intervals between clouds on the horizon, I obtained angles at length
+on nearly all the distant hills, the waters of Portland Bay just
+appearing in the south over an intervening woody ridge. From this hill I
+recognised a very conspicuous flat-topped hill to the northward which had
+been previously included in a series of angles observed on the 12th
+instant from the valley of the Wannon and which I now named Mount Napier.
+Portland Bay was distant about fifteen miles but the intervening country
+seemed so low, and swamps entirely clear of timber appeared in so many
+places, that I could scarcely hope to get through it: knowing it to
+contain all the water from those boggy valleys where our progress had
+been already so much impeded. Smoke arose from various parts of the lower
+country--a proof that at least some dry land was there. We were provided
+with horses only, and therefore desperately determined to flounder
+through or even to swim if necessary, we thrust them down the hill. On
+its side we met an emu which stood and stared, apparently fearless as if
+the strange quadrupeds had withdrawn its keen eye from the more familiar
+enemies who bestrode them. In the lower country we saw also a kangaroo,
+an animal that seldom frequents marshy lands. I was agreeably surprised
+to find also, on descending, that the rich grass extended among the trees
+across the lower country; and I was still more pleased on coming to a
+fine running stream at about three miles from the hill and after crossing
+a tract of land of the richest description. Reeds grew thickly amongst
+the long grass, and the ground appeared to be of a different character
+from any that I had previously seen. This seemed to be just such land as
+would produce wheat during the driest seasons and never become sour even
+in the wettest, such as this season undoubtedly was.
+
+CROSS THE FITZROY.
+
+The timber was thin and light and, with a fine deep stream flowing
+through it, the tract which at first sight from Mount Eckersley I had
+considered so sterile and wet proved to be one likely at no distant day
+to smile under luxuriant crops of grain. We found the river (which I
+named the Fitzroy) fordable, although deep at the place where we first
+came upon it. Shady trees of the mimosa kind grew along the banks and the
+earth was now good and firm on both sides. We heard the natives as we
+approached this stream and cooeyed to them; but our calls had only the
+effect, as appeared from the retiring sound of their voices, of making
+them run faster away. Continuing our ride southward we entered at two
+miles beyond the Fitzroy a forest of the stringybark eucalyptus; and
+although the anthisterium still grew in hollows I saw swampy open flats
+before us which I endeavoured to avoid, sometimes by passing between them
+and finally by turning to a woody range on the left. I ascended this
+range as night came on, in hopes of finding grass for our horses; but
+there the mimosa and xanthorrhoea alone prevailed--the latter being a
+sure indication of sterility and scanty vegetation. We found naked ground
+higher up consisting of deep lagoons and swamps amongst which I was
+satisfied with my success in passing through in such a direction as
+enabled me to regain, in a dark and stormy night, the shelter of the
+woods on the side of the range. But I sought in vain for the grass, so
+abundant elsewhere on this day's ride, and we were at length under the
+necessity of halting for the night where but little food could be found
+for our horses, and under lofty trees that creaked and groaned to the
+blast.
+
+August 29.
+
+The groaning trees had afforded us shelter without letting fall even a
+single branch upon our heads,* but the morning was squally and
+unfavourable for the objects of the excursion, and we had still to ride
+some way before I could commence operations. Proceeding along the skirts
+of the woody ridge on the left in order to avoid swamps, we at length saw
+through the trees the blue waters of the sea and heard the roar of the
+waves.
+
+(*Footnote. The Australian woods are in general very brittle, and no
+experienced bushman likes to sleep under trees, especially during high
+winds.)
+
+CROSS THE SURRY.
+
+My intended way towards the deepest part of the bay and the hills beyond
+it did not lead directly to the shore, and I continued to pursue a course
+through the woods, having the shore on our left. We thus met a deep and
+rapid little river exactly resembling the Fitzroy and coming also from
+the westward. Tracing this a short distance upwards we came to a place
+set with a sort of trelliswork of bushes by the natives for the purpose,
+no doubt, of catching fish. Here we found the stream fordable though
+deep; a brownish granular limestone appearing in the bank. We crossed and
+then continuing through a thick wood we came out at length on the shore
+of Portland Bay at about four miles beyond the little river.
+
+LADY JULIA PERCY'S ISLE.
+
+Straight before us lay Laurence's Island, or rather, islands, there being
+two small islets of rock in that situation; and, some way to the eastward
+I perceived a much larger island which I concluded was one of Lady Julia
+Percy's Isles. At a quarter of a mile back from the beach broad
+broom-topped casuarinae were the only trees we could see; these grew on
+long ridges parallel to the beach, resembling those long breakers which,
+aided by winds, had probably thrown such ridges up. They were abundantly
+covered with excellent grass and, as it wanted about an hour of noon, I
+halted that the cattle might feed while I took some angles and
+endeavoured to obtain the sun's altitude during the intervals between
+heavy squalls, some of which were accompanied by hail and thunder.
+
+BEACH OF PORTLAND BAY.
+
+On reaching the seashore at this beach I turned to observe the face of
+Tommy Came-last, one of my followers who, being a native from the
+interior, had never before seen the sea. I could not discover in the face
+of this young savage, even on his first view of the ocean, any expression
+of surprise; on the contrary the placid and comprehensive gaze he cast
+over it seemed fully to embrace the grand expanse then for the first time
+opened to him.
+
+A VESSEL AT ANCHOR. HOUSE AND FARMING ESTABLISHMENT THERE.
+
+I was much more astonished when he soon after came to tell me of the
+fresh tracks of cattle that he had found on the shore, and the shoemarks
+of a white man. He also brought me portions of tobacco-pipes and a glass
+bottle without a neck. That whaling vessels occasionally touched there I
+was aware, as was indeed obvious from the carcasses and bones of whales
+on the beach; but how cattle could have been brought there I did not
+understand. Proceeding round the bay with the intention of examining the
+head of an inlet and continuing along shore as far as Cape Bridgewater, I
+was struck with the resemblance to houses that some supposed grey rocks
+under the grassy cliffs presented; and while I directed my glass towards
+them my servant Brown said he saw a brig at anchor; a fact of which I was
+soon convinced and also that the grey rocks were in reality wooden
+houses. The most northern part of the shore of this bay was comparatively
+low, but the western consisted of bold cliffs rising to the height of 180
+feet.
+
+We ascended these cliffs near the wooden houses which proved to be some
+deserted sheds of the whalers. One shot was heard as we drew near them
+and another on our ascending the rocks. I then became somewhat
+apprehensive that the parties might either be, or suppose us to be,
+bushrangers and, to prevent if possible some such awkward mistake, I
+ordered a man to fire a gun and the bugle to be sounded; but on reaching
+the higher ground we discovered not only a beaten path but the track of
+two carts, and while we were following the latter a man came towards us
+from the face of the cliffs. He informed me in answer to my questions
+that the vessel at anchor was the Elizabeth of Launceston; and that just
+round the point there was a considerable farming establishment belonging
+to Messrs. Henty, who were then at the house. It then occurred to me that
+I might there procure a small additional supply of provisions, especially
+of flour, as my men were on very reduced rations. I therefore approached
+the house and was kindly received and entertained by the Messrs. Henty
+who as I learnt had been established there during upwards of two years.
+It was very obvious indeed from the magnitude and extent of the buildings
+and the substantial fencing erected that both time and labour had been
+expended in their construction. A good garden stocked with abundance of
+vegetables already smiled on Portland Bay; the soil was very rich on the
+overhanging cliffs, and the potatoes and turnips produced there surpassed
+in magnitude and quality any I had ever seen elsewhere.
+
+WHALE FISHERY.
+
+I learnt that the bay was much resorted to by vessels engaged in the
+whale fishery and that upwards of 700 tons of oil had been shipped that
+season. I was likewise informed that only a few days before my arrival
+five vessels lay at anchor together in that bay, and that a communication
+was regularly kept up with Van Diemen's Land by means of vessels from
+Launceston. Messrs. Henty were importing sheep and cattle as fast as
+vessels could be found to bring them over, and the numerous whalers
+touching at or fishing on the coast were found to be good customers for
+farm produce and whatever else could be spared from the establishment.
+
+Portland Bay is well sheltered from all winds except the east-south-east,
+and the anchorage is so good that a vessel is said to have rode out a
+gale even from this quarter. The part of the western shore where the land
+is highest shelters a small bay which might be made a tolerable harbour
+by means of two piers or quays erected on reefs of a kind of rock
+apparently very favourable for the purpose, namely amygdaloidal trap in
+rounded boulders. The present anchorage in four fathoms is on the outside
+of these reefs, and the water in this little bay is in general smooth
+enough for the landing of boats. A fine stream falls into the bay there
+and the situation seems altogether a most eligible one for the site of a
+town. The rock is trap consisting principally of felspar; and the soil is
+excellent as was amply testified by the luxuriant vegetation in Mr.
+Henty's garden.
+
+EXCURSION TO CAPE NELSON.
+
+August 30.
+
+I proceeded with the theodolite to a height near Cape Nelson and from it
+I intersected that cape and also Cape Bridgewater, Cape Sir William
+Grant, the islands to the eastward, etc.
+
+MOUNT KINCAID.
+
+I here recognised also the high hill which appeared within these capes
+when first seen from the westward. It formed the most elevated part of
+the Rifle range at its termination on the coast and I was informed by Mr.
+Henty that there was a fine lake at its base. I named the hill Mount
+Kincaid after my old and esteemed friend of Peninsular recollections.
+Returning to the party at Portland Bay where I had left my sextant, I
+then obtained a good observation on the sun's meridian altitude. I was
+accommodated with a small supply of flour by Messrs. Henty who, having
+been themselves on short allowance, were awaiting the arrival of a vessel
+then due two weeks. They also supplied us with as many vegetables as the
+men could carry away on their horses.
+
+A WHALE CHASE.
+
+Just as I was about to leave the place a whale was announced and
+instantly three boats well manned were seen cutting through the water, a
+harpooneer standing up at the stern of each with oar in hand and
+assisting the rowers by a forward movement at each stroke. It was not the
+least interesting scene in these my Australian travels thus to witness
+from a verandah on a beautiful afternoon at Portland Bay the humours of
+the whale fishery and all those wondrous perils of harpooneers and whale
+boats of which I had delighted to read as scenes of the stormy north. The
+object of the present pursuit was "a hunchback" and it being likely to
+occupy the boats for some time I proceeded homewards.
+
+SAGACITY OF THE NATIVES ON THE COAST.
+
+I understood it frequently happened that several parties of fishermen
+left by different whaling vessels would engage in the pursuit of the same
+whale, and that in the struggle for possession the whale would
+occasionally escape from them all and run ashore, in which case it is of
+little value to whalers as the removal, etc., would be too tedious and
+they in such cases carry away part of the head matter only. The natives
+never approach these whalers, nor had they ever shown themselves to the
+white people of Portland Bay but, as they have taken to eat the castaway
+whales, it is their custom to send up a column of smoke when a whale
+appears in the bay, and the fishers understand the signal. This affords
+an instance of the sagacity of the natives for they must have reflected
+that, by thus giving timely notice, a greater number will become
+competitors for the whale and that consequently there will be a better
+chance of the whale running ashore, in which case a share must fall
+finally to them. The fishers whom I saw were fine able fellows; and with
+their large ships and courageous struggles with the whales they must seem
+terrible men of the sea to the natives. The neat trim of their boats set
+up on stanchions on the beach looked well, with oars and in perfect
+readiness to dash at the moment's notice into the angry surge. Upon the
+whole, what with the perils they undergo and their incessant labour in
+boiling the oil, these men do not earn too cheaply the profits derived
+from that kind of speculation. I saw on the shore the wreck of a fine
+boat which had been cut in two by a single stroke of the tail of a whale.
+The men were about to cast their net into the sea to procure a supply of
+fish for us when the whale suddenly engaged all hands.
+
+We returned along the shore of the bay, intersecting at its estuary the
+mouth of the little river last crossed and which, at the request of Mr.
+Henty, I have named the Surry. This river enters Portland Bay in latitude
+38 degrees 15 minutes 43 seconds South; longitude (by my survey)141
+degrees 58 minutes East. We encamped on the rich grassy land just beyond
+and I occupied for the night a snug old hut of the natives.
+
+August 31.
+
+Early this morning Richardson caught a fine bream and I had indeed been
+informed by Messrs. Henty that these streams abound with this fish.
+
+MOUNT CLAY.
+
+On ascending the highest point of the hill immediately behind the estuary
+of the Surry and which I named Mount Clay, I found it consisted of good
+forest land, and that its ramifications extended over as much as three
+miles. Beyond it we descended into the valley of the Fitzroy, and at noon
+I ascertained the latitude where we had before forded it to be 38 degrees
+8 minutes 51 seconds South. The river had risen in the interim a foot and
+a half, so that we were obliged to carry the flour across on the heads of
+the men wading up to the neck. When we reached the summit of Mount
+Eckersley, the horizon being clear, I completed my series of angles on
+points visible from that station by observing the Julian Island and Mount
+Abrupt, two of great importance in my survey which were hidden from our
+sight by the squally weather when I was last on this hill.
+
+RETURN TO THE CAMP.
+
+We reached the camp about sunset and found all right there, the carts
+having been drawn out of the bogs, all the claw-chains repaired by the
+blacksmith, our hatchets resteeled, and two new shafts made for the heavy
+carts. Piper had during our absence killed abundance of kangaroos, and I
+now rejoiced at his success on account of the aboriginal portion of our
+party for whose stomachs, being of savage capacity, quantity was a more
+important consideration than quality in the article of food, and we were
+then living on a very reduced scale of rations. On my return from such
+excursions The Widow and her child frequently gave notice of our approach
+long before we reached the camp: their quick ears seemed sensible of the
+sound of horses' feet at an astonishing distance, for in no other way
+could the men account for the notice which Turandurey and her child,
+seated at their own fire, were always the first to give of my return,
+sometimes long before our appearance at the camp. Piper was usually the
+first to meet me and assure me of the safety of the party, as if he had
+taken care of it during my absence; and I encouraged his sense of
+responsibility by giving him credit for the security they had enjoyed. A
+serene evening, lovely in itself, looked doubly beautiful then as our
+hopes of getting home were inseparable from fine weather, for on this
+chance our final escape from the mud and bogs seemed very much to depend.
+The barometer however indicated rather doubtfully.
+
+September 1.
+
+Heavy rain and fog detained us in the same camp this morning and I
+availed myself of the day for the purpose of laying down my recent
+survey. The results satisfied me that the coastline on the engraved map
+was very defective and indeed the indentations extended so much deeper
+into the land that I still entertained hopes of finding some important
+inlet to the eastward, analogous to that remarkable break of the mountain
+chain at Mount William.
+
+STILL RETARDED BY THE SOFT SOIL.
+
+September 2.
+
+We travelled as much in a north-east direction as the ground permitted
+but, although I should most willingly have followed the connecting
+features whatever their directions, I could not avoid the passage of
+various swamps or boggy soft hollows in which the carts and more
+especially the boat-carriage, notwithstanding the greatest exertions on
+the part of the men, again sank up to the axles. I had proceeded with the
+light carts and one heavy cart nearly nine miles while the boat-carriage
+fell at least six miles behind me, the other heavy carts having also been
+retarded from the necessity for yoking additional teams to the cattle
+drawing the boats. The weather was still unsettled and the continued
+rains had at length made the surface so soft that even to ride over it
+was in many places difficult. I had reached some fine forest land on the
+bank of a running stream where the features were bolder, and I hoped to
+arrive soon at the good country near the head of the Wannon. I encamped
+without much hope that the remainder of the party could join us that
+night and they in fact did remain six miles behind. I had never been more
+puzzled in my travels than I was with respect to the nature of the
+country before us then. Mount Napier bore 74 degrees East of North
+distant about 16 miles. The little rivulet was flowing northward, and yet
+we had not reached the interior side of that elevated though swampy
+ground dividing the fine valleys we had seen further westward from the
+country sloping towards the sea.
+
+LEAVE ONE OF THE BOATS, AND REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE BOAT CARRIAGE.
+
+September 3.
+
+This morning we had steady rain accompanied as usual by a north-west
+wind; I remarked also that at any rise of the barometer after such rain
+the wind changed to the south-east in situations near the coast, or to
+the north-east when we were more inland. I sent back the cattle we had
+brought forward to this camp to assist those behind, and in the meanwhile
+Mr. Stapylton took a ride along the ridge on which we were encamped in
+order to ascertain its direction. Towards evening Burnett returned from
+the carts with the intelligence that the boat-carriage could not be got
+out of the swamps and that, after the men had succeeded in raising it
+with levers and had drawn it some way, it had again sunk and thus delayed
+the carts, but that the latter were at length coming on, two men having
+been left behind with the boat-carriage. Mr. Stapylton returned in the
+afternoon having ascertained that a swamp of upwards of a mile in breadth
+and extending north and south as far as he could see lay straight before
+us, and he had concluded that the rivulet upon which we were then
+encamped turned into it. Under such circumstances we could not hope to be
+able to travel much further with the boats, nor even indeed with the
+carts unless we found ground with a firmer surface in the country before
+us. Ere we could reach the nearest habitations of civilised men we had
+yet to traverse 400 miles of a country intersected by the highest
+mountains and watered by the largest rivers known in New Holland.
+
+September 4.
+
+Although the boats and their carriage had been of late a great hindrance
+to us I was very unwilling to abandon such useful appendages to an
+exploring party, having already drawn them overland nearly 3000 miles. A
+promising part of the coast might still be explored, large rivers were to
+be crossed, and we had already found boats useful on such occasions. One
+however might answer these temporary purposes, since for the main object,
+the exploration of inland seas, they could not possibly be wanted. We had
+two and the outer one, which was both larger and heavier than the inner,
+had been shaken so much when suspended without the thwarts that she was
+almost unserviceable in the water, and very leaky as we had lately found
+in exploring the Glenelg. She had in fact all along served as a case for
+the inner boat, which could thus be kept distended by the thwarts and was
+consequently in excellent repair and in every respect the best. I
+determined therefore to abandon the outer boat and shorten the carriage
+so that the fore and hind wheels would be brought two feet nearer each
+other. I expected from this arrangement that, instead of boats retarding
+the party, this one might thus be drawn in advance with the light carts.
+
+EXCURSION TO MOUNT NAPIER.
+
+Having directed the alteration to be made during my intended absence I
+set out for Mount Napier and soon found the broad swamp before me. After
+riding up an arm of it to the left for a mile and a half I found it
+passable and, having crossed, we proceeded towards the hill by a rather
+circuitous route but over a fine tract of country although then very soft
+under our horses' feet.
+
+CROSS SOME FINE STREAMS.
+
+We next reached a deeper ravine where the land on each side was more open
+and also firmer, while a small rivulet flowing through it amongst bushes
+was easily crossed, and we ascended some fine rising ground beyond it.
+Rich flats then extended before us and we arrived at an open grassy
+valley where a beautiful little stream resembling a river in miniature
+was flowing rapidly. Two very substantial huts showed that even the
+natives had been attracted by the beauty of the spot and, as the day was
+showery, I wished to return if possible to pass the night there, for I
+began to learn that such huts with a good fire before them made very
+comfortable quarters in bad weather.
+
+NATIVES VERY TIMID.
+
+We had heard voices in the woods several times this day but their
+inhabitants seemed as timid as kangaroos and not more likely to come near
+us. The blue mass of Mount Napier was visible occasionally through the
+trees, but I found as we proceeded that we were not so near it as I had
+supposed, for at three miles beyond the little stream we came upon one of
+greater magnitude, a small river flowing southward with open grassy banks
+in which two kinds of trap-rock appeared. The edge of a thin layer of the
+lowest, a nearly decomposed trap, projected over the stream; the other
+lay in rounded blocks in the face of the hill above, and appeared to be
+decomposed amygdaloid, principally felspar. The river ran through a
+valley where the forest land was remarkably open, being sprinkled with
+only a few trees as in a park, and this stream appeared to fall into the
+head of the extensive swamp already mentioned. About a mile beyond the
+river (which I named the Shaw) we came upon the extremities of Mount
+Napier, for at least so I considered some rough sharp-pointed fragments
+of rock laying about in heaps, which we found it very difficult and
+tedious to ride over: indeed so sharp-edged and large were these rocks on
+the slopes of the terraces they formed that we were often obliged to
+dismount and lead our horses. In these fragments I recognised the
+cellular character of the rocks I had noticed in the bed of the Shaw. The
+rock here might have been taken for decomposed amygdaloid but, having
+found the vestiges of an old crater in the summit of the hill, I was
+induced to consider it an ancient lava. The reefs at Portland Bay consist
+of the same rock in rounded nodules, a more compact trap-rock consisting
+principally of felspar lying above them, as was observable in the section
+of the coast. In some of the fragments on Mount Napier these cells or
+pores were several inches in diameter and, unlike amygdaloidal rocks, all
+were quite empty. The surface consisted wholly of this stone, without any
+intermediate soil to soften its asperity under the feet of our horses,
+and yet it was covered with a wood of eucalyptus and mimosa, growing
+there as on the open forest land between which and this stony region the
+chief difference consisted in the ruggedness of surface, this being
+broken as already stated into irregular terraces where loose stones lay
+in irregular heaps and hollows, most resembling old stone quarries. We
+travelled over three miles of this rough surface before we reached the
+base of the cone.
+
+CRATER OF MOUNT NAPIER OR MURROA.
+
+On the sides of it we found some soft red earth mixed with fragments of
+lava and on reaching the summit I found myself on the narrow edge of a
+circular crater composed wholly of lava and scoriae. Trees and bushes
+grew luxuriantly everywhere except where the sharp rocks shot up almost
+perpendicularly. The igneous character of these was so obvious that one
+of the men thrust his hand into a chasm to ascertain whether it was warm.
+
+VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.
+
+The discovery of an extinct volcano gave additional interest to Mount
+Napier, but it was by no means a better station for the theodolite on
+that account; on the contrary it was the worst possible for, as the trees
+grew on the edge of the crater, no one station could be found to afford a
+view of the horizon until the whole circumference was cleared of the
+trees, and this was too great a work for us at that visit. Mount William
+and the Grampian range presented a noble outline to the northward. The
+sun had set before I could recognise distant points in the highly
+interesting country to be seen from this remarkable hill. The weather was
+also unfavourable and I descended to pass the night at its base in hopes
+that the next morning might be clear.
+
+RETURN TO THE CAMP.
+
+On reaching the spot where I had left the horses I found that our native
+friend Tommy Came-last could discover no water in any of the numerous
+hollows around the hill and, though the superabundance of this element
+had caused the chief impediment to our progress through the country at
+that time, we were obliged to pass a night most uncomfortably from the
+total want of it at the base of Mount Napier. The spongy-looking rocks
+were however dry enough to sleep upon, a quality of which the soil in
+general had been rather deficient, as most of us felt in our muscles. I
+perceived a remarkable uniformity in the size of the trees, very few of
+which were dead or fallen. From this circumstance, together with the
+deficiency of the soil and the sharp edge of the rock generally, some
+might conclude that the volcano had been in activity at no very remote
+period.
+
+September 5.
+
+A thick fog hung upon the mountain until half-past 10 A.M. and when I
+ascended an extremity I could see nothing of the distance. I had however
+ascertained the nature of the country thus far, this having been the
+object of my visit and, as I had resolved from what I had seen to pass to
+the northward at no great distance from this hill, I returned with less
+reluctance, in hopes that I might have it in my power yet to revisit it
+during more favourable weather. The day was squally with several very
+heavy showers, the wind being from the south-west. We saw two natives at
+a fire when we were returning, and our friend Tommy readily advanced
+towards them but they immediately set up such loud and incessant cries
+that I called to him to come away. After a ride of twenty-six miles
+across swamps and many muddy hollows we reached soon after sunset the
+camp which I had directed to be moved back to near where the boats lay. I
+found that these had been drawn out of the swamp and one only brought
+forward as I wished to this camp and where I found all the carts once
+more ranged together. The alteration of the boat carriage required a
+little more time, and I accordingly determined to halt one day that we
+might also have our horses shod, several shoes having come off on the
+rough rocks near Mount Napier.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON'S EXCURSION TO THE NORTH-WEST.
+
+September 6.
+
+This day I requested Mr. Stapylton to examine the country in a north-west
+direction. Some of the swamps crossed by me yesterday had appeared to
+fall westward and I wished to ascertain the situation and character of
+the ground dividing them from those discharging their waters eastward or
+towards the sea, as it was only by keeping on that dividing ground that I
+could hope to avoid them. Mr. Stapylton proceeded nine miles north-west,
+crossing many swampy flats, and at length a small rivulet, all falling
+westward. Beyond the rivulet he got upon some good hills connected with
+higher land. Our best line of route homewards was in a north-east
+direction, or at rightangles to the route of Mr. Stapylton.
+
+THE SHAW.
+
+The great swamp already mentioned, being the channel and recipient of the
+Shaw, was somewhat in my way, and my object now was to trace out the
+dividing ground as we proceeded, so as to avoid the swamps on both sides.
+By sunset the single boat was mounted in the shortened carriage, the
+whole being now so manageable and light that the boat could be lifted out
+by hand without block and tackle; and when on the carriage she could be
+drawn with ease wherever the light carts could pass. Thus we got rid of
+that heavy clog on our progress over soft ground, the boats, by reserving
+but one; and we left the larger, keel upwards, at the swamp which had
+occasioned so much delay.
+
+CONDUCT THE CARTS ALONG THE HIGHEST GROUND.
+
+September 7.
+
+Having chosen for a general line of route the bearing most likely to
+avoid the swamps according to the knowledge I had gained of the country,
+I proceeded as these and the soft ground permitted, and had the singular
+and indeed unexpected good fortune to come upon my horse's track from
+Mount Napier without having even seen the large swamp. The boat-carriage
+now travelled with the light carts, and we at length reached the first
+running stream at a short distance below where I had previously crossed
+it. The bottom was boggy and the water flowed in two channels, the ground
+between them being very soft. The whole party crossed it, with the
+exception of two carts which did not arrive, and we encamped on the bank
+beyond after a journey of about eight miles. Near this stream we found a
+pretty new species of Dillwynia, with plain yellow flowers, clustered on
+a long stalk at the end of the branches, and with curiously hairy
+heath-like leaves. It resembles D. peduncularis but proved, on
+examination, to be distinct.*
+
+(*Footnote. D. hispida, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis hispidulis, foliis
+linearibus patulis verrucosis obtusis hispidulis, corymbis longe
+pedunculatis terminalibus laxis paucifloris, pedunculo glaberrimo,
+pedicellis calycibusque pubescentibus.)
+
+At this spot we found a very small bower of twigs, only large enough to
+contain a child: the floor was hollowed out and filled with dry leaves
+and feathers; and the ground around had been cut smooth, several boughs
+having been also bent over it so as to be fixed in the ground at both
+ends. The whole seemed connected with some mystic ceremony of the
+aborigines, but which the male natives who were with us could not
+explain. The gins however on being questioned said it was usual to
+prepare such a bower for the reception of a new-born child. Kangaroos
+were more numerous in this part of the country than in any other that we
+had traversed. I counted twenty-three in one flock which passed before me
+as I stood silently by a tree. Two of the men counted fifty-seven in
+another flock, and it was not unusual for them to approach our camp as if
+from curiosity, on which occasions two or three were occasionally caught
+by our dogs.
+
+September 8.
+
+The remainder of the heavy carts not having come up, I left the two with
+us to await their arrival that the men might assist the drivers with
+their teams in crossing this stream. On proceeding then with the light
+carts only I crossed several soft bad places, and one or two fine small
+rivulets, encamping at last where we again fell in with my horse's track,
+on an open space about eight miles from Mount Napier. During the day's
+journey we traversed some fine open forest hills near the banks of
+rivulets. We generally found the south-eastern slope of such heights very
+indistinct, and the ground soft, boggy and covered with banksias. The
+rock in such places consisted of the same cellular trap so common on this
+side of the Grampians. Our camp lay between two swamps for no better
+ground appeared on any side. I hoped however to obtain a more general
+knowledge of the surrounding country from Mount Napier during clear
+weather, and thus to discover some way by which we might make our escape
+to the northward. The carts did not overtake us this day, and I
+determined when they should arrive to overhaul them and throw away every
+article of weight not absolutely required for the rest of the journey.
+
+AGAIN ASCEND MURROA AND PARTIALLY CLEAR THE SUMMIT.
+
+September 9.
+
+Once more I set out for Mount Napier, followed by a party of men with
+axes to clear its summit, at least sufficiently for the purpose of taking
+angles with the theodolite. The night had been clear and the morning was
+fine, but as soon as I had ascended the hill rain-clouds gathered in the
+south-west and obscured the horizon on all sides; I could only see some
+points at intervals, but I took as many as I could after the men had
+cleared a station for the theodolite. I perceived two very extensive
+lakes in the low country between Mount Napier and the south-eastern
+portion of the Grampian range, which terminated in the hill that I had
+previously named Mount Abrupt. Between the largest of these waters
+(called by me Lake Linlithgow) and the mountains there appeared an
+extensive tract of open grassy land.
+
+MOUNT ROUSE.
+
+To the eastward at the distance of twelve miles I perceived a solitary
+hill, somewhat resembling Mount Napier, and named it Mount Rouse; but a
+haze still concealed the more distant country. On reaching the camp where
+we arrived in the dark, I found that the carts had not even then
+returned; but as the barometer promised better weather I did not much
+regret their non-arrival as the delay would afford me another chance of
+having a clear day on Mount Napier.
+
+September 10.
+
+I again proceeded to the hill and obtained at length a clear and
+extensive view from it in all directions. In the north the Grampian
+range, on all sides grand, presented a new and striking outline on this.
+Far in the west I could recognise in slight breaks on a low horizon some
+features of the valley of Nangeela (Glenelg).
+
+AUSTRALIAN PYRENEES.
+
+Eastward the summits of a range I thought of naming the Australian
+Pyrenees were just visible over a woody horizon; and to the south-east
+were several detached hills and some elevated ridges of forest land,
+apparently near the coast. One isolated hill resembling a haystack was
+very remarkable on the seashore. This I named Mount Hotspur being the
+only elevation near Lady Julia Percy's Isle (not Isles as laid down on
+the charts for there is but one, now called by whalers the Julian
+Island). To the southward I could just distinguish the Laurence Islands
+but a haze upon the coast prevented me from seeing that of Lady Julia
+Percy. Smoke arose from many parts of the lower country and showed that
+the inhabitants were very generally scattered over its surface. We could
+now look on such fires with indifference, so harmless were these natives
+compared with those on the Darling, and the smoke now ascended in equal
+abundance from the furthest verge of the horizon. It was impossible to
+discover the sources of streams or the direction of any ranges visible in
+the surrounding country; but upon the whole I concluded that the only
+practicable route for us homewards at that time would be through the
+forests and by passing as near as possible to the base of Mount Abrupt,
+the south-eastern extremity of the Grampians. Several forest hills stood
+above the extensive level country extending from our camp to Mount
+Abrupt, but I could trace no connection between these hills, and was
+rather apprehensive that a soft and swampy country intervened.
+
+CRATER OF MOUNT NAPIER.
+
+I had this day leisure to examine the crater on this hill more
+particularly and found its breadth to be 446 feet; its average depth 80
+feet. The cellular rocks and lava stood nearly perpendicular around one
+portion of it; but there was a gap towards the west-north-west, on which
+side the crater was open almost to its greatest depth. (See Plate 22.)
+Several deep tongues of land descended from it to the west and
+north-west, forming the base of the hill, and had somewhat of the
+regularity of water-worn features. No marks of decomposition appeared in
+the fragments projecting from the highest points, however much exposed.
+On the contrary all the stringy twisted marks of fusion were as sharp and
+fresh as if the lava had but recently cooled. One species of moss very
+much resembled the Orchilla, and I thought it not impossible that this
+valuable weed might be found here as it occurred on similar rocks at
+Teneriffe. Just as I reached the highest summit this morning a
+bronze-wing pigeon arose from it; a circumstance rather remarkable
+considering that this was the only bird of that species seen on this side
+the mountains besides the one we saw on Pigeon Ponds on the 3rd of
+August. On returning to the camp I found that the carts had arrived soon
+after my departure in the morning; but the men had the misfortune to lose
+two bullocks in crossing the swampy stream where we had been previously
+encamped. One was suffocated in the mud, and the other having lain down
+in it could not be made to rise. By observing the stars alpha and beta
+Centauri I ascertained the magnetic variation to be 3 degrees 2 minutes
+45 seconds East, and by the sun's altitude observed this day at Mount
+Napier I found the latitude of that hill to be 37 degrees 52 minutes 29
+seconds South.
+
+September 11.
+
+In order to lighten the carts as much as possible I caused the
+packsaddles to be placed on the spare bullocks, and various articles
+carried upon them; thus lightening to less than eight hundredweight each
+the loads of two of the heavy carts which had narrow wheels and sunk most
+in the ground. The old cover of the boat carriage was also laid aside,
+and in its place some tarpaulins which had previously added to the loads
+were laid across our remaining boat. A heavy jack used to raise
+cartwheels was also left at this camp, and some iron bars that had been
+taken from the boat-carriage when it was shortened. Thus lightened we
+proceeded once more into the fields of mud, taking a northerly direction.
+For several miles we encountered worse ground than we had ever crossed
+before yet the carts came over it; but broad swamps still lay before us.
+
+SWAMPS HARDER THAN THE GROUND AROUND THEM.
+
+Despairing at length of being able to avoid them, I impatiently galloped
+my horse into one and the carts followed, thanks to my impatience for
+once, for I do not think that I should otherwise have discovered that a
+swamp so uninviting could possibly have borne my horse, and still less
+the carts. After this I ventured to pursue a less circuitous route.
+
+AGAIN REACH THE GOOD COUNTRY.
+
+About that time a yellow flower in the grass caught my eye and,
+remembering that we had seen none of these golden flowers since we left
+the beautiful valley of the Wannon, I ventured to hope that we were at
+length approaching the good country at the head of that stream. Such was
+my anxious wish when I perceived through the trees a glimpse of an open
+grassy country, and immediately entered a fine clear valley with a lively
+little stream flowing westward through it and which I named the Grange.
+This was indeed one of the heads of the Wannon and we had at length
+reached the good country. The contrast between it and that from which we
+had emerged was obvious to all; even to the natives who for the first
+time painted themselves in the evening and danced a spirited corrobory on
+the occasion. This day Piper had seen two of the native inhabitants and
+had endeavoured to persuade them to come to me, but all to no purpose
+until at length, enraged at the unreasonable timidity of one of them, he
+threw his tomahawk at him and nearly hit him as he edged off; an act of
+which, as I told him in the strongest terms, I very much disapproved.
+
+September 12.
+
+The course of the little stream being to the northward, I proceeded along
+its right bank this morning until it turned to the north-west; but we
+soon after came to another to which the former seemed to be but a
+tributary. Its course was almost due west, and the valley in which it
+flowed was deep and boldly escarped. The stream thundered along with
+considerable rapidity over a rocky bottom consisting of the same sort of
+trap or ancient lava. I had little doubt that this was the principal head
+of the Wannon, a river crossed by us on the 11th of August. Meeting next
+an important branch falling into it from the south-east and being obliged
+to cross this, we effected the passage even with the carts, although the
+horses were nearly swimming. We proceeded next along a continuous ridge
+of fine firm ground covered with excellent grass, and soon after we saw
+before us a smaller stream flowing under a broad grassy vale and, having
+crossed it also without difficulty, we encamped in one of the valleys
+beyond, where this tributary appeared to originate. A finer country could
+scarcely be imagined: enormous trees of the mimosa or wattle of which the
+bark is so valuable grew almost everywhere; and several new varieties of
+Caladenia were found today. The blue, yellow, pink, and brown-coloured
+were all observed on these flowery plains.
+
+MOUNTS BAINBRIGGE AND PIERREPOINT.
+
+The sublime peaks of the Grampians began to appear above the trees to the
+northward, and two lower hills of trap-rock arose, one to the south-west
+the other north-west of our camp. That to the northward I named Mount
+Bainbrigge, the other on the south Mount Pierrepoint.
+
+September 13.
+
+We broke up our camp early this morning and on reaching the highest
+ground we discovered a large lake on our left: it was nearly circular,
+about half a mile in circumference and surrounded by high firm banks from
+which there was no visible outlet; I named it Lake Nivelle. At a few
+miles beyond this lake the cheering sight of an open country extending to
+the horizon first appeared through the trees; and we soon entered on
+these fine downs where the gently undulating surface was firm under our
+horses' feet and thickly clothed with excellent grass.
+
+MOUNT STURGEON.
+
+The cartwheels trundled merrily along, so that twelve miles were
+accomplished soon after midday, and we encamped near the extreme southern
+point of the Grampians, which I named Mount Sturgeon. The weather was
+very wet but this troubled us the less as we had not known a day without
+rain for several months.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT ABRUPT.
+
+September 14.
+
+I was most anxious to ascend Mount Abrupt, the first peak to the
+northward of Mount Sturgeon, that I might close my survey of these
+mountains and also reconnoitre the country before us. This morning clouds
+hung upon the mountains however, and I could scarcely indulge a hope that
+the weather would be favourable for the purposed survey; nevertheless I
+bent my steps towards the mountain, having first set the carpenter to
+work to make an additional width of felloe to the narrow wheels of one of
+the carts, that it might pass with less difficulty over soft ground. We
+soon came to a deep stream flowing not FROM but apparently TOWARDS the
+mountains; its general course being westward. It was so deep that our
+horses could scarcely ford it without swimming. Reeds grew about and the
+bottom was soft, although two kinds of rock appeared in its banks. On the
+right was trap, on the left the ferruginous sandstone of which all these
+mountains consist. We soon entered on the barren and sandy but firm
+ground at their base which, with its peculiar trees and shrubs, appeared
+so different from the grassy plains. The banksia, the casuarina, and the
+hardy xanthorrhoea reminded us of former toils on the opposite side of
+these ranges.
+
+VIEW OF THE GRAMPIANS FROM THE SUMMIT.
+
+The weather turned out better than I had expected, and from the summit of
+Mount Abrupt I beheld a truly sublime scene; the whole of the mountains,
+quite clear of clouds, the grand outline of the more distant masses
+blended with the sky, and forming a blue and purple background for the
+numerous peaks of the range on which I stood, which consisted of sharp
+cones and perpendicular cliffs foreshortened so as to form one grand
+feature only of the extensive landscape, though composing a crescent
+nearly 30 miles in extent: this range being but a branch from the still
+more lofty masses of Mount William which crowned the whole. Towards the
+coast there was less haze than usual, for I could distinguish Lady Julia
+Percy's Isle which I had looked for in vain from Mount Napier, a point
+twenty-four miles nearer to it. Here I could also trace the course of the
+stream we had crossed that morning from its sources under the eastern
+base of the mountains to a group of lower hills twenty-seven miles
+distant to the westward; which hills, named by me Dundas group, formed a
+most useful point in my trigonometrical survey.
+
+LAKES.
+
+Several extensive lakes appeared in the lowest parts adjacent; but what
+interested me most after I had intersected the various summits was the
+appearance of the country to the eastward, through which we were to find
+our way home. There I saw a vast extent of open downs and could trace
+their undulations to where they joined a range of mountains which,
+judging by their outlines, appeared to be of easy access. Our straightest
+way homewards passed just under a bluff head about fifty miles distant,
+and so far I could easily perceive a most favourable line of route by
+avoiding several large reedy lakes. Between that open country and these
+lakes on one side and the coast on the other, a low woody ridge extended
+eastward; and by first gaining that I hoped we should reach the open
+ground in a direction which should enable us to leave all the lakes on
+our left.
+
+The largest pieces of water I could see were Lake Linlithgow and its
+companion in the open grassy plains between the range and Mount Napier,
+as previously discovered from that hill. Several small and very
+picturesque lakes, then as smooth as mirrors, adorned the valley
+immediately to the westward of the hill I was upon. They were fringed
+with luxuriant shrubs so that it was really painful to me to hurry, as I
+was then compelled to do, past spots like these, involving in their
+unexplored recesses so much of novelty amidst the most romantic scenery.
+The rock consisted of a finely-grained sandstone as in other parts of
+that mass. The Grampians of the south consist of three ranges covering a
+surface which extends latitudinally 54 miles and longitudinally 20 miles.
+The extreme eastern and highest summit is Mount William, in height 4,500
+feet above the sea. The northern point is Mount Zero, in latitude 36
+degrees 52 minutes 35 seconds South, and the southern is Mount Sturgeon,
+in latitude 37 degrees 38 minutes 00 seconds. I here again recognised the
+outline of the most northern and elevated range extending from Mount
+William to Mount Zero, but it was not so steep on the southern as on the
+northern side.
+
+VICTORIA RANGE AND THE SERRA.
+
+From this hill two other ranges branch off to the south; the western
+being marked Victoria range on the map, the eastern, the Serra, from its
+serrated appearance, the broken outlines they present being highly
+ornamental to the fine country around. On the northern slopes of the
+range are some forests of fine timber but in general the higher summits
+are bare and rocky. The chief source of the Glenelg is between the
+Victoria range and the most northern, whence it soon sinks into a deep
+glen or ravine, receiving numberless tributaries from other dells
+intersecting the adjacent country. A considerable branch of the Glenelg
+named by the natives the Wannon has its sources in the eastern and
+southern rivulets from these mountains. The waters falling northward
+enter the Wimmera, a different river whose estuary has not yet been
+explored. Returning towards the camp, on approaching the stream, we met
+with one of the most strikingly beautiful species of the common genus
+Pultenaea; its narrow heath-like leaves were so closely covered with soft
+silky hairs as to have quite a silvery appearance and the branches were
+loaded with the heads of yellow and brown flowers now fully open. It
+formed a new species of the Proliferous section, allied to Pultenaea
+stipularis.*
+
+(*Footnote. P. mollis, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis villosis, foliis
+linearibus v. lineari-lanceolatis obtusis v. acuminatis subtus convexis
+supra sulcatis sericeo-pilosis capitulis sessilibus longioribus, stipulis
+ovato-linearibus acutis glabris badiis, calycibus villosis.)
+
+PARTY IMPEDED BY THE MUD AGAIN, AND A BROKEN AXLE.
+
+September 15.
+
+Pursuing an easterly course in order to avoid the Wannon we again found
+the ground so soft and boggy that it was impossible to proceed; and after
+advancing with incredible labour (under which one of the poor bullocks
+fell to rise no more) barely four miles, I ordered the tents to be again
+set up, but almost in despair for having performed during the previous
+days several good journeys with perfect freedom from this species of
+impediment, and having seen no indication of any change in the surface, I
+had assured the men on descending from the mountains that the country
+before us was favourable. We were nevertheless compelled to halt again at
+this part by the breaking of the iron axle of one of the carts, for it
+was necessary to endeavour to repair it before we could proceed. The
+highest part of the woody ridge between us and the plains bore according
+to my map due east, being distant 14 miles.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON EXAMINES THE COUNTRY BEFORE US.
+
+I gave that bearing to Mr. Stapylton who rode forward with Burnett to
+ascertain how far we were from firmer ground, while I continued in my
+tent occupied with the map of the mountains. It was dark before Mr.
+Stapylton returned and brought the pleasing tidings that the soft ground
+extended only to three or four miles from the camp, and that from beyond
+that distance to the forest hills he had found the ground tolerably firm.
+
+September 16.
+
+The country which proved so soft was nevertheless stony and trap-rock
+projected from every higher portion; yet such rocky eminences being
+unconnected each was surrounded by softer ground. I was resolved to make
+the very most of them: but an iron axle having been broken in our
+struggles with the mud, the smith required more time to repair it, and I
+therefore determined to proceed with but half the equipment drawn by ALL
+the bullocks, leaving Burnett and the remaining portion of the party and
+equipment to come on next day by the same means, as soon as the cattle
+could be sent back.
+
+AT LENGTH GET THROUGH THE SOFT REGION.
+
+Having previously examined the ground and carefully traced out the
+hardest parts connecting these rocky features, I led the way with the
+carts and got through the first part of the journey much better than any
+of us had expected. After passing over four miles of soft boggy ground we
+came to a small running stream, the surface beyond it rising to a
+somewhat steep ascent. On reaching that side I found myself on a good
+firm ridge along which I continued for some time until we reached a
+swampy lagoon, the banks of which were very firm and good. Leaving this
+on our right we at length saw the darkly wooded hills of the ridge before
+mentioned; and having travelled eleven miles we encamped near a small
+lagoon on a spot where there was excellent grass; but it was still
+necessary to send back the poor cattle with their drivers that evening to
+where the other party still remained encamped.
+
+CATTLE QUITE EXHAUSTED.
+
+September 17.
+
+This day the rest of the party came up but the cattle seemed quite
+exhausted. They had at length become so weak from the continued heavy
+dragging through mud that it was obvious they could not proceed much
+further until after they had enjoyed at least some weeks of repose. But
+our provisions did not admit of this delay as the time had arrived when I
+ought to have been at Sydney although still so far from it.
+
+DETERMINE TO LEAVE THEM IN A DEPOT TO REFRESH WHILE I PROCEED FORWARD.
+
+After mature deliberation we hit upon a plan which might as I thought
+enable us to escape. The arrangement proposed was that I should go
+forward with some of the freshest of the cattle drawing the light carts
+and boat, with a month's provisions, and taking with me as many men as
+would enable me to leave with those who should remain provisions for two
+months. That the cattle should rest at the present camp two weeks and
+then proceed while I, by travelling so far before them with so light a
+party, could send back a supply of provisions and also the boat, to meet
+this second party following in my track on the banks of the Murray. Thus
+I could reach Sydney some weeks sooner, and also carry on my survey much
+more conveniently; the cattle, which had been sinking almost daily, would
+be thus refreshed sufficiently to be able to travel and the chance of the
+whole party suffering from famine would be much diminished. Such was the
+outline of the plan which our position and necessities suggested.
+
+September 18.
+
+This day was passed in making preparations for setting out tomorrow with
+the light party as proposed.
+
+SPECIMENS OF NATURAL HISTORY.
+
+The catalogue of the objects of Natural History collected during the
+journey included several birds and animals not hitherto mentioned in this
+Journal. Amongst the most remarkable of these was the pig-footed animal
+found on June 16. It measured about ten inches in length, had no tail,
+and the forefeet resembled those of a pig. There was also the rat which
+climbs trees like the opossum; the flat-tailed rat from the scrubs of the
+Darling, where it builds an enormous nest of branches and boughs, so
+interlaced as to be proof against any attacks of the native dog. The
+unique specimen from the reedy country on the Murray of a very singular
+animal much resembling the jerboa or desert rat of Persia; also a
+rat-eared bat from the Lachlan. We had several new birds, but the most
+admired of our ornithological discoveries was a white-winged superb
+warbler from the junction of the Darling and the Murray, all the plumage
+not white being of a bright blue colour; but of this we had obtained only
+one specimen. I had not many opportunities of figuring the birds from
+life, so very desirable in ornithological subjects. The eye of the eagle
+and the rich crest of the cockatoo of the desert could not be preserved
+in dead specimens, and were too fine to be omitted among the sketches I
+endeavoured to snatch from nature.* Our herbarium had suffered from the
+continued wet weather, especially in fording deep rivers; and this was
+the more to be regretted as it contained many remarkable specimens. The
+seeds and bulbous roots comprising varieties of Calostemma, Caladenia,
+and Anguillaria, besides a number of large liliaceous bulbs, were however
+preserved in a very good state.**
+
+(*Footnote. See Plates 23 and 36.)
+
+(**Footnote. The specimens of natural history were deposited in the
+Museum at Sydney, according to my letter of instructions. The seeds,
+amounting to 134 varieties, have been brought home and distributed, with
+the obliging assistance of my friend Dr. Lindley, amongst the principal
+gardens in this country. The bulbs, 62 in number, were planted soon after
+my arrival in England, in the gardens of the Horticultural Society at
+Chiswick. It was not without regret that I left at Sydney the single
+specimens of the Chaeropus and Dipus, but I took drawings representing
+each, of the natural size, and from these the figures in Plates 37 and 38
+have been very accurately reduced by Mr. Picken.)
+
+SITUATION OF DEPOT CAMP AT LAKE REPOSE.
+
+The camp in which Mr. Stapylton's party was to remain two weeks was in as
+favourable a place for refreshing the cattle as could be found. The
+ground undulated and was thickly clothed with fresh verdure; a grassy
+swamp also, such as cattle delight in, extended northward into a lake of
+fresh water which I named Lake Repose. The peaks of the Serra Range and
+especially Mount Abrupt were landmarks which secured the men from even
+the possibility of losing their way in looking after the cattle.
+
+Of the natives in our party it was arranged among themselves that Tommy
+Came-first and The Widow, who most required a rest, having sore feet,
+should remain with Mr. Stapylton and that Piper and Tommy Came-last
+should accompany me.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.12.
+
+Parting of The Widow and her child.
+We at length emerge on much firmer ground.
+River Hopkins.
+Mount Nicholson.
+Cockajemmy salt lakes.
+Natives ill disposed.
+Singular weapon.
+Treacherous concealment of a native.
+Contents of a native's basket and store.
+A tribe comes forward.
+Fine country for colonisation.
+Hollows in the downs.
+Snakes numerous.
+Native females.
+Cattle tracks.
+Ascend Mount Cole.
+Enter on a granite country.
+Many rivulets.
+Mammeloid hills.
+Lava, the surface rock.
+Snakes eaten by the natives.
+Ascend Mount Byng.
+Rich grass.
+Expedition pass.
+Excursion towards Port Phillip.
+Discover and cross the river Barnard.
+Emus numerous and tame.
+The river Campaspe.
+Effects of a storm in the woods.
+Ascend Mount Macedon.
+Port Phillip dimly seen from it.
+Return to the camp.
+Continue our homeward journey.
+Waterfall of Cobaw.
+Singular country on the Barnard.
+Cross the Campaspe.
+An English razor found.
+Ascend Mount Campbell.
+Native beverage.
+Valley of the Deegay.
+Natives exchange baskets for axes.
+They linger about our camp.
+Effect of fireworks, etc.
+Arrival at, and passage of, the Goulburn.
+Fish caught.
+
+PARTING OF THE WIDOW AND HER CHILD.
+
+September 19.
+
+When about to set out I observed that The Widow Turandurey, who was to
+remain with Mr. Stapylton's party and the carts, was marked with white
+round the eyes (the natives' fashion of mourning) and that the face of
+her child Ballandella was whitened also. This poor woman who had
+cheerfully carried the child on her back when we offered to carry both on
+the carts, and who was as careful and affectionate as any mother could
+be, had at length determined to entrust to me the care of this infant. I
+was gratified with such a proof of the mother's confidence in us, but I
+should have been less willing to take charge of her child had I not been
+aware of the wretched state of slavery to which the natives females are
+doomed. I felt additional interest in this poor child from the
+circumstance of her having suffered so much by the accident that befel
+her while with our party, and which had not prevented her from now
+preferring our mode of living so much that I believe the mother at length
+despaired of being ever able to initiate her thoroughly in the mysteries
+of killing and eating snakes, lizards, rats, and similar food. The widow
+had been long enough with us to be sensible how much more her sex was
+respected by civilised men than savages, and, as I conceived, it was with
+such sentiments that she committed her child to my charge, under the
+immediate care however of Piper's gin.
+
+WE AT LENGTH EMERGE ON MUCH FIRMER GROUND.
+
+For several miles we met with soft ground at the low connecting parts of
+hills, but we at length gained the woody ridge so likely, as I had hoped,
+to favour our progress. Its turnings were intricate but, by one or two
+rivulets falling to my left and then by others falling to the right, I
+learnt how to keep on the intermediate ground until at length, after a
+journey of nine miles, we emerged from the woods on a firm open surface
+and an extensive prospect was seen before us. Leaving the party to encamp
+I rode to a round forest hill some miles to the eastward and obtained a
+comprehensive view of the Grampians, and also of the country to the
+northward which now appeared to be chiefly open; and I had little doubt
+that we should find it more favourable for travelling upon. Eastward of
+the forest hill the ground sank into a deep valley which turned round to
+the south-east after receiving the drainage from some hollows in the open
+country north of it.
+
+RIVER HOPKINS.
+
+This ravine received also the waters from the woody ridge now south of
+us, where the numerous deep valleys were irrigated by streams arising in
+swamps; the whole probably forming the head of some more important stream
+flowing to the coast and which I here named the river Hopkins. This
+eminence, which I distinguished as Mount Stavely, consisted apparently of
+decomposed clay-stone or felspar, having a tendency to divide naturally
+into regular prisms. A very beautiful and singular-looking shrub appeared
+on the hills we crossed this day, and also on the open ground where
+indeed it was most abundant. It was a species of acacia, the leaves
+adhering edgeways to thorny branches; many of these shrubs were in
+blossom, the flowers being yellow and as large and round as marbles, and
+those growing very thickly, they gave to the branches the appearance of
+garlands or festoons, the effect altogether being extremely graceful and
+singular. We found also a beautiful new species of acacia looking like a
+broad-leaved variety of A. armata. The branches were singularly protected
+by short spiny forks which proved to be the hardened permanent stipules.*
+
+(*Footnote. A. furcifera, Lindley manuscripts; stipulis spinescentibus
+persistentibus, phyllodiis obliquis ovato-oblongis mucronatis uninerviis
+hinc venosis glabris, ramis hirsutis, capitulis solitariis foliis
+brevioribus.)
+
+With this occurred another species with hard stiff scymetar-shaped leaves
+and a profusion of balls of browner yellow flowers which had been
+previously observed (on June 22) in a more vigorous condition.* By
+observations from this hill I made the height of Mount William about
+4,500 feet above the sea.
+
+(*Footnote. This was most nearly related to A. hispidula, but the leaves
+were quite smooth and much smaller. A. acinacea, Lindley manuscripts;
+glaberrima; ramulis alato-angulatis rigidis, phyllodiis brevibus
+acinaciformibus mucronatis 1-nerviis et enerviis: margine superiore infra
+medium glanduloso, capitulis geminis axillaribus, pedunculis phyllodiorum
+longitudine.)
+
+September 20.
+
+Our wheels now rolled lightly over fine grassy downs and our faces were
+turned towards distant home. Before us arose a low, thinly-wooded hill,
+which at first bounded our view towards the north, and afterwards proved
+to be the feature connecting the low woody ridge near our last camp with
+the hills still further to the northward. On reaching the summit I
+perceived that a considerable extent of open country intervened, being
+watered in the lower parts by several lakes.
+
+MOUNT NICHOLSON. COCKAJEMMY SALT LAKES.
+
+Descending northward along an offset of the same hills which had led us
+in that direction and which I now named Mount Nicholson, I observed that
+the lakes occurred at intervals in a valley apparently falling from the
+westward in which no stream appeared, although it was shut in by well
+escarped rocky banks. We encamped after a journey of ten miles at a point
+where another valley from the north joined the above, and I was somewhat
+surprised to find after encamping that the water in the adjacent lakes
+was extremely salt. No connection existed by means of any channel between
+them although they formed together a chain of lagoons in the bed of a
+deep and well defined valley. On the contrary the soil was particularly
+solid and firm between them, and the margin of the most eastern of these
+lakes was separated by a high bank from the bed of another valley where a
+running stream of pure water flowed over a broad and swampy bed fifteen
+feet higher than the adjacent valley containing the stagnant salt lakes.
+The rock enclosing these singular valleys was basalt, and from these
+peculiarities, considered with reference to the ancient volcano and the
+dip of a mountain strata to the north-west, it was evident that some
+upheaving or subsidence had materially altered the levels of the original
+surface.
+
+I could find no brine-springs in or about these lakes, and as it was
+evident that a stream had once washed the bed of the ravine now occupied
+by them, I may leave the solution of the problem to geologists.
+
+(*Footnote. Having submitted specimens of the water from these and other
+salt lakes of the interior to my friend Professor Faraday, I have been
+favoured with the following particulars respecting their contents: "All
+of them are solutions of common salt much surpassing the ocean or even
+the Mediterranean in the quantity of salt dissolved. Besides the common
+salt there are present (in comparatively small quantity) portions of
+sulphates and muriates of lime and magnesia: the waters are neutral and
+except in strength very much resemble those of the ocean. That labelled
+Greenhill Lake 24th July had a specific gravity of 1049.4 and three
+measured ounces gave on evaporation 97 grains of dry salts. That labelled
+Mitre Lake 24th July had a specific gravity of 1038.6, and three measured
+ounces of it yielded 77 grains of dry saline matter. The water labelled
+Cockajemmy Lake Camp 20th September had a specific gravity of 1055.3 and
+the amount of dry salts from three measured ounces was 113 grains.")
+
+NATIVES ILL DISPOSED.
+
+As we proceeded over the open ground before we reached the spot where we
+finally encamped several natives appeared at a great distance in a valley
+eastward of Mount Nicholson, and Piper went towards them supported by
+Brown whom I sent after him on horseback. They proved to be three or four
+gins only, but Piper continued to pursue them to the top of a hill, when
+a number of men armed with spears suddenly started from behind trees and
+were running furiously towards Piper when Brown rode up. On presenting
+his pistol they came to a full stop, thereby showing that they had some
+idea of firearms, although they refused to answer Piper's questions or to
+remain longer. In the evening, four of them approaching our camp, Piper
+went forward with Burnett to meet them. They advanced to the tents
+apparently without fear, and I obtained from them the names of various
+localities. On being questioned respecting Cadong, they told us that all
+these waters ran into it, and pointed to the south-east, saying that I
+should by-and-bye see it. When I found we could obtain no more
+information I presented the most intelligent of them with a tomahawk, on
+which they went slowly away, repeatedly turning round towards us and
+saying something which, according to Piper, had reference to their tribe
+coming again and dancing a corrobory, a proposal these savage tribes
+often make and which the traveller who knows them well will think it
+better to discourage.
+
+SINGULAR WEAPON.
+
+These men carried a singular kind of malga, of a construction different
+from any Piper had ever seen. The malga is a weapon usually made in the
+form of Figure 2, but that with which these natives were provided
+somewhat resembled a pick-axe with one half broken off, and was of the
+form of Figure 1, being made so as to be thickest at the angle. The blow
+of such a formidable weapon could not be easily parried from the
+uncertainty whether it would be aimed with the thick heavy corner or the
+sharp point. All the weapons of this singular race are peculiar and this
+one was not the least remarkable.
+
+TREACHEROUS CONCEALMENT OF A NATIVE.
+
+At dusk while Woods was looking after the cattle near the camp he
+surprised a native concealed behind a small bush, who did not make his
+escape until Woods was within two yards of him.
+
+CONTENTS OF A NATIVE'S BASKET AND STORE.
+
+How many more had been about we could not ascertain, but next morning we
+found near the spot one of the bags usually carried by gins and
+containing the following samples of their daily food: three snakes; three
+rats; about 2 pounds of small fish, like white bait; crayfish; and a
+quantity of the small root of the cichoraceous plant tao, usually found
+growing on the plains with a bright yellow flower. There were also in the
+bag various bodkins and colouring stones, and two mogos or stone hatchets
+(Figure 5). It seemed that our civility had as usual inspired these
+savages with a desire to beat our brains out while asleep, and we were
+thankful that in effecting their cowardly designs they had been once more
+unsuccessful.
+
+A TRIBE COMES FORWARD.
+
+September 21.
+
+Early in the morning a tribe of about forty were seen advancing toward
+our camp preceded by the four men who had been previously there. Having
+determined that they should not approach us again, I made Piper advance
+to them and inquire what they wanted last night behind the bush, pointing
+at the same time to the spot. They returned no answer to this question,
+but continued to come forward until I ordered a burning bush to be waved
+at them and, when they came to a stand without answering Piper's
+question, I ordered a party of our men to charge them, whereupon they all
+scampered off. We saw them upon our encamping ground after we had
+proceeded about two miles, but they did not attempt to follow us. Whether
+they would find a letter which I had buried there for Mr. Stapylton or
+not, we could only hope to discover after that gentleman's return to the
+colony. It was understood between us that, where a cross was cut in the
+turf where my tent had stood, he would find a note under the centre of
+the cross. This I buried by merely pushing a stick into the earth and
+dropping into the hole thus made the note twisted up like a cigar. The
+letter was written chiefly to caution him about these natives. Basalt
+appeared in the sides of the ravine which contained the salt lakes and in
+equal abundance and of the same quality in that which enclosed the living
+stream where it lay in blocks forming small cliffs. Finding at length a
+favourable place for crossing this stream, we traversed the ravine and
+resumed our direct course towards the southern extremity of a distant
+range named Mammala by the natives, the bluff head previously seen from
+Mount Abrupt (see above).
+
+FINE COUNTRY FOR COLONISATION.
+
+We now travelled over a country quite open, slightly undulating, and well
+covered with grass. To the westward the noble outline of the Grampians
+terminated a view extending over vast plains fringed with forests and
+embellished with lakes. To the northward appeared other more
+accessible-looking hills, some being slightly wooded, some green and
+quite clear to their summits, long grassy vales and ridges intervening:
+while to the eastward the open plain extended as far as the eye could
+reach. Our way lay between distant ranges which in that direction mingled
+with the clouds. Thus I had both the low country, which was without
+timber, and the well wooded hills within reach, and might choose either
+for our route, according to the state of the ground, weather, etc.
+Certainly a land more favourable for colonisation could not be found.
+Flocks might be turned out upon its hills, or the plough at once set to
+work in the plains. No primeval forests required to be first rooted out,
+although there was enough of wood for all purposes of utility and as much
+also for embellishment as even a painter could wish.
+
+HOLLOWS IN THE DOWNS.
+
+One feature peculiar to that country appeared on these open downs: it
+consisted of hollows which, being usually surrounded by a line of yarra
+gumtrees or whitebark eucalyptus, seemed at a distance to contain lakes,
+but instead of water I found only blocks of vesicular trap, consisting
+apparently of granular felspar, and hornblende rock also appeared in the
+banks enclosing them. Some of these hollows were of a winding character,
+as if they were the remains of ancient watercourses; but if ever currents
+flowed there the surface must have undergone considerable alteration
+since, for the downs where these hollows appeared were elevated at least
+900 feet above the sea and surrounded on all sides by lower ground. There
+was an appearance of moisture among the rocks in some of these
+depressions; and whether by digging a few feet permanent wells might be
+made may be a question worth attention when colonisation extends to that
+country. We found on other parts of this open ground large blocks
+composed of irregular concretions of ironstone, covered with a thin
+coating of compact brown haematite. The purple-ringed Anguillaria dioica,
+first seen on Pyramid Hill, again appeared here; and in many places the
+ground was quite yellow with the flowers of the cichoraceous plant tao
+whose root, small as it is, constitutes the food of the native women and
+children. The cattle are very fond of the leaves of this plant and seemed
+to thrive upon it. We also found a new bulbine with a delicate yellow
+flower being perfectly distinct from both the species described by
+Brown.*
+
+(*Footnote. This has been planted with the others in the Horticultural
+Gardens at Chiswick and was the first to flower there, a head having been
+sent to me on the 8th May last by Dr. Lindley who describes it thus:
+Bulbine suavis; radice fasciculata, foliis longissimis attenuatis
+semiteretibus basi canaliculatis glaucis, racemo erecto multifloro,
+petalis oblongis subundulatis sepalis duplo latioribus, staminibus
+ascendentibus, filamentis apice stuposis petalinis patentibus sepalinis
+erectis apice incurvis brevioribus.)
+
+SNAKES NUMEROUS.
+
+The genial warmth of spring had begun to show its influence on these
+plants and also brought the snakes from their holes, for on this day in
+particular it was ascertained that twenty-two had been killed by the
+party. These were all of that species not venomous I believe which the
+natives eat. We encamped near a small clump of trees for the sake of
+firewood.
+
+September 22.
+
+This day's journey lay chiefly across open downs with wooded hills
+occasionally to the left. On the southward these downs extended to the
+horizon: and several isolated hills at great distances, apparently of
+trap, presented an outline like the volcanic Mount Napier. All the
+various small rivulets we traversed in our line of route seemed to flow
+in that direction. Having crossed three of these we encamped on the right
+bank of the fourth. The hills on our left were of granite and as
+different as possible in appearance from the mountains to the westward
+which were all of red sandstone. In the afternoon there was a
+thunderstorm but the sky became again perfectly serene in the evening.
+
+September 23.
+
+This morning a thick fog hung over us; but having well reconnoitred the
+country beyond I knew that I might travel in a straight line over open
+ground for several miles. When the fog arose some finely wooded hills
+appeared on our right; but after advancing seven miles on good firm earth
+we again came upon very soft ground which obliged us to turn and wind and
+pick our way wherever the surface seemed most likely to bear us.
+
+NATIVE FEMALES.
+
+The fog was succeeded by a fine warm day, and as we proceeded we saw two
+gins and their children at work separately on a swampy meadow; and, quick
+as the sight of these natives is, we had travelled long within view
+before they observed us. They were spread over the field much in the
+manner in which emus and kangaroos feed on plains, and we observed them
+digging in the ground for roots. All carried bags and when Piper went
+towards them they ran with great speed across the vast open plains to the
+southward.
+
+CATTLE TRACKS.
+
+This day we perceived the fresh track of several bullocks, a very
+extraordinary circumstance in that situation. The beautiful
+yellow-wreathed acacia was not to be seen after we quitted the open
+country. The ground was becoming almost hopelessly soft, when we reached
+a small run of water from the hills and, by keeping along its bank, we
+had the good fortune to reach an extremity of the range where the solid
+granite was as welcome to our feet as a dry beach is to shipwrecked
+seamen.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT COLE.
+
+We had at length arrived under Mammala, the bluff hill which had been my
+landmark from the time I left Mr. Stapylton. I found this was the
+southern extremity of a lofty range which I lost no time in ascending
+after I had fixed on a spot for the camp. It consisted of huge blocks of
+granite,* and was crowned with such lofty timber that I could only catch
+occasional peeps of the surrounding country: nevertheless I obtained, by
+moving about among the trees with my pocket sextant, almost all the
+angles I wanted; and I thus connected the survey of the region I was
+leaving with that I was about to enter. My first view over this eastern
+country was extensive, and when I at length descended to a projecting
+rock I found the prospect extremely promising, the land being variegated
+with open plains and strips of forest, and studded with smooth green
+hills of the most beautiful forms. In the extreme distance a range much
+resembling that on which I stood declined at its southern extremity in
+the same manner as this did, and thus left me a passage precisely in the
+most direct line of route homewards.
+
+(*Footnote. Consisting of pink felspar, white quartz and silvery mica.)
+
+ENTER ON A GRANITE COUNTRY.
+
+The carts had still however to cross the range at which we had arrived
+and which, as I perceived here, not only extended southward but also
+broke into bold ravines on the eastern side, being connected with some
+noble hills, or rather mountains, all grassy to their summits, thinly
+wooded and consisting wholly of granite. They resembled very much some
+hills of the lower Pyrenees in Spain, only that they were more grassy and
+less acclivitous, and I named this hill Mount Cole. To the southward the
+sea-haze dimmed the horizon: but I perceived the eastern margin of a
+large piece of water bearing south-south-east, and which I supposed might
+be Cadong. It was sheltered on the south-east by elevated ground
+apparently very distant, but no high range appeared between us and that
+inlet of the sea. On the contrary the heights extending southward from
+this summit, being connected with the highest and most southern hills
+visible from it, seemed to be the only high land or separation of the
+waters falling north and south. With such a country before us I bade
+adieu to swamps and returned well pleased to the camp, being guided to it
+only by the gushing torrent, for I had remained on the hill as long as
+daylight lasted.
+
+MANY RIVULETS.
+
+September 24.
+
+The morning was rainy and our way having to be traced up the ravines and
+round the hills was very tortuous for the first three miles. We then
+reached the dividing part of the range and descended immediately after
+into valleys of a less intricate character. Having passed over the swampy
+bed of a rivulet flowing southward, and having also crossed several fine
+bold ridges with good streams between them, we at length encamped near a
+round hill which, being clear on the summit, was therefore a favourable
+station for the theodolite. This hill also consisted of granite and
+commanded an open and extensive view over the country to the eastward.
+
+September 25.
+
+One bold range of forest land appeared before us and after crossing it we
+passed over several rivulets falling northward, then over a ridge of
+trappean conglomerate with embedded quartz pebbles, and descended into a
+valley of the finest description. Grassy hills clear of timber appeared
+beyond a stream also flowing northward. These hills consisted of old
+vesicular lava. We next entered a forest of very large trees of ironbark
+eucalyptus, and we finally encamped in a grassy valley in the midst of
+this forest.
+
+September 26.
+
+We first crossed more hills of the trappean conglomerate on which grew
+ironbark eucalypti and box. The rock consisted of a base of compact
+felspar with embedded grains of quartz, giving to some parts the
+character of conglomerate, and there were also embedded crystals of
+common felspar. By diverging a little to the right we entered upon an
+open tract of the most favourable aspect, stretching away to the
+south-west among similar hills until they were lost in the extreme
+distance. The whole surface was green as an emerald and on our right for
+some miles ran a fine rivulet between steep grassy banks and over a bed
+of trap-rock.
+
+MAMMELOID HILLS.
+
+At length this stream was joined by two others coming through similar
+grassy valleys from the south; and when we approached two lofty smooth
+round hills, green to their summits, the united streams flowed in an open
+dell which our carts rolled through without meeting any impediment. I
+ascended the most western of these hills as it was a point which I had
+observed from various distant stations, and I enjoyed such a charming
+view eastward from the summit as can but seldom fall to the lot of the
+explorers of new countries. The surface presented the forms of pristine
+beauty clothed in the hues of spring; and the shining verdure of these
+smooth and symmetrical hills was relieved by the darker hues of the wood
+with which they were interlaced; which exhibited every variety of tint,
+from a dark brown in the foreground to a light blue in extreme distance.
+
+LAVA, THE SURFACE ROCK.
+
+The hills consisted entirely of lava and I named them from their peculiar
+shape the Mammeloid hills, and the station on which I stood Mount
+Greenock. In travelling through this Eden no road was necessary, nor any
+ingenuity in conducting wheel-carriages wherever we chose. The beautiful
+little terrestrial orchidaceous plants Caladenia dilatata and Diuris
+aurea were already in full bloom; and we also found on the plains this
+day a most curious little bush resembling a heath in foliage, but with
+solitary polypetalous flowers resembling those of Sollya.* When we had
+completed fourteen miles we encamped on the edge of an open plain and
+near a small rivulet, the opposite bank consisting of grassy forest land.
+
+(*Footnote. This has been ascertained to be a new species of the genus
+Campylanthera of Hooker, or Pronaya of Baron Hugel, of which two species
+were found by the latter botanist and the late Mr. Frazer at Swan River.
+Campylanthera ericoides, Lindley manuscripts; erecta, fruticosa, glabra,
+foliis oblongo-cuneatis mucronatis margine revolutis, floribus solitariis
+terminalibus erectis, antheris subrotundis.)
+
+ABORIGINAL IMITATIONS.
+
+September 27.
+
+I was surprised to hear the voice of a Scotchwoman in the camp this
+morning. The peculiar accent and rapid utterance could not be mistaken as
+I thought, and I called to inquire who the stranger was, when I
+ascertained that it was only Tommy Came-last who was imitating a Scotch
+female who, as I then learnt, was at Portland Bay and had been very kind
+to Tommy. The imitation was ridiculously true through all the modulations
+of that peculiar accent although, strange to say, without the
+pronunciation of a single intelligible word. The talent of the aborigines
+for imitation seems a peculiar trait in their character. I was informed
+that The Widow could also amuse the men occasionally by enacting their
+leader, taking angles, drawing from nature, etc.
+
+While the party went forward over the open plains with Mr. Stapylton I
+ascended a smooth round hill, distant about a mile to the southward of
+our camp, from which I could with ease continue my survey by means of
+hills on all sides, the highest of them being to the southward. I could
+trace the rivulets flowing northward into one or two principal channels,
+near several masses of mountain: these channels and ranges being probably
+connected with those crossed by us on our route from the Murray. In these
+bare hills and on the open grassy plains, old vesicular lava abounded;
+small loose elongated fragments lay on the round hills, having a red
+scorified appearance and being also so cellular as to be nearly as light
+as pumice. We this day crossed several fine running streams and forests
+of box and bluegum growing on ridges of trappean conglomerate. At length
+we entered on a very level and extensive flat, exceedingly green and
+resembling an English park. It was bounded on the east by a small river
+flowing to the north-west (probably the Loddon) and abrupt but grassy
+slopes arose beyond its right bank. After crossing this stream we
+encamped, having travelled nearly fifteen miles in one straight line
+bearing 60 1/2 degrees east of north. This tract was rather of a
+different character from that of the fine country of which we had
+previously seen so much, and we saw for the first time the Discaria
+australis, a remarkable green leafless spiny bush and resembling in a
+most striking manner the Colletias of Chili. Sheltered on every side by
+woods or higher ground, the spring seemed more advanced there than
+elsewhere, and our hard wrought cattle well deserved to be the first to
+browse on that verdant plain. The stream in its course downwards vanished
+amongst grassy hills to water a country apparently of the most
+interesting and valuable character.
+
+September 28.
+
+The steep banks beyond the river consisted of clay-slate having under it
+a conglomerate containing fragments of quartz cemented by compact
+haematite.
+
+SNAKES EATEN BY THE NATIVES.
+
+The day was hot and we killed several large snakes of the species eaten
+by the natives. I observed that our guides looked at the colour of the
+belly when in any doubt about the sort they preferred; these were
+white-bellied, whereas the belly of a very fierce one with a large head,
+of which Piper and the others seemed much afraid, was yellow. On cutting
+this snake open two young quails were found within: one of them not being
+quite dead. The country we crossed during the early part of the day was
+at least as fine as that we had left. We passed alternately through
+strips of forest and over open flats well watered, the streams flowing
+southward; and at nine miles we crossed a large stream also flowing in
+that direction: all these being evidently tributaries to that on which we
+had been encamped. Beyond the greater stream, where we last crossed it,
+the country presented more of the mountain character, but good strong
+grass grew among the trees, which consisted of box and lofty bluegum.
+After making out upwards of eleven miles, we encamped in a valley where
+water lodged in holes and where we found also abundance of grass. We were
+fast approaching those summits which had guided me in my route from Mount
+Cole, then more than fifty miles behind us. Like that mountain these
+heights also belonged to a lofty range, and like it were beside a very
+low part of it, through which I hoped to effect a passage. Leaving the
+party to encamp I proceeded forward in search of the hill I had so long
+seen before me, and I found that the hills immediately beyond our camp
+were part of the dividing range and broken into deep ravines on the
+eastern side. Pursuing the connection between them and the still higher
+summits on the north-east, I came at length upon an open valley enclosed
+by hills very lightly wooded. This change was evidently owing to a
+difference in the rock which was a fine-grained granite, whereas the
+hills we had recently crossed belonged chiefly to the volcanic class of
+rocks, with the exception of the range I had traversed that evening in my
+way from the camp, which consisted of ferruginous sandstone. With the
+change of rock a difference was also obvious in the shape of the hills,
+the quantity and quality of the water, and the character of the trees.
+The hills presented a bold sweeping outline and were no longer broken by
+sharp-edged strata but crowned with large round masses of rock. Running
+water was gushing from every hollow in much greater abundance than
+elsewhere; and lastly the timber, which on the other ranges consisted
+chiefly of ironbark and stringybark, now presented the shining bark of
+the bluegum or yarra and the grey hue of the box. The Anthisteria
+australis, a grass which seems to delight in a granitic soil, also
+appeared in great abundance, and we also found the aromatic tea, Tasmania
+aromatica, which represents in New Holland the winter's bark of the
+southern extremity of South America. The leaves and bark of this tree
+have a hot biting cinnamon-like taste on which account it is vulgarly
+called the pepper-tree.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT BYNG.
+
+I could ride with ease to the summit of the friendly hill that I had seen
+from afar, and found it but thinly wooded so that I could take my angles
+around the horizon without difficulty. Again reminded by the similar
+aspect this region presented of the lower Pyrenees and the pass of
+Orbaicetta, I named the summit Mount Byng.
+
+RICH GRASS.
+
+A country fully as promising as the fine region we had left was embraced
+in my view from that point. I perceived long patches of open plain
+interspersed with forest hills and low woody ranges, among which I could
+trace out a good line of route for another fifty miles homewards. The
+highest of the mountains lay to the south and evidently belonged to the
+coast range, if it might be so called; and on that side a lofty mass
+arose above the rest and promised a view towards the sea, that height
+being distant from the hill on which I stood about thirty miles. A broad
+chain of woody hills connected the coast range with Mount Byng, and I
+could trace the general course of several important streams through the
+country to the east of it. Northward I saw a little of the interior
+plains and the points where the various ranges terminated upon them. The
+sun was setting when I left Mount Byng but I depended on one of our
+natives, Tommy Came-last, who was then with me, for finding our way to
+the camp; and who on such occasions could trace my steps backwards with
+wonderful facility by day or night.
+
+EXPEDITION PASS.
+
+September 29.
+
+The range before us was certainly rather formidable for the passage of
+carts, but home lay beyond it, while delay and famine were synonymous
+terms with us at that time. By following up the valley in which we had
+encamped I found early on this morning an easy way through which the
+carts might gain the lowest part of the range. Having conducted them to
+this point without any other inconvenience besides the overturning of one
+cart (from bad driving) we descended along the hollow of a ravine after
+making it passable by throwing some rocks into the narrow part near its
+head. The ravine at length opened, as I had expected, into a grassy
+valley with a fine rivulet flowing through it, and from this valley we
+debouched into the still more open granitic country at the foot of Mount
+Byng. The pass thus auspiciously discovered and opened, over a neck
+apparently the very lowest of the whole range, I named Expedition-pass,
+confident that such a line of communication between the southern coast
+and Sydney must, in the course of time, become a very considerable
+thoroughfare. The change of soil however introduced us to the old
+difficulty from which we had been happily relieved for some time, for we
+came once more upon rotten and boggy ground. We met with this unexpected
+impediment in an open-looking flat near a rivulet I was about to cross,
+when I found the surface so extremely soft and yielding that from the
+extreme resistance a bolt of the boat-carriage gave way, a circumstance
+which obliged us immediately to encamp although we had travelled only
+four miles.
+
+EXCURSION TOWARDS PORT PHILLIP.
+
+September 30.
+
+Compelled thus to await the repair of the boat-carriage I determined to
+make an excursion to the lofty mountain mass which appeared about thirty
+miles to the southward, in order that I might connect my survey with Port
+Phillip, which I hoped to see thence. The horses were not found as soon
+as they were required, but when we at last got upon their backs we were
+therefore less disposed to spare them.
+
+DISCOVER AND CROSS THE RIVER BARNARD.
+
+We crossed some soft hollows during the first few miles, and then arrived
+on the banks of a small and deep river with reeds on its borders, and
+containing many broad and deep reaches. It was full and flowed, but not
+rapidly, towards the north-east, and it was not until we had continued
+along the left bank of this stream for a considerable way upwards that we
+found a rapid where we could cross without swimming. The left bank was of
+bold acclivity but grassy and clear of timber, being very level on the
+summit; and I found it consisted of trap-rock of the same vesicular
+character which I had observed in so many other parts of this southern
+region. Beyond the river (which I then named the Barnard) we first
+encountered a hilly country from which we emerged rather unexpectedly;
+for after crossing a small rivulet flowing in a deep and grassy dell
+where trap-rock again appeared, and ascending the opposite slope, we
+found that the summit consisted of an open level country of the finest
+description. It was covered with the best kind of grass and the immediate
+object of our ride, the mountain, was now visible beyond these rich
+plains. Some fine forest-hills arose in various directions to the right
+and left, and indeed I never saw a more pleasing or promising portion of
+territory. The rich open ground across which we rode was not without
+slight undulations; and when we had traversed about four miles of it we
+came quite unawares to a full and flowing stream, nearly on a level with
+its grassy banks; the bottom being so sound that we forded it without the
+least difficulty.
+
+EMUS NUMEROUS AND TAME.
+
+Emus were very numerous on the downs and their curiosity brought them to
+stare at our horses, apparently unconscious of the presence of the biped
+on their backs whom both birds and beasts seem instinctively to avoid. In
+one flock I counted twenty-nine emus, and so near did they come to us
+that, having no rifle with me, I was tempted to discharge even my pistol
+at one, although without effect. Kangaroos were equally numerous. Having
+proceeded three miles beyond the stream we came to another flowing to the
+westward between some very deep ponds, and it was probably a tributary to
+the first.
+
+THE RIVER CAMPASPE.
+
+At twenty-two miles from the camp, on descending from some finely
+undulating open ground, we arrived at a stream flowing westward, which I
+judged to be also a branch of that we had first crossed. Its bed
+consisted of granitic rocks and on the left bank I found trap. We had
+this stream afterwards in sight on our left until, at two miles further,
+we again crossed it and entered a wood of eucalyptus, being then only
+five miles distant from the mountain, and we subsequently found that this
+wood extended to its base.
+
+EFFECTS OF A STORM IN THE WOODS.
+
+The effects of some violent hurricane from the north were visible under
+every tree, the earth being covered with broken branches, some of which
+were more than a foot in diameter; the withering leaves remained upon
+them, and I remarked that no whole trees had been blown down, although
+almost all had lost their principal limbs and not a few had been reduced
+to bare poles. The havoc which the storm had made gave an unusual aspect
+to the whole of the forest land, so universally was it covered with
+withering branches. Whether this region is subject to frequent
+visitations of a like nature I could not of course then ascertain; but I
+perceived that many of the trees had lost some of their top limbs at a
+much earlier period in a similar manner. Neither had this been but a
+partial tempest, for to the very base of the mountain the same effects
+were visible. The trees on its side were of a much grander character than
+those in the forest, and consisted principally of black-butt and bluegum
+eucalypti measuring from six to eight feet in diameter. The rock was
+syenite, so weathered as to resemble sandstone.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT MACEDON.
+
+I ascended without having been obliged to alight from my horse, and I
+found that the summit was very spacious, being covered towards the south
+with tree-ferns, and the musk-plant grew in great luxuriance. I saw also
+many other plants found at the Illawarra, on the eastern coast of the
+colony of New South Wales. The summit was full of wombat holes and,
+unlike that side by which I had ascended, it was covered with the dead
+trunks of enormous trees in all stages of decay.
+
+PORT PHILLIP DIMLY SEEN FROM IT.
+
+I had two important objects in view in ascending this hill; one being to
+determine its position trigonometrically as a point likely to be seen
+from the country to which I was going, where it might be useful to me in
+fixing other points; the other being to obtain a view of Port Phillip,
+and thus to connect my survey with that harbour. But the tree-fern,
+musk-plant, brush, and lofty timber together shut us up for a long time
+from any prospect of the low country to the southward, and it was not
+until I had nearly exhausted a fine sunny afternoon in wandering round
+the broad summit that I could distinguish and recognise some of the hills
+to the westward; and when I at length obtained a glimpse of the country
+towards the coast the features of the earth could scarcely be
+distinguished from the sky or sea, although one dark point looked more
+like a cape than a cloud and seemed to remain steady. With my glass I
+perceived that water lay inside of that cape and that low plains extended
+northward from the water. I next discovered a hilly point outside of the
+cape or towards the sea; and on descending the hill to where the trees
+grew less thickly I obtained an uninterrupted view of the whole piece of
+water. As the sun went down the distant horizon became clearer towards
+the coast and I intersected at length the two capes; also one at the head
+of the bay and several detached hills. I perceived distinctly the course
+of the Exe and Arundell rivers and a line of mangrove trees along the low
+shore. In short I at length recognised Port Phillip and the intervening
+country around it at a distance afterwards ascertained to be upwards of
+fifty miles from Indented Head, which proved to be the first cape I had
+seen; that outside (at A) being Point Nepean on the east side of the
+entrance to this bay. At that vast distance I could trace no signs of
+life about this harbour. No stockyards, cattle, nor even smoke, although
+at the highest northern point of the bay I saw a mass of white objects
+which might have been either tents or vessels. I perceived a white speck,
+which I took for breakers or white sand, on the projecting point of the
+north-eastern shore. (B.) On that day nine years exactly I first beheld
+the heads of Port Jackson, a rather singular coincidence. Thus the
+mountain on which I stood became an important point in my survey, and I
+gave it the name of Mount Macedon, with reference to that of Port
+Phillip.* It had been long dark before I reached the base of the mountain
+and picked out a dry bit of turf on which to lie down for the night.
+
+(*Footnote. Geboor is the native name of this hill, as since ascertained
+by my friend Captain King, and it is a much better one, having fewer
+letters and being aboriginal.)
+
+October 1.
+
+The morning was cloudy with drizzling rain, a circumstance which
+prevented me from re-ascending a naked rock on the north-eastern summit
+to extend my observations over the country we were about to traverse. I
+found decomposed gneiss at the base of this hill.
+
+RETURN TO THE CAMP.
+
+While returning to the camp we saw great numbers of kangaroos but could
+not add to our stock of provisions, having neither dogs nor a rifle with
+us. I found on my arrival at the camp that the boat-carriage having been
+made once more serviceable, the party was quite ready to move forward in
+the morning.
+
+October 2.
+
+The day being Sunday and the weather unfavourable, as it rained heavily,
+the barometer having also fallen more than half an inch, I made it a day
+of rest for the benefit of our jaded horses, notwithstanding our own
+short rations. I was also very desirous to complete some work on the map.
+
+CONTINUE OUR HOMEWARD JOURNEY.
+
+October 3.
+
+A clear morning: I buried another letter for Mr. Stapylton, informing him
+how he might best avoid the mud; and then we proceeded along the highest
+points of the ground, thus keeping clear of that which was boggy, and we
+found the surface to improve much in this respect as we receded from the
+base of the higher range. We crossed some fine valleys, each watered by a
+running stream; and all the hills consisted of granite. The various
+rivulets we crossed fell southwards into one we had seen in a valley on
+our right which continued from the base of the mountain, and this rivulet
+at length entered a still deeper valley in which there was very little
+wood, the hills on the opposite side being uncommonly level at the top.
+In this valley a fine stream ran northward, being undoubtedly the
+Barnard, or first river crossed by us on our way to Mount Macedon. We
+succeeded in finding a ford, but although it was deep a greater
+difficulty to be overcome was the descent of our carts to it, so abrupt
+and steep-sided was the ravine in which the Barnard flowed.
+
+WATERFALL OF COBAW.
+
+When we had effected at length a descent and a passage across, having
+also established our camp beyond this stream, I rode up the bank towards
+a noise of falling water, and thus came to a very fine cascade of upwards
+of sixty feet. The river indeed fell more than double that height, but in
+the lower part the water escaped unseen, flowing amongst large blocks of
+granite. I had visited several waterfalls in Scotland, but this was
+certainly the most picturesque I had witnessed; although the effect was
+not so much in the body of water falling, or the loud noise, as in the
+bold character of the rocks over and amongst which it fell. Their colour
+and shape were harmonized into a more complete scene than nature usually
+presents, resembling the finished subject of an artist, foreground and
+all. The prevailing hues were light red and purple-grey, the rocks being
+finely interlaced with a small-leaved creeper of the brightest green. A
+dark-coloured moss, which presents a warm green in the sun, covered the
+lower masses and relieved and supported the brighter hues, while a
+brilliant iris shone steadily in the spray, and blended into perfect
+harmony the lighter hues of the higher rocks and the whiteness of the
+torrent rushing over them. The banks of this stream were of so bold a
+character that in all probability other picturesque scenery, perhaps
+finer than this, may yet be found upon it.
+
+SINGULAR COUNTRY ON THE BARNARD.
+
+The geological character of the adjacent country was sufficiently
+striking--the left bank consisted of undulating hills and bold rocks of
+granite; the right of trap-rock in the higher part, and presented a
+remarkable contrast to the other, from the perfectly level character of
+the summits of adjacent hills, as if the whole had been once in a fluid
+state. Some of these table hills were separated by dry grassy vales of
+excellent soil. Further back the rugged crests of a wooded range of a
+different formation rendered the level character of this ancient lava or
+vesicular trap more obvious. The hills behind consisted in the higher
+parts of a felspathic conglomerate and clay-slate dipping to the
+eastward.
+
+The country looked fine to the south and also northward, or down the
+stream. By keeping along a winding valley we ascended without
+inconvenience between these curiously scarped trap hills.
+
+October 5.
+
+We found the trees on the low range much broken like those near Mount
+Macedon, and the ground strewed here also with withering boughs, the
+result apparently of the same storm, the destructive effects of which we
+had noticed on the trees there.
+
+CROSS THE CAMPASPE.
+
+Beyond the clay-stone range we entered on another open and grassy tract
+where trap-rock again appeared; and at four miles and a half we descended
+into a grassy ravine in which we found another river flowing northward;
+this being apparently the second river crossed in my ride to Mount
+Macedon and which I now named the Campaspe. It was difficult to find in
+this stream any fordable place where the banks could be approached by the
+carts, one side or the other always proving too steep; but at length we
+succeeded. Strata of clay-slate inclined almost perpendicularly to the
+horizon projected at parts of the left bank, and over this clay-slate I
+found trap-rock. Beyond the Campaspe we crossed plains and much open
+land. At length on descending a little from a sort of table the trap was
+no longer to be seen, and we entered a wood where sandstone seemed to
+predominate, the strata dipping to the south-west. Fine grassy slopes
+extended through this forest, which was also so open that we could see
+each way for several miles. A rich variety of yellow flowers adorned the
+verdure among which the Caladenia and Diuris aurea, and also a large
+white Anguillaria, were very abundant.
+
+AN ENGLISH RAZOR FOUND.
+
+Piper found at an old native encampment a razor, and I had the
+satisfaction of reading on the blade the words "Old English" in this wild
+region, still so remote from civilised man's dominion! In the afternoon a
+remarkable change took place in the weather, for we had rain with an
+easterly wind, the thermometer being at 68 degrees. We encamped on a
+chain of deep ponds falling to the northward; reeds grew in them and we
+endeavoured to catch cod-perch but without success, probably because the
+natives of the country were too expert fishers to leave any in such
+holes.
+
+ASCEND MOUNT CAMPBELL.
+
+October 6.
+
+At two miles on we reached the summit of the range near Mount Campbell
+which had partly bounded my view eastward from Mount Byng. A slight scrub
+grew on this range but not so thickly as to be impervious to carts; and
+after crossing it, as well as a succession of lower ridges, a good valley
+at length appeared on the left, while another which was very wide and
+green lay before us. At the further side of this and under another range
+ran a deep mountain stream which was joined a little lower down by one
+from the valley on the left: thus by following this stream I might have
+turned the range, but it was not too steep to be crossed, and I required
+some angles with the surrounding hills and the country before us. We
+ascended it therefore and comparatively with ease; and from amongst the
+trees on a hill I saw and intersected more points than I expected to see;
+even Mount Macedon was visible and, to the eastward, summits which I was
+almost certain lay beyond the river Goulburn. The descent from this ridge
+to the eastward was rather steep; but we immediately after entered an
+open forest in a valley which led very nearly in the direction of my
+intended route.
+
+NATIVE BEVERAGE.
+
+The adjacent forest consisted of large trees of ironbark, the first of
+that species of eucalyptus that we had seen for a considerable time. This
+tree was then in flower, and we found in a large canoe at an old native
+encampment a considerable quantity of the blossoms, which had not been
+long cut. Piper explained the purpose for which these flowers had been
+gathered by informing me that, by steeping them a night in water, the
+natives make a sweet beverage named bool.
+
+VALLEY OF THE DEEGAY.
+
+October 7.
+
+The whole of this day's journey (fourteen miles) was along the same
+valley that we had entered yesterday. The deep bed of a stream, then
+containing a chain of ponds only, pursued a meandering course through it.
+We saw in this valley a pair of cockatoos with the scarlet and yellow
+top-knot. (Plate 23.) We had not been long encamped when intelligence was
+brought me by Piper that a party of natives were following our track, and
+soon after, Burnett and he having gone out to encourage them to come up,
+seven, including an old man and two boys, approached and I hastened out
+to meet them that they might not sit down too close to our camp. They
+told us the creek watering this long valley was named Deegay.
+
+NATIVES EXCHANGE BASKETS FOR AXES.
+
+Three of them carried very neatly-wrought baskets, and I gave two
+tomahawks in exchange for two of the baskets, and then making signs that
+it was time to sleep I returned to my tent, hoping that they would go to
+their tribe.
+
+THEY LINGER ABOUT OUR CAMP.
+
+On looking out however some time after, I found that two had walked
+boldly up to our fires, while the others continued to cower over a few
+embers at the spot where I left them; the evening being very cold and
+stormy. Piper, who at first seemed much disposed to make friends of these
+people, had found that his endeavours to conciliate strange natives were
+as usual in vain, and was now going about sword in hand, while three of
+the strangers seemed desirous to assuage his anger by telling him a long
+yarn. The other, who was the old man, was casting a covetous eye on all
+things around the camp. When I went out they retired to the group, but
+long after it had become quite dark there they still sat, having scarcely
+any fire and evidently bent on mischief.
+
+EFFECT OF FIREWORKS, ETC.
+
+I really was not sorry then to find that they still continued, for I had
+made arrangements for having a little amusement in that case, although
+their object in lingering there was nothing less than to kill us when
+asleep. Accordingly at a given signal Burnett suddenly sallied forth
+wearing a gilt mask and holding in his hand a blue light with which he
+fired a rocket.* Two men concealed behind the boat-carriage bellowed
+hideously through speaking trumpets, while all the others shouted and
+discharged their carabines in the air. Burnett marched solemnly towards
+the astonished natives who were seen through the gloom but for an instant
+as they made their escape and disappeared forever; leaving behind them
+however rough-shaped heavy clubs which they had made there in the dark
+with the new tomahawks we had given them, and which clubs were doubtless
+made for the sole purpose of beating out our brains as soon as we fell
+asleep. Thus their savage thirst for our blood only afforded us some
+hearty laughing. Such an instance of ingratitude was to me however a
+subject of painful reflection. The clubs made in the dark, during a very
+cold night, with the tomahawks I had given them, enabled me to understand
+better what the intentions of the natives had been in other similar
+cases; and I was at length convinced that no kindness had the slightest
+effect in altering the disposition and savage desire of these wild men to
+kill white strangers on their first coming among them. That Australia can
+never be explored with safety except by very powerful parties will
+probably be proved by the treacherous murder of many brave white men.**
+
+(*Footnote. The use of these masks, which I on several occasions
+displayed with success, was first suggested to me by Sir John Jamison.)
+
+(**Footnote. A distressing instance of this hostility towards the whites
+on the part of the aborigines has since occurred not far from the very
+spot where I wrote the above portion of my journal. Our line of route
+soon became the high road from Sydney to Port Phillip, and it appears by
+the Sydney newspapers (see Appendix 2.3) that the natives attacked a
+party of fifteen men proceeding with cattle into these recently explored
+regions. Although the whites had firearms the blacks killed seven of
+them, leaving another so severely wounded that his recovery was deemed
+hopeless. The winding swamp where this sudden attack by aboriginal
+natives took place is marked Swampy River on the map, and from the
+assembling of such a number at that point, exactly midway between the
+Murrumbidgee and Port Phillip, therefore the most remote from settled
+parts, and especially from the SUDDENNESS of that attack, the reader may
+imagine the perilous situation of my party on the Darling and the lower
+part of the Murray where, had any such attack but commenced successfully,
+it is extremely improbable that any white man would have returned to the
+settled districts.)
+
+October 8.
+
+The windings of the creek were this day more in our way as we proceeded
+along the valley and, when in doubt whether it would be best for our
+purpose to cross this channel or one joining it there from the south, I
+perceived a small hill at no great distance beyond, upon which I halted
+the party and ascended, when I saw that several ranges previously
+observed were at no great distance before us. In these ranges a gap to
+the south-east seemed to be the bed of the river which I knew we were
+approaching, and which I therefore concluded we should find in the low
+intervening country. Westward of the gap or ravine stood a large mass
+which I thought might be the Mount Disappointment of Mr. Hume.
+
+ARRIVAL AT, AND PASSAGE OF, THE GOULBURN.
+
+On returning to the party we crossed the channel of the Deegay; but at
+less than a mile further we were obliged to pass again to the right bank
+at a point where its course tended northward. Soon after recrossing it we
+met with a broad dry channel or lagoon, with lofty gum trees of the yarra
+species on its borders, a proof that the river was at hand; and on
+advancing three-quarters of a mile further we made the bank of the
+Goulburn or Hovell, a fine river somewhat larger than the Murrumbidgee.*
+Its banks and bed were firm; the breadth 60 yards; the mean depth as
+ascertained by soundings being somewhat more there than two fathoms. The
+velocity was at the rate of 100 yards in three minutes, or one mile and
+240 yards per hour; the temperature of the water 54 degrees Fahrenheit.
+After having ascertained that this river was nowhere fordable at that
+time I sought an eligible place for swimming the cattle and horses across
+and immediately launched the boat. All the animals reached the opposite
+bank in safety; and by the evening every part of our equipment except the
+boat-carriage was also across.
+
+(*Footnote. This river has been unfortunate in obtaining a variety of
+names and therefore less objection can be made to my preference of the
+aboriginal which I ascertained through Piper to be Bayunga. We already
+have a river Goulburn in New South Wales.)
+
+FISH CAUGHT.
+
+In this river we caught one or two very fine cod-perch, our old friends
+Gristes peelii.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.13.
+
+Continue through a level forest country.
+Ascend a height near the camp, and obtain a sight of snowy summits to the
+eastward.
+Reach a swampy river.
+A man drowned.
+Pass through Futter's range.
+Impeded by a swamp among reeds.
+Junction of the rivers Ovens and King.
+Ascend granitic ranges.
+Lofty mass named Mount Aberdeen.
+Reach the Murray.
+The river very difficult of access.
+A carriage track discovered.
+Passage of the river.
+Cattle.
+Horses.
+Party returning to meet Mr. Stapylton.
+A creek terminating in a swamp.
+Mount Trafalgar.
+Rugged country still before us.
+Provisions nearly exhausted.
+Cattle tracks found.
+At length reach a valley leading in the desired direction.
+Cattle seen.
+Obliged to kill one of our working bullocks.
+By following the valley downwards, we arrive on the Murrumbidgee.
+Write my despatch.
+Piper meets his friends.
+Native names of rivers.
+
+CONTINUE THROUGH A LEVEL FOREST COUNTRY.
+
+October 9.
+
+Having buried on the left bank another letter of instructions for Mr.
+Stapylton according to certain marks as previously arranged with him, we
+mounted our boat on the carriage (which had been brought across early in
+the morning) and continued our journey. I expected to find a ford in this
+river but, considering the swollen state in which it then was, I
+instructed Mr. Stapylton to remain encamped on the left bank until the
+boat should return from the Murray, as beyond that river we were not
+likely to have further occasion for it. Our way on leaving the Bayunga
+was rather intricate, being amongst lagoons left by high floods of the
+river. Some of them were fine sheets of water, apparently much frequented
+by ducks and other aquatic birds.
+
+LEVEL FOREST COUNTRY.
+
+At exactly 2 1/2 miles from the river we reached the outer bank or berg,
+and resumed at length the straight course homewards, for I there found a
+level forest country open before me, through which we travelled about
+eight miles in a south-east direction. We then encamped near some
+waterholes which I found on our right, in the surface of a clay soil and
+close to a plain extending southward. The wood throughout the forest
+consisted of the box or goborro species of eucalyptus and we crossed,
+soon after first entering it, a small plain. At 3 1/2 miles from the last
+camp on this line, the low alluvial bed of the river with a deep lagoon
+in it as broad as the river itself appeared close to us on the left; and
+as I had seen some indications of the Bayunga on the other side also, or
+to our right, it was obvious that we had just met with this river at one
+of its most western bends, an object I had in view in following down the
+Deegay from the westward. The forest country traversed by the party this
+day was in general grassy and good and, as it was open enough to afford a
+prospect of about a mile around us, we travelled on in a straight line
+with unwonted ease and facility.
+
+October 10.
+
+We continued our journey homeward through a country of the same character
+as that seen yesterday, at least for the first five miles, when we came
+at length to a chain of deep ponds, the second we had encountered that
+morning. In the bank of this I found a stratum of alluvium; but beyond it
+the soil was granitic, and banksia was seen there for the first time
+after crossing the river. At 7 1/4 miles we met with another chain of
+large ponds, and at 9 miles a running stream flowing to the north-west.
+After passing over various other chains of ponds we encamped at the end
+of 14 1/2 miles near the bank of a running stream in which were also some
+deep pools and which, from some flowers growing there, were named by the
+men Violet Ponds.
+
+October 11.
+
+Having turned my course a little more towards the east in order to keep
+the hills in view, chiefly for the more convenient continuance of the
+survey, we passed through a country abundantly watered at that time, the
+party having crossed eight running streams besides chains of ponds in
+travelling only 14 miles. Towards the end of the day's journey we found
+ourselves once more on undulating ground, and I at length perceived on my
+right that particular height which, at a distance of 80 miles back, I had
+selected as a guiding point in the direction which then appeared the most
+open part of the horizon, this being also in the best line for reaching
+the Murrumbidgee below Yass. It was the elevated northern extremity of a
+range connected with others still more lofty which arose to the
+south-east. We crossed some undulating ground near its base on which grew
+trees of stringybark, a species of eucalyptus which had not been
+previously seen in the forests traversed by us in our way from the river.
+We next entered a valley of a finer description of land than that of the
+level forest; and we encamped on the bank of a stream which formed deep
+reedy ponds, having travelled 14 miles.
+
+As soon as I had marked out the ground for the party I proceeded towards
+a hill which bore east-south-east from our camp and was distant from it
+about 5 1/2 miles. On our way an emu ran boldly up, apparently desirous
+of becoming acquainted with our horses; when close to us it stood still
+and began quietly to feed like a domestic fowl so that I was at first
+unwilling to take a shot at the social and friendly bird. The state of
+our flour however, and the recollection of our one remaining sheep
+already doomed to die, at length overcame my scruples, and I fired my
+carabine but missed. The bird ran only to a little distance however, and
+soon returned at a rapid rate again to feed beside us when, fortunately
+perhaps for the emu, I had no more time to spare for such sport and we
+proceeded.
+
+ASCEND A HEIGHT NEAR THE CAMP, AND OBTAIN A SIGHT OF SNOWY SUMMITS TO THE
+EASTWARD.
+
+The top of the hill was covered thickly with wood, but I saw for the
+first time for some years snowy pics far in the south-east beyond
+intermediate mountains also of considerable elevation. There was one low
+group of heights to the northward, but these were apparently the last,
+for the dead level of the interior was visible beyond them to the
+north-west. Further eastward a bold range extended too far towards the
+north to be turned conveniently by us in our proposed route; but under
+its high southern extremity (a very remarkable point) its connection with
+the mountains on the south appeared very low, and thither I determined to
+proceed. One isolated hill far in the north-western interior had already
+proved a useful point and was still visible here. I also saw the distant
+ranges to the eastward beyond the proposed pass just mentioned, and some
+of these I had no doubt lay beyond the Murray. The hill and range I had
+ascended consisted of granite, and the country between it and our camp of
+grassy open forest land.
+
+October 12.
+
+We passed over a country of similar description and well watered
+throughout the greater portion of this day's journey. In some parts the
+surface consisted of stiff clay retaining the surface water in holes, and
+at ten miles we crossed an undulating ridge of quartz rock; two miles
+beyond which we encamped near a stream running northward.
+
+REACH A SWAMPY RIVER.
+
+October 13.
+
+At 3 1/4 miles we came to a river of very irregular width and which, as I
+found on further examination, spread into broad lagoons and swamps
+bordered with reeds. Where we first approached it the bank was high and
+firm, the water forming a broad reach evidently very deep. But both above
+and below that point the stream, actually flowing, seemed fordable and we
+tried it in various places, but the bottom was everywhere soft and
+swampy.
+
+A MAN DROWNED.
+
+The man whom I usually employed on these occasions was James Taylor who
+had charge of the horses and who, on this unfortunate morning, was fated
+to lose his life in that swampy river. Taylor, or Tally-ho, as the other
+men called him, had been brought up in a hunting stable in England, and
+was always desirous of going further than I was willing to allow him,
+relying too much, as it now appeared, on his skill in swimming his horse,
+which I had often before prevented him from doing. I had on this occasion
+recalled him from different parts of the river, and determined to use the
+boat and swim the cattle and horses to the other side, when Tally-ho
+proposed to swim over on a horse in order to ascertain where the opposite
+bank was most favourable for the cattle to get out. I agreed to his
+crossing thus wherever he thought he could; and he rode towards a place
+which I conceived was by no means the best, and accordingly said so to
+him. I did not hear his reply, for he was just then riding into the
+water, and I could no longer see him from where I stood on the edge of a
+swampy hole. But scarcely a minute had elapsed when Burnett, going on
+foot to the spot, called out for all the men who could dive, at the same
+time exclaiming "the man's gone!" The horse came out with the bridle on
+his neck just as I reached the water's edge, but of poor Tally-ho I saw
+only the cap floating on the river. Four persons were immediately in the
+water--Piper, his gin, and two whites--and at six or eight minutes at
+most Piper brought the body up from the bottom. It was quite warm and
+immediately almost all the means recommended in such cases were applied
+by our medical attendant (Drysdale) who, having come from
+Newcastle-upon-Tyne, had seen many cases of that description. For three
+hours the animal heat was preserved by chafing the body, and during the
+whole of that time the lungs were alternately inflated and compressed,
+but all without success. With a sincerity of grief which must always
+pervade the breasts of men losing one of their number under such
+circumstances, we consigned the body of poor Taylor to a deep grave, the
+doctor having previously laid it out between two large sheets of bark. I
+was myself confounded with the most heart-felt sorrow when I turned from
+the grave of poor Tally-ho, never to hear his bugle blast again.* It was
+late before we commenced the passage of this fatal river which, although
+apparently narrow, we could only cross in the same manner in which we had
+passed the largest, namely, by swimming the cattle and horses, and
+carrying every article of equipment across in the boat. We effected even
+thus however the passage of the whole party before sunset; and then
+encamped on the opposite bank.
+
+(*Footnote. How this man could have died in the water in so short a time
+we did not understand, but it was conjectured that he had received some
+blow from the horse, until we were subsequently informed when on the
+Murrumbidgee by a person there who knew Taylor that he was subject to
+fits, a fact which satisfied us all as to the sudden manner of his
+death.)
+
+October 14.
+
+As we proceeded the broad swampy bed of this river or morass appeared on
+our right for a mile, the country being still covered by an open forest
+of box, having also grass enough upon it. At eight miles we approached
+some low hills of clay-slate, and I ascended one to the southward of our
+route from which I recognised a sufficient number of previously observed
+points to enable me to determine its relative position and theirs. On
+this hill I found the beautiful Brownonia which we had seen before only
+on Macquarie range beside the Lachlan. We here also met with the rare
+Spadostylis cunninghamii, whose heart-shaped glaucous leaves so much
+reminded us of the European euphorbias that it would have been mistaken
+for one of them if it had not been for its shrubby habit and bright
+yellow pea flowers.
+
+PASS THROUGH FUTTER'S RANGE.
+
+The country crossed beyond this hill was first undulating then hilly, and
+at length became so much so that it was necessary to pick a way for the
+carts with much caution. Nevertheless we at length succeeded in crossing
+this range also at its lowest part where the hill to the northward of it,
+already mentioned as the end of a range, bore nearly north. On reaching
+the head of this pass the prospect before us, after winding through such
+a labyrinth of hills, was agreeable enough. One fertile hollow led to an
+open level country which appeared to be bounded at a great distance by
+mountains; and I concluded that I should find in this extensive valley
+the rivers King and Ovens. Keeping along the verdant flat (which was
+watered by a good chain of ponds) we encamped about a mile and a half
+beyond the pass, and I then named that feature above it Futter's range
+after a successful and public-spirited colonist of New South Wales.
+
+IMPEDED BY A SWAMP AMONG REEDS.
+
+October 15.
+
+We had not proceeded more than half a mile in the general direction I
+proposed for our route when a reedy swamp compelled me to turn northward
+and, after travelling in that direction about a mile and a half, we found
+the swamp on our right had produced a small stream running nearly on a
+level with the plain. Its banks were soft and boggy, and beyond it we saw
+through the trees extensive tracts covered with reeds. I was soon
+compelled by the rivulet to deviate from my intended route even to the
+westward of north until, at 10 1/2 miles, on meeting with a chain of
+ponds falling to the eastward, I turned north-east, which bearing, at
+less than a mile forward, again brought us upon the stream running from
+the swamp but which was here flowing between firm banks and forming ponds
+of some magnitude. We forded it with difficulty by crossing at two
+points, that we might not break too much the soft earth over which it
+flowed by the passage of all in one place.
+
+JUNCTION OF THE RIVERS OVENS AND KING.
+
+At two miles further on we met with another stream of less magnitude
+flowing also to the north-west and at about a mile beyond it we reached
+the bank of the Ovens, fortunately just below the junction of a rather
+smaller stream which I took to be King's river.
+
+The two united formed a noble stream finely breaking up the dead levels
+of the surrounding plains which indeed, where we approached it, formed
+its highest bank and were there twenty-three feet above the water.
+
+No time was lost in launching our boat, and we effected a passage and
+encamped on the opposite bank before sunset, having driven all the cattle
+and horses safely across also, although with considerable difficulty from
+the steepness of the banks and softness of the soil at the water's edge
+on the side where they got to land.
+
+October 16.
+
+This morning the river had fallen three inches; its temperature was 59
+degrees (of Fahrenheit) the current flowing at the rate of 1 1/4 miles
+per hour; the mean depth two fathoms; and the width, where measured, 47
+yards; the breadth of the river King at the junction being nearly as
+much. The right bank to the distance of a mile and a half from the river
+was low and alluvial, and intersected by narrow watercourses and lagoons.
+On the alluvial flat where we crossed it stood a small isolated hill,
+between which and the higher ground still farther back water was running,
+apparently from a swamp, but as soon as we crossed this we reached firm
+ground and travelled on an open forest plain for nearly eight miles.
+
+ASCEND GRANITIC RANGES.
+
+We then came upon a hill of granite, and from its summit I perceived that
+we were already on the northern extremities of the high ranges we had
+seen from the westward. After travelling some miles along the summits of
+ridges in order to reach their connection with another range more to the
+northward, I ascertained, on crossing the highest part of a second ridge,
+that its northern slopes were very steep and rocky. A hill of
+considerable height lay before us and therefore, as soon as I had
+selected a spot for our camp in a little intervening valley, I hastened
+to it, certainly in doubt how we should extricate the carts from the
+rocky fastnesses before us. That summit afforded a commanding view of the
+country beyond the granitic range, and I perceived that it was low to a
+considerable distance northward, while the ranges beyond that extensive
+basin seemed of no great elevation to the westward or north-west, and all
+terminated on the level interior country where the horizon was broken by
+only one remarkable hill which, as I afterwards learnt, was named Dingee.
+In that direction I saw also open plains along which I thought I could
+trace the line of the Ovens. In the lower country before me I hoped to
+find the Murray, according to the map of Messrs. Hovell and Hume, which
+in the two rivers we had recently passed seemed wonderfully correct.
+
+LOFTY MASS NAMED MOUNT ABERDEEN.
+
+I again recognised in the south and south-east some of the snowy peaks
+formerly noticed, and I named the most lofty mass Mount Aberdeen. Beyond
+what I considered to be the course or bed of the Murray there appeared
+some steep ranges, to avoid which I chose a course more to the northward
+than I should otherwise have pursued in my way towards Yass. Before I
+returned to the camp I sought and succeeded in finding and marking out, a
+line of route by which the carts could be conducted across these rocky
+ranges and down to the lower country beyond them. On that range we found
+a handsome blue flower which I had previously seen growing abundantly on
+Bowral range near Mittagong within the present colony. We found in these
+valleys abundance of good grass.
+
+October 17.
+
+We descended from the higher range without difficulty, and then crossed
+several low ridges of quartz and clay-slate extending westward; some
+flats of good land lay between these ridges and, at about 6 miles, we met
+with a creek or chain of ponds. At 13 1/2 miles we entered a rich plain
+terminating northward at a low but remarkable hill which I had observed
+from the mountains.
+
+REACH THE MURRAY.
+
+The grass grew luxuriantly on this plain and after crossing and passing
+through the forest beyond it I recognised with satisfaction the lofty
+yarra trees and the low verdant alluvial flats of the Murray. No one
+could have mistaken this grand feature; for the vast extent of verdant
+margin with lofty trees and still lakes could belong to no other
+Australian river we knew of. On descending the berg or outer bank which
+was sloping and grassy, I found the still lagoons so numerous that I
+could not, without very great difficulty and after a ride of nearly an
+hour, obtain a sight of the flowing river. I found it at length running
+bank-high and still of greater width than any other known Australian
+river.
+
+THE RIVER VERY DIFFICULT OF ACCESS.
+
+The water was then just beginning to pour over its borders into the
+alluvial margins by which I had approached it; and on the opposite side
+the border consisted of a reedy swamp, evidently impassable and unfit for
+a landing-place. In no direction could I find access for our carts to the
+running stream. Deep and long winding reaches of still water shut me out,
+either from the high berg or bank at one part, or from the flowing stream
+at another. Returning from the river in a different direction I found, in
+a situation where I had nearly gained as I imagined the high bank after
+riding a mile, that a deep reach still separated me from that high bank
+which I then saw was beyond it, so that in order to return to the carts I
+was obliged to retrace my steps for several miles. Having got round at
+length I ascended the hill before mentioned for the purpose of taking
+some angles, and I found that it consisted of granite, the component
+parts being white quartz and felspar and black mica. I named this
+remarkable feature, probably the lowest hill of granite on the Murray,
+Mount Ochtertyre. I had sufficient daylight left to conduct the party
+over part of this hill to a portion of the riverbank accessible then to
+carts by fording only one lagoon. The velocity of the Murray at the spot
+where we could thus approach its border exceeded that of any other river
+we had previously crossed, being at the rate of 2 1/2 miles per hour.
+
+October 18.
+
+At daylight this morning the boat was sent across with Burnett and Piper,
+who landed to examine the ground within the reeds on that bank; and they
+ascertained it was so intersected by various deep lagoons that we could
+no longer hope to pass that way. I next went down the river in the boat
+and found at about a mile and a half below our camp a place where I
+thought we might effect a passage. This point was under a steep bank of
+red earth on the opposite shore where the river seemed to be encroaching.
+
+A CARRIAGE TRACK DISCOVERED.
+
+We landed and endeavoured to ascertain by looking for cattle marks
+whether any stations were near; and having heard that the flocks of the
+settlers already extended to the Murray we proceeded northward, eager to
+discover the tracks of civilised men. The wheels of a gig drawn by one
+horse and accompanied by others were traced by Piper, but the impressions
+were several months old. We walked as far as a spacious plain at some
+distance from the river without seeing any more recent tracks; and we
+were at length convinced that no station extended then in the immediate
+neighbourhood. The left bank between the spot where our camp then was and
+the crossing-place which I had selected was low though apparently firm;
+but on landing and returning along it I met with several narrow channels
+into which water was then flowing from the river and which afterwards
+cost us considerable trouble to cross with our carts.
+
+PASSAGE OF THE RIVER.
+
+That part of the bank which I had selected for driving the cattle into
+the river, that they might swim over, was soft and boggy, but in the
+opposite shore where they were to go out we cut in the firm clay at the
+base of the red cliff before mentioned a landing-place and path with
+picks and spades, so that the cattle on reaching that side could pass
+along the foot of the cliff to a lower part of the bank adjacent. After
+all other obstacles had been surmounted and the best portion of the day
+had been spent in conducting the party to within a short distance of this
+place my horse unexpectedly sunk in what had appeared to be firm ground.
+
+CATTLE.
+
+This impediment the party however overcame by cutting down some brush and
+small trees, and opening a lane through which we at length contrived to
+bring the cattle forward to the bank. It was near sunset before they
+could be driven into the water; yet we finally succeeded in forcing the
+whole to swim to the other side that evening with the exception of one
+bullock which, having got bogged, was smothered in the mud on the first
+rush of the others into the water. The landing of some of these animals
+on the opposite bank was attended with difficulty for they did not all
+make for the proper place, some turning towards the bank they had left
+and endeavouring to re-ascend it much lower down where the banks were
+either too soft or inaccessible: others swimming straight down the stream
+turned to parts of the opposite bank which they could not climb. With
+these last I was prepared to contend, having taken my station in the boat
+to watch such contingencies; and by dragging the foremost of those who
+had swum back across the river by the horns, and those which had arrived
+at the wrong place out with ropes; we succeeded at length in forcing all
+that had floated too far down to land on the right bank. But the greater
+number had got out higher up the river upon some fallen portions of the
+red cliff instead of taking the path we had cut under it; and the footing
+there was so slight that, as they crowded on each other, groups fell,
+from time to time, back into the river. The last part of the operation
+was therefore to row towards these, when Woods, who was in the boat, soon
+induced one of the bullocks well-known to him to take the path, upon
+which all the rest followed until they reached the grassy flat where
+others more fortunate than themselves were already feeding. At the close
+of this laborious day I encamped on the right bank, leaving still on the
+other side however a small party in charge of the horses and carts. The
+day was extremely hot and the full and flowing river gave an unusual
+appearance of life and motion to the desert whose wearisome stillness was
+so unvarying elsewhere. Serpents were numerous and some were seen of a
+species apparently peculiar to this river. Here they invariably took to
+it, and one beautiful reptile in particular, being of a golden colour
+with red streaks, sprang from under my horse's feet and rode upon the
+strong current of the boiling stream, keeping abreast of us and holding
+his head erect, as if in defiance and without once attempting to make
+off, until he died in his glory by a shot from Roach.
+
+HORSES.
+
+October 19.
+
+The first half of this day was required for the passage of the horses one
+by one; and for taking the carts across. We left the boat carriage on the
+left bank and sunk the boat in a deep lagoon on the right bank, to remain
+there until the party should return to the spot with a stock of
+provisions for Mr. Stapylton. Here the last mountain barometer, which had
+been carried in excellent order throughout the journey, lost mercury so
+copiously that I could not hope to use it any more, time being then too
+valuable to admit of delay; and thus my list of observations terminated
+on the Murray. I supposed that the intense heat of the sun to which the
+instrument had been exposed when tied to a tree for some hours after the
+tents had been struck had contracted the leathern bag so much as to
+loosen it from the edges of the cylinder, and thus formed openings
+through which the mercury had escaped. The breadth of the Murray was 80
+yards at the place where we crossed it and the mean depth was 3 1/2
+fathoms. At length I saw with great satisfaction my party on the right
+bank of this great river; having now no other stream to cross until we
+reached the Murrumbidgee where we might consider ourselves at home.
+
+PARTY RETURNING TO MEET MR. STAPYLTON.
+
+Just at this time Archibald McKane, a carpenter, came forward and
+proposed to return with any two of the men and the native Tommy to meet
+the party coming after us upon the Goulburn; and to construct there such
+rafts of casks and other gear as might enable Mr. Stapylton to cross that
+river and the Ovens and so come forward to the Murray; an arrangement
+which would render it unnecessary for me to send back any cattle or the
+boat as intended. I was much pleased with the proposal of McKane and,
+Tommy Came-last being also willing to return, I appointed John Douglas, a
+sailor and most handy man, and Charles King, a man who feared nothing, to
+accompany McKane. Full rations were issued to the four and, having given
+them a letter for Mr. Stapylton, the little party returned towards the
+houseless wilds, when we left the Murray to continue our journey
+homewards. Although we did not set off before one o'clock we this day
+travelled fourteen miles, but did not encamp till long after sunset. The
+scarcity of water compelled us to travel thus far, for none had been seen
+except one small muddy pool until I reached the valley where we encamped,
+and even there we found little more than enough for ourselves and cattle.
+
+October 20.
+
+After travelling five miles over tolerable land we crossed a range of
+very fine-grained granite consisting of felspar, quartz, and small
+particles of mica and having a very crystalline aspect. This range was a
+branch from a higher mass on our right. At seven miles we crossed the
+shoulder of a hill whence I intersected others to the right. This also
+consisted of fine-grained granite, similar to that of the other hill, but
+it was not so red and had fewer spangles of mica.
+
+A CREEK TERMINATING IN A SWAMP.
+
+At eight miles we came to a chain of deep ponds which seemed a tributary
+to some greater water, as indicated by the yarra trees and flats before
+us, apparently covered with verdure. On advancing into these flats
+however we found them soft and swampy, being so very wet and so covered
+with dead trees that we were obliged to retrace our steps and turn
+eastward, thus crossing to a higher bank altogether east of the chain of
+ponds; and along this we proceeded without seeing any further continuance
+of the deep serpentine channel, full of water, which appeared to
+terminate there. That woody swamp seemed very extensive and was the only
+instance met with in the course of our travels of the termination of a
+stream in a swamp, although I understood subsequently that this was the
+fate of various minor brooks descending towards that part of the interior
+plains. We found there a curious black-headed grass which proved to be of
+the carex genus. At 11 1/2 miles we arrived at a running stream, its
+course being northward; and at 15 1/2 miles we reached a very fine little
+rivulet flowing between grassy banks twenty-five feet high, the soil
+consisting of a red earth similar to that on the interior plains and the
+banks of the Murray.
+
+MOUNT TRAFALGAR. RUGGED COUNTRY STILL BEFORE US.
+
+October 21.
+
+At five miles we were abreast of a pointed hill which I ascended and
+named Mount Trafalgar in honour of that memorable day. From it I obtained
+a view of the country before us, and I perceived in the direction of our
+intended route some high cone-shaped hills. A ridge extended from them to
+the westward, but its height seemed gradually to diminish in that
+direction, although it presented two very abrupt and remarkable hills
+whose steepest side being towards the north overlooked as I supposed the
+spacious basin of the Murrumbidgee. One solitary mount appeared much
+farther to the westward and was also steep-sided towards the north. On
+descending I shaped my course towards the hollow where the ridge could be
+most easily crossed. At 8 3/4 miles we met with some good ponds of water
+and beyond them the winding channel of a smaller watercourse falling
+southward from the range already mentioned. After crossing and recrossing
+this channel and its various branches we at length gained the crest of
+the range, and I directed the party to halt while I hastened to a conical
+summit on the left, apparently the highest and most pointed of those
+previously observed. It consisted of syenite and from it I obtained a
+very extensive view to the northward, but yet could not see any
+favourable opening in the direction in which I wished to reach the
+Murrumbidgee: on the contrary as we reduced our distance from home the
+obstacles to our reaching it seemed to increase.
+
+PROVISIONS NEARLY EXHAUSTED.
+
+Our provisions had been counted out to a day, and any delay beyond the
+time required to cross that country at our usual rate of travelling might
+have been attended with great inconvenience. Mr. Stapylton's party, then
+so far behind, were depending upon us for supplies; while a labyrinth of
+mountains, entirely without roads or inhabitants, was to be crossed in a
+limited time with carts before any such supplies could be obtained and
+sent back. Some high and distant mountains appeared to the eastward, and
+in the west I intersected the hills I had previously seen which were now
+much nearer to us. On returning from the hill to the party we descended
+from the range into some flats of good open land where a solitary
+kangaroo became an object of intense interest now that our provisions
+were exhausted. The week was out for which the last of our stock had been
+issued in very small rations; and although most of the men had
+endeavoured to make this very reduced week's allowance to last them nine
+days no mutton remained, nor could it well have been preserved during
+such hot weather. This kangaroo would have been therefore a most welcome
+addition to our store; but we had no dogs and I was so anxious as to
+venture a shot at too great a distance and to our great disappointment it
+escaped. We finally encamped in a valley which fell to the right or
+eastward, near some good ponds, and after performing a journey of upwards
+of 15 miles. I found near the hill I first ascended in the morning a new
+kind of grass with large seeds.*
+
+(*Footnote. Danthonia eriantha, Lindley manuscripts; panicula
+subcoarctata lanceolata, spiculis sub-4-floris gluma laevi multo
+brevioribus, palea exteriori laevigata basi apiceque villosissima,
+aristis lateralibus subulatis debilibus intermedia brevioribus, foliis
+setaceis vaginisque patentim pilosis, collo barbato.)
+
+October 22.
+
+Soon after we set out this morning we approached a range of barren hills
+of clay-slate on which grew the grass tree (xanthorrhoea) and stunted
+eucalypti. On ascending this range I perceived before me a deep ravine,
+and beyond it hills less promising than even these which were
+sufficiently repulsive to travellers with wheel-carriages. Turning
+therefore from that hopeless prospect towards the eastward, we crossed
+the head of a valley falling to the right, and after a somewhat tortuous
+course we gained the highest part of a range beyond it, from which a
+grassy vale descended on the opposite side towards the north-east. This
+vale turned to the left after we had followed it 2 1/4 miles and we next
+crossed a ridge of quartz rock.
+
+CATTLE TRACKS FOUND.
+
+Beyond the ridge the natives found some old cattle tracks and this
+intelligence very much pleased and encouraged the men.
+
+BURNETT'S RIVULET.
+
+At two miles farther on we came upon a little rivulet flowing to the
+westward through a good grassy valley, and it was joined about the place
+where we came upon it by one coming from the south. The stream washed the
+base of a lofty mountain which I ascended while the people were passing
+our carts, cattle, and equipment across the rivulet which I named after
+my trusty follower Burnett.* The mountain consisted of granite and was so
+smooth that I could ride to its summit. The weather was boisterous and
+the country which that height presented to my view seemed quite
+inaccessible, at least in the direction of the colony where:
+
+Hills upon hills and alps on alps arose.
+
+(Footnote. See figure with the fowling-piece in Plate 17 Volume 1.)
+
+IMPEDIMENTS IN THE ROUTE.
+
+The only valley of any extent which could be seen was that watered by the
+rivulet below, and this extended, as I have stated, to the westward, a
+direction in which we could not follow it with any prospect of either
+getting nearer home or reaching a cattle station. Our provisions were
+exhausted, while the rocky fastnesses of a mountain region still
+threatened to shut us out from the Murrumbidgee, a river on whose banks
+we hoped to meet with civilised people once more and which, according to
+the map, was almost within our reach. Again and again I examined the
+mountains with my glass, and only discovered that they were numerous and
+all ranging towards the north-west, a direction right across our way to
+the Murrumbidgee. I could indeed trace among the hills in the north the
+grand valley through which the river flowed, but the intervening ranges
+seemed to deny any access to it from this side. I was determined however
+to find some valley likely to lead us into that of the Murrumbidgee, and
+although it could only be looked for beyond that mountain range, our
+route had been so good and so direct thus far, from the very shores of
+the southern ocean, that I could not despair of crossing the
+comparatively small space occupied by these mountains; and I descended
+the hill firmly resolved to continue our course in the same direction as
+we best could. I found on reaching the foot that, to the delight of the
+men, more cattle marks had been discovered in the valley, and in one
+place Piper pointed out a spot where a bullock had been eaten by the
+natives. Following the little stream upwards I at length placed our camp
+in a grassy valley near its head and then, on riding forward, I found
+that no obstruction existed to our progress with the carts on the
+following day for at least several miles.
+
+October 23.
+
+The hills we ascended offered much less impediment than I had reason to
+apprehend when I surveyed them at a distance, but they became at length
+so steep-sided and sharp-pointed that to proceed further, even by keeping
+the crests of a range, seemed a very doubtful undertaking: to cross such
+ranges was still more difficult while the principal chain, which led to
+the south-east, appeared equally impracticable even had its direction
+been more favourable.
+
+AT LENGTH REACH A VALLEY LEADING IN THE DESIRED DIRECTION.
+
+Drizzling rain came on and prevented me from seeing far beyond the point
+we had reached when I at length halted the party and, taking Piper with
+me, descended into a valley before us in order to ascertain its general
+direction and whether the carts might not pass along it. We found in this
+valley the tracks not of cattle only but of well shod horses: we also
+discovered that it opened into extensive green flats and, its direction
+being northerly, I hastened back and conducted the party into it by the
+best line of descent I could find, although it was certainly very steep.
+Having got safe down with our carts we found excellent pasturage, the
+cattle marks being very numerous and at length quite fresh, even the
+print of young calves' feet appeared, and all the traces of a numerous
+herd.
+
+WILD CATTLE SEEN.
+
+In short cattle tracks resembling roads ran along the banks of the chain
+of ponds which watered this valley; and at length the welcome sight of
+the cattle themselves delighted our longing eyes, not to mention our
+stomachs which were then in the best possible state to assist our
+perceptions of the beauty of a foreground of fat cattle. We were soon
+surrounded by a staring herd consisting of at least 800 head, and I took
+a shot at one; but my ball only made him jump, upon which the whole body,
+apparently very wild, made off to the mountains.
+
+OBLIGED TO KILL ONE OF OUR WORKING BULLOCKS.
+
+Symptoms of famine now began to show themselves in the sullenness of some
+of the men, and I most reluctantly allowed them to kill one of our poor
+working animals, which was accordingly shot as soon as we encamped and
+divided amongst the party.
+
+BY FOLLOWING THE VALLEY DOWNWARDS, WE ARRIVE ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+The valley preserved a course somewhat to the westward of north, and I
+now felt confident that by following it downwards we should reach the
+Murrumbidgee without meeting further impediment. This unexpected relief
+from the hopeless prospects of the drizzling morning was infinitely more
+refreshing to me than any kind of food could possibly have been, even
+under such circumstances.
+
+October 24.
+
+As we continued our journey downwards the waterholes in the chain of
+ponds became small and scarce, while we found the cattle-tracks more and
+more numerous. No change took place in the character of the valley for
+nine miles; but I recognised then at no great distance the hills which on
+the 22nd I had supposed to lie beyond the Murrumbidgee. On riding to a
+small eminence on the right I perceived the dark umbrageous trees
+overshadowing that noble river, and close before me the rich open flats
+with tame cattle browsing upon them, or reclining in luxuriant ease, very
+unlike the wild herd. The river was flowing westward over a gravelly
+bottom, its scenery being highly embellished by the lofty casuarinae,
+whose sombre masses of darkest green cover the water so gracefully and
+afford both coolness and shade. Now we could trace the marks of horsemen
+on the plain; and as we travelled up the river horses and cattle appeared
+on both banks. At length we discovered a small house or station and a
+stockyard. On riding up to it an old man came to the door, beating the
+ashes from a loaf nearly two feet in diameter. His name was Billy Buckley
+and the poor fellow received us all with the most cordial welcome,
+supplying us at once with two days' provisions until we could send across
+the river for a supply. Just then several drays appeared on the opposite
+side, coming along the ROAD from Sydney, and these drays contained a
+supply from which Mr. Tompson the owner accommodated me with enough to
+send back to meet Mr. Stapylton on the banks of the Murray.
+
+WRITE MY DESPATCH.
+
+Having pitched my tent close by the house of my new friend Billy, I wrote
+a brief account of our proceedings to the government while my horses were
+permitted to rest two days preparatory to my long ride to Sydney.
+
+PIPER MEETS HIS FRIENDS.
+
+Piper's joy on emerging from the land of Myalls (or savages) was at least
+as great as ours, especially when he met here with natives of his
+acquaintance--"CIVIL blackfellows," as he styled them, bel (not) Myalls.
+He was at least a Triton among the minnows, and it was pleasant to see
+how much he enjoyed his lionship among his brethren. Little Ballandella
+had been taken great care of by Mrs. Piper and was now feasted with milk
+and seemed quite happy.
+
+NATIVE NAMES OF RIVERS.
+
+I learnt from the natives we found here their names for the greater
+rivers we had passed, and of some of the isolated hills. Everywhere the
+Murray was known as the Millewa; but I was not so sure about Bayunga, a
+name which I had understood to apply to the Goulburn, Hovell or Ovens.
+
+A STOCK-KEEPER'S HOSPITALITY.
+
+When Billy Buckley, who was only a stockkeeper at that station, saw my
+party arrive and was at length aware who we were, he came to me when
+enjoying a quiet walk on the riverbank at some distance from his house,
+carrying in his hand a jug of rich milk and a piece of bread which I
+afterwards learnt, with dismay, had been baked in butter. I felt bound in
+civility to partake of both, but the consequence was an illness which
+very much interfered with my enjoyment of that luxuriant repose I had
+anticipated in my tent, under the shade of the casuarinae on the brink of
+the living stream.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.14.
+
+Agreeable travelling.
+Appearance of the country on the Murrumbidgee.
+Jugion Creek.
+Brunonia abundant.
+Yass plains.
+The Gap, an inn.
+Bredalbane plains.
+Lake George.
+Soil and rocks.
+The Wollondilly.
+Goulburn plains.
+A garden.
+Public works.
+Shoalhaven river.
+Limestone caverns there.
+County of St. Vincent.
+Upper Shoalhaven.
+Carwary.
+Vast subsidence on a mountain there.
+Goulburn township.
+Great road.
+Towrang hill.
+The Wollondilly.
+Wild country through which it flows.
+The Nattai.
+Moyengully.
+Arrive at the line of great road.
+Convict workmen.
+Berrima bridge.
+Berrima.
+Trap range.
+Sandstone country.
+The Illawarra.
+Lupton's inn.
+The Razorback.
+Ford of the Nepean.
+Campbelltown.
+Liverpool.
+Lansdowne bridge.
+Arrive at Sydney.
+General remarks on the character of the settled country.
+Fires in the woods.
+Necessity for cutting roads.
+Proportion of good and bad land.
+Description of Australia Felix.
+Woods.
+Harbours.
+The Murray.
+Mr. Stapylton's report.
+The aboriginal natives.
+Turandurey.
+My mode of communicating with Mr. Stapylton.
+Survey of the Murrumbidgee.
+Meteorological journal.
+Arrival of the exploring party at Sydney.
+Piper.
+The two Tommies.
+Ballandella.
+Character of the natives of the interior.
+Language.
+Habits of those of Van Diemen's Land the same.
+Temporary huts.
+Mode of climbing trees.
+Remarkable customs.
+Charmed stones.
+Females excluded from superstitious rites.
+Bandage or fillet around the temples.
+Striking out the tooth.
+Painting with red.
+Raised scars on arms and breast.
+Cutting themselves in mourning.
+Authority of old men.
+Native dogs.
+Females carrying children.
+Weapons.
+Spear.
+Woomera.
+Boomerang.
+Its probable origin.
+Shield or Hieleman.
+Skill in approaching the kangaroo.
+Modes of cooking.
+Opossum.
+Singeing.
+Vegetable food.
+The shovel.
+General observations.
+
+AGREEABLE TRAVELLING.
+
+October 27.
+
+Brightly shone the sun, the sky was dressed in blue and gold and "the
+fields were full of star-like flowers, and overgrown with joy,"* on the
+first day of my ride homeward along the green banks of the Murrumbidgee,
+having crossed the river in a small canoe that morning. Seven months had
+elapsed since I had seen either a road or a bridge although during that
+time I had travelled over two thousand four hundred miles. Right glad was
+I, like Gilpin's horse, "at length to miss the lumber of the wheels," the
+boats, carts, specimens, and last but not least, Kater's compasses. No
+care had I now whether my single step was east or north-east, nor about
+the length of my day's journey, nor the hills or dales crossed, as to
+their true situation, names, or number, or where I should encamp. To be
+free from such cares seemed heaven itself, and I rode on without the
+slightest thought about where I should pass the night, quite sure that
+some friendly hut or house would receive me and afford snugger shelter
+and better fare than I had seen for many a day.
+
+(*Footnote. Remains of Peter Corcoran. Blackwood's Magazine.)
+
+APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+We had arrived on the Murrumbidgee seventy-five miles below the point
+where that river quitted the settled districts and ceased to form a
+county boundary. I found the upper portion of this fine stream fully
+occupied as cattle-stations, which indeed extended also, as I was
+informed, much lower down the river; and such was the thoroughfare in
+that direction that I found a tolerable cart road from one station to
+another. I passed the night at the house of a stockman in charge of the
+cattle of Mr. James Macarthur, and I was very comfortably lodged.
+
+October 28.
+
+With the Murrumbidgee still occasionally in view we pursued the road
+which led towards Sydney. Each meadow was already covered with the lowing
+herds for which it seemed to have been prepared; and the traces of man's
+industry were now obvious in fences, and in a substantial wooden house
+and smoking chimney, usually built in the most inviting part of each
+cattle run. All the animals looked fat and sufficiently proved the value
+of the pasturage along this river. Steep and rugged ridges occasionally
+approached its banks and, in following the beaten track, I this day
+crossed acclivities much more difficult for the passage of
+wheel-carriages than any we had traversed throughout those uncultivated
+wastes, where even the pastoral age had not commenced.
+
+The scenery at various points of the river seen this day was very
+beautiful; its chief features consisting of noble sheets of water,
+umbrageous woods, flowery meadows, enlivened by those objects so
+essential to the harmony of landscape, cattle of every hue.
+
+The gigantic and luxuriant growth of the yarra eucalyptus everywhere
+produced fine effects; and one tree in particular pleased me so much that
+I was tempted to draw it, although the shades of evening would scarcely
+permit; but while thus engaged I sent my servant forward to look for some
+hut or station that I might remain the longer to complete my drawing.
+
+JUGION CREEK.
+
+I arrived long after dark at a cattle-station occupied by a
+superintendent of Mr. Henry O'Brian, near Jugion Creek on the right bank
+of the Murrumbidgee, and there passed the night. Two considerable rivers
+join this creek from the mountainous but fine country to the southward,
+one being named the Coodradigbee, the other the Doomot. The higher
+country there is granitic although, on both rivers, limestone also
+abounds in which the corals seem to belong to Mr. Murchison's Silurian
+system. Favosites, Stromatopora concentrica, Heliopora pyriformis, and
+stems of crinoidea are found loosely about the surface. There is also a
+large rock of haematite under Mount Jellula.
+
+BRUNONIA ABUNDANT.
+
+October 29.
+
+The road led us this day over some hilly country of a rather poor
+description, but the beautiful flower Brunonia grew so abundantly that
+the surface exhibited the unusual and delicate tint of ultramarine blue.
+I was tempted once more to forsake the road in order to ascend a range
+which it crossed in hopes of being able to see, from some lofty summit
+thereof, points of the country I had left, and thus to connect them by
+means of my pocket sextant with any visible points I might recognise of
+my former trigonometrical survey. It was not however in my power to do
+this satisfactorily, not having been able to distinguish any of the
+latter.
+
+YASS PLAINS.
+
+Towards evening I drew near Yass Plains and was not a little struck with
+their insignificance as compared with those of the south. A township had
+been marked out here, and the comfortable establishments of various
+wealthy colonists evinced, by their preference of these plains, that they
+considered them the best part of a very extensive district.
+
+THE GAP, AN INN.
+
+Mr. Cornelius O'Brien had invited me to his house and afterwards
+furnished me with a supply of provisions for my party; but I carried my
+own despatches, and a much shorter route led to the left by which I could
+divide the way better in continuing my ride to the Gap, a small inn where
+I arrived at a very late hour, the road having been soft, uneven, and
+wholly through a dreary wood.
+
+The noise and bustle of the house was quite refreshing to one who had
+dwelt so long in deserts, although it seemed to promise little
+accommodation, for there had been races in the neighbourhood and horses
+lay about the yard. Nevertheless the waiter and his wife cleared for my
+accommodation a room which had been full of noisy people, and my horses
+were soon lodged snugly in the stable. There indeed I perceived more room
+than the house afforded, for while the guests were regaling within their
+horses were allowed to lay about to starve outside, as if so many gypsies
+had been about the place; no uncommon circumstance in Australia.
+
+October 30.
+
+In the course of my ride this morning I recognised the poor scrubby land
+about the southern boundary of the county of Argyle, which I had surveyed
+in 1828. The wood on it is rather open, consisting of a stunted species
+of eucalyptus, the grass, apparently a hard species of poa, affording but
+little nourishment. Sandstone and quartz are the predominant rocks
+although some of the most remarkable hills consist of trap.
+
+BREDALBANE PLAINS.
+
+Passing at length through a gap in a low ridge of granular quartz, we
+entered upon Bredalbane plains, consisting of three open flats of grassy
+land circumscribed by hills of little apparent height, and extending
+about twelve miles in the direction of this road, their average width
+being about two miles. Deringullen ponds arise in the most southern
+plain, and are among the most eastern heads of the Lachlan. The plains
+are situated on the high dividing ground or water shed between the
+streams falling eastward and westward, and had probably once been lagoons
+of the same character as those which still distinguish other portions of
+this dividing ground.
+
+LAKE GEORGE.
+
+The most remarkable of these is Lake George, about fourteen miles further
+to the south, and which in 1828 was a sheet of water seventeen miles in
+length and seven in breadth. There is no outlet for the waters of this
+lake although it receives no less than four mountain streams from the
+hills north of it, namely Turallo creek, whose highest source is fourteen
+miles from the lake, Butmaro creek which arises in a mountain sixteen
+miles from it, Taylor's creek from the range on the east, six miles
+distant, and Kenny's creek from hills five miles distant. The southern
+shore of this lake presents one continuous low ridge, separating its
+waters from the head of the Yass river which would otherwise receive
+them. The water was slightly brackish in 1828 but quite fit for use, and
+the lake was then surrounded by dead trees of the eucalyptus measuring
+about two feet in diameter, which also extended into it until wholly
+covered by the water. In that wide expanse we could find no fish, and an
+old native female said she remembered when the whole was a forest, a
+statement supported pro tanto by the dead trees in its bed as well as by
+the whole of the basin being in October 1836 a grassy meadow not unlike
+the plains of Bredalbane.
+
+It would be well worth the attention of a man of leisure to ascertain the
+lowest part in the country around Lake George, at which its waters, on
+reaching their maximum height, would overflow from its basin.
+
+Several lagoons, apparently the remains of more extensive waters, occur
+between Lake George and Bredalbane plains in the line of watershed as
+already observed. These are named Tarrago, Mutmutbilly, and Wallagorong,
+the latter being apparently a residuum of the lake which probably once
+covered the three plains of Bredalbane.
+
+SOIL AND ROCKS.
+
+The quality of the soil now found in the patches of grassy land on the
+margins of these lakes and lagoons depends on the nature of the high
+ground nearest to them. The hills to the eastward of Lake George are
+chiefly granitic. Ondyong point on its northern shore consists of
+sandstone resembling that of the coal-measures; and the rock forming the
+range above the western shores is of the same quality. The hills at the
+source of Kenny's creek consist of trap, of which rock there is also a
+remarkable hill on the southern side of Bredalbane plains; and these
+plains are bounded on the north by a ridge of syenite, which here forms
+the actual division between the sources of the rivers Lachlan and
+Wollondilly.
+
+The water in the smaller lagoons westward of Lake George is perfectly
+sweet, and the pasturage on the plains adjacent being in general very
+good, the land is occupied by several extensive grazing establishments.
+
+THE WOLLONDILLY.
+
+On entering the valley of the river Wollondilly which waters Goulburn
+plains, I was surprised to see its waters extremely low and not even
+flowing. The poor appearance of the woods also struck me, judging by
+comparison with the land in the south; and although the scantiness of
+grass, also observable, might be attributed to the great number of sheep
+and cattle fed there, I was not the less sensible of the more parched
+aspect of the country generally.
+
+GOULBURN PLAINS.
+
+Goulburn Plains consist of open downs affording excellent pasturage for
+sheep and extending twenty miles southward from the township, their
+breadth being about ten.
+
+A GARDEN.
+
+I reached at twilight the house of a worthy friend, Captain Rossi, who
+received me with great kindness and hospitality. The substantial
+improvements which he had effected on his farm since my last visit to
+that part of the colony evinced his skill and industry as a colonist;
+while an extensive garden and many tasteful arrangements for domestic
+comfort marked the residence of a gentleman. Under that hospitable roof I
+exchanged the narrative of my wanderings for the accumulated news of
+seven months which, with my friend's good cheer, rendered his invitation
+to rest my horses for one day quite irresistible.
+
+October 31.
+
+A walk in the garden; a visit to the shearing shed; the news of colonial
+affairs in general; fat pullets cooked a la gastronome and some good
+wine; had each in its turn rare charms for me.
+
+PUBLIC WORKS.
+
+I had arrived in a country which I had myself surveyed; and the roads and
+towns in progress were the first fruits of these labours. I had marked
+out in 1830 the road now before me, which I then considered the most
+important in New South Wales as leading to the more temperate south, and
+I had now completed it as a line of communication between Sydney and the
+southern coasts. This important public work on which I had bestowed the
+greatest pains by surveying the whole country between the Wollondilly and
+Shoalhaven rivers, had been nevertheless retarded nearly two years on the
+representations of some of the settlers, so that the part most essential
+to be opened continued still in a half finished state.*
+
+(*Footnote. A petition had been got up in favour of another line said to
+be more direct; and it is a remarkable fact that numerous signatures were
+obtained even to such a petition, although it was found at last that the
+line laid down after a careful survey was not only twelve chains shorter
+than the other proposed but also avoided the steepest hills.)
+
+SHOALHAVEN RIVER.
+
+The Shoalhaven river flows in a ravine about 1500 feet below the common
+level of the country between it and the Wollondilly. Precipices
+consisting at one part of granite and at another of limestone give a
+peculiar grandeur to the scenery of the Shoalhaven river.
+
+LIMESTONE CAVERNS THERE.
+
+The limestone is of a dark grey colour and contains very imperfect
+fragments of shells. We find among the features on these lofty riverbanks
+many remarkable hollows not unaptly termed hoppers by the country people,
+from the water sinking into them as grain subsides in the hopper of a
+mill. As each of these hollows terminates in a crevice leading to a
+cavern in the limestone below, I descended into one in 1828 and
+penetrated without difficulty to a considerable depth over slimy rocks,
+but was forced to return because our candles were nearly exhausted. A
+current of air met us as we descended and it might have come from some
+crevice probably near the bed of the river. That water sometimes flowed
+into these caverns was evident from pieces of decayed trees which had
+been carried downwards by it to a considerable depth. I looked in vain
+there for fossil bones, but I found projecting from the side of the
+cavern at the lowest part I reached a very perfect specimen of coral of
+the genus favosites.
+
+COUNTY OF ST. VINCENT.
+
+The country to the eastward of the Shoalhaven river, that is to say
+between it and the sea-coast, is very wild and mountainous. The higher
+part including Currocbilly and the Pigeon house (summits) consists of
+sandstone passing from a fine to a coarse grain, occasionally containing
+pebbles of quartz, and in some of the varieties numerous specks of
+decomposed felspar. The lower parts of the same country, according to the
+rocks seen in Yalwal creek, consist of granite, basalt, and compact
+felspar. Nearer the coast a friable whitish sandstone affords but a poor
+soil, except where the partial occurrence of decomposed laminated felspar
+and gneiss produced one somewhat better. This country comprises the
+county of St. Vincent, bounded on one side by the Shoalhaven river and on
+the other by the sea-coast. The southern portion of that county affords
+the greatest quantity of soil available either for cultivation or
+pasture; although around Bateman Bay, which is its limit on the south,
+much good land cannot be expected as Snapper Island at the entrance
+consists of grey compact quartz only, with white veins of crystalline
+quartz.
+
+UPPER SHOALHAVEN.
+
+The country on the upper part of the Shoalhaven river comprises much good
+land. The river flows there nearly on a level with the surface and
+resembles an English stream. The temperature at the elevation of about
+2000 feet above the sea is so low even in summer that potatoes and
+gooseberries, for both of which the climate of Sydney is too hot, grow
+luxuriantly. A rich field for geological research will probably be found
+in that neighbourhood.
+
+CARWARY.
+
+In a hasty ride which I took as far as Carwary in 1832, I was conducted
+by my friend Mr. Ryrie to a remarkable cavern under white marble where I
+found trap; a vein of ironstone of a fused appearance; a quartzose
+ferruginous conglomerate; a calcareous tuff containing fragments of these
+rocks; and specular iron ore in abundance near the same spot.
+
+But still further southward and on the range separating the country at
+the head of the Shoalhaven river from the ravines on the coast, I was
+shown an antre vast which, for aught I know, may involve in its recesses
+more of the wild and wonderful than any of the deserts idle which I have
+since explored.
+
+VAST SUBSIDENCE ON A MOUNTAIN THERE.
+
+A part of the surface of that elevated country had subsided, carrying
+trees along with it to the depth of about 400 yards, and left a yawning
+opening about 300 yards wide resembling a gigantic quarry, at the bottom
+of which the sunken trees continued to grow. In the eastern side of the
+bottom of this subsidence a large opening extended under the rock and
+seemed to lead to a subterraneous cavity of great dimensions.
+
+GOULBURN TOWNSHIP.
+
+November 1.
+
+Taking leave of my kind host at an early hour, I continued my ride,
+passing through the new township in which, although but few years had
+elapsed since I had sketched its streets on paper, a number of houses had
+already been built. The Mulwary Ponds scarcely afford sufficient water of
+the supply of a large population there; but at the junction of this
+channel with the Wollondilly there is a deep reach not likely to be ever
+exhausted.
+
+GREAT ROAD.
+
+The road marked out between this township and Sydney led over a country
+shut up, as already stated, between the Wollondilly and the Shoalhaven
+rivers. These streams are distant from each other at the narrowest part
+of the intervening surface about ten miles; and as each is bordered by
+deep ravines the middle portion of the country between them is naturally
+the most level, and this happens to be precisely in the direction most
+desirable for a general line of communication between Sydney and the most
+valuable parts of the colony to the southward.
+
+TOWRANG HILL.
+
+At a few miles from Goulburn the road passes by the foot of Towrang, a
+hill whose summit I had formerly cleared of timber, leaving only one
+tree. I thus obtained an uninterrupted view of the distant horizon, and
+found the hill very useful afterwards in extending our survey from
+Jellore into the higher country around Lake George. This hill consists
+chiefly of quartz rock. At its base the new line leaves the original cart
+track which here crossed the Wollondilly twice. I now found an
+intermediate road in use between the old track and my half-formed road
+which was still inaccessible at this point for want of a small bridge
+over Towrang Creek.
+
+THE WOLLONDILLY.
+
+The Wollondilly pursues its course to the left, passing under the
+southern extremity of Cockbundoon range, which extends about thirty miles
+in a straight line from north to south, and consists of sandstone dipping
+westward. Near the Wollondilly and a few miles from Towrang a quarry of
+crystalline variegated marble has been recently wrought to a considerable
+extent, and chimney-pieces, tables, etc. now ornament most good houses at
+Sydney. This rock occurs in blocks over greenstone, and has hitherto been
+found only in that spot.
+
+WILD COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH IT FLOWS.
+
+The channel of the Wollondilly continues open and accessible for a few
+miles lower down than this, but after it is joined by the Uringalla near
+Arthursleigh it sinks immediately into a deep ravine and is no longer
+accessible as above, the country to the westward of it being exceedingly
+wild and broken. The scene it presented when I stood on the pic of
+Jellore in 1828 and commenced a general survey of this colony was of the
+most discouraging description.* A flat horizon to a surface cracked and
+hollowed out into the wildest ravines, deep and inaccessible; their
+sides, consisting of perpendicular rocky cliffs, afforded but little
+reason to suppose that it could be surveyed and divided as proposed into
+counties, hundreds, and parishes; and still less was it likely ever to be
+inhabited, even if such a work could be accomplished. Nevertheless it was
+necessary in the performance of my duties that these rivers should be
+traced, and where the surveyor pronounced them inaccessible to the chain,
+I clambered over rocks and measured from cliff to cliff with the pocket
+sextant. Thus had I wandered on foot by the murmuring Wollondilly,
+sometimes passing the night in its deep dark bed with no other companions
+than a robber and a savage. I could now look back with some satisfaction
+on these labours in that barren field. I had encompassed those wild
+recesses; the desired division of the rocky wastes they enclosed had
+really been made; and if no other practical benefit was derived we had at
+least been enabled to open ways across them to better regions beyond.
+
+(*Footnote. My predecessor in office had declared the operation to be
+impracticable in such a country; but to this general survey I was pledged
+on accepting my appointment in London. Two other commissioners for the
+division of the territory were each receiving a guinea a day, but yet
+could do nothing until this survey was accomplished; and I therefore set
+about the work with the resolution necessary for the performance of what
+was deemed almost impossible. Universal wood, impassable ravines, a total
+absence of artificial objects, and the consequent necessity for clearing
+summits as stations for the theodolite were great impediments; but I made
+the most of each station when it had once been cleared by taking an exact
+panoramic view with the theodolite of the nameless features it commanded.
+The accompanying facsimile of a page of my field book includes the view
+between north and north-west, taken for the above purpose from the summit
+of Jellore, and extends over the ravines of the Nattai to the crest of
+the Blue Mountains. Plate 38.)
+
+THE NATTAI. MOYENGULLY.
+
+In the numerous ravines surrounding Jellore the little river Nattai has
+its sources, and this wild region is the haunt and secure retreat of the
+Nattai tribe whose chief, Moyengully, was one of my earliest aboriginal
+friends. (See Plate 39.)
+
+Marulan, the highest summit eastward of Jellore, consists of ferruginous
+sandstone, but in the country to the northward we find syenite and
+trap-rock. Of the latter, Nattary, a small hill north-east from Towrang
+and distant about four miles from it, is perhaps the most remarkable. The
+elevation of the country there is considerable (being about one thousand
+five hundred feet above the sea on the level part) and, except near the
+Shoalhaven and Wollondilly rivers, not much broken into ravines. It
+contains not only fine pasture land but also much good wheat land,
+especially towards the side of the Shoalhaven river.
+
+ARRIVE AT THE LINE OF GREAT ROAD. CONVICT WORKMEN.
+
+At fourteen miles from Goulburn I came upon that part of my new line of
+great road where the works had not been impeded by those for whose
+benefit the road was intended;* and here I found that the iron-gangs had
+done some good service. I had now the satisfaction of travelling along a
+road every turn of which I had studied previous to marking it out after a
+most careful survey of the whole country.
+
+(*Footnote. One of the most palpable consequences of the interruption my
+plan experienced was that it interfered with the prospects of an
+innkeeper whose inn had already been half built of brick in anticipation
+of the opening of the new line.)
+
+BERRIMA BRIDGE.
+
+On Crawford's creek I found that a bridge with stone buttresses had been
+nearly completed. I had endeavoured to introduce permanent bridges of
+stonework into this colony instead of those of wood, which were very
+liable to be burnt and frequently required repair. We had among the
+prisoners some tolerable stonecutters and setters but, until I had the
+good fortune to find among the emigrants a person practically acquainted
+with the construction of arches, their labours had never been productive
+of much benefit to the public. The governor had readily complied with my
+recommendation to appoint Mr. Lennox superintendent of such works; and on
+entering the township of Berrima this evening I had the satisfaction at
+length of crossing at least one bridge worthy of a British colony.
+
+BERRIMA.
+
+This town is situated on the little river Wingecarrabee, and was planned
+by me some years before when marking out the general line of road. The
+eligibility of the situation consists chiefly in the abundance and purity
+of the water, and of materials for building with the vicinity of a small
+agricultural population. I found here, on my return now, Mr. Lambie of
+the road branch of my department, under whose immediate superintendence
+the bridge had been erected. The walls of a gaol and courthouse were also
+rising, and a site was ready for the church.
+
+TRAP RANGE.
+
+November 2.
+
+A remarkable range consisting chiefly of trap-rock traverses the whole
+country between the Wollondilly and the sea in a south-east direction
+extending from Bullio to Kiama. The highest part is known as the
+Mittagong range and, in laying down the new line of road, it was an
+object of importance to avoid this range. Bowral, the highest part,
+consists of quartz or very hard sandstone.
+
+SANDSTONE COUNTRY.
+
+On leaving Berrima the road traverses several low ridges of trap-rock and
+then turns to the south-east in order to avoid the ravines of the Nattai;
+for we again find here that ferruginous sandstone which desolates so
+large a portion of New South Wales and, to all appearance, New Holland,
+presenting in the interior desert plains of red sand, and on the eastern
+side of the dividing range, a world of stone quarries and sterility. It
+is only where trap or granite or limestone occur that the soil is worth
+possessing, and to this extent every settler is under the necessity of
+becoming a geologist; he must also be a geographer, that he may find
+water and not lose himself in the bush; and it must indeed be admitted
+that the intelligence of the native youth in all such matters is little
+inferior to that of the aborigines.
+
+The barren sandstone country is separated from the seashore by a lofty
+range of trap-rock connected with that of Mittagong, and we accordingly
+find an earthly paradise between that range and the seashore. The
+Illawarra is a region in which the rich soil is buried under matted
+creepers, tree-ferns and the luxuriant shade of a tropical vegetation
+nourished both by streams from the lofty range and the moist breezes of
+the sea. There a promising and extensive field for man's industry lies
+still uncultivated, but when the roads now partially in progress shall
+have connected it with the rest of the colony it must become one of the
+most certain sources of agricultural produce in New South Wales.
+
+THE ILLAWARRA.
+
+The sandstone on the interior side extends to the summit of the trap
+range and its numerous ravines occasion the difficulties which have
+hitherto excluded wheel-carriages from access to the Illawarra.
+
+LUPTON'S INN.
+
+To cross a country so excavated is impossible except in certain
+directions, but the best lines these fastnesses admit of have been
+ascertained and marked out in connection with that for the great southern
+road, which ought to leave the present line at Lupton's Inn. I consider
+this the most important public work still necessary to complete the
+system of great roads planned by me in New South Wales; but I have not
+had means at my disposal hitherto for carrying into effect this portion
+of the general plan.
+
+From Lupton's Inn Sydney bore north-east, yet I was obliged to turn with
+the present road towards the north-west and to travel eleven miles over
+unfavourable ground in a direction to the westward of north.
+
+Having been engaged this day in examining the bridges and the work done
+along the whole line, Mr. Lambie accompanying me, I did not reach the
+house of my friend Macalister at Clifton until it was rather late, but at
+any hour I could be sure of a hearty welcome.
+
+THE RAZORBACK.
+
+November 3.
+
+The Razorback range is a very remarkable feature in this part of the
+country. It is isolated, extending about eight miles in a general
+direction between west-north-west and east-south-east, being very level
+on some parts of the summit, and so very narrow in others, while the
+sides are also so steep, that the name it has obtained is descriptive
+enough.
+
+FORD OF THE NEPEAN. CAMPBELLTOWN.
+
+Around this trap-range lies the fertile district of the Cowpastures,
+watered by the Nepean river. On proceeding along the road towards
+Campbelltown we cross this river by a ford which has been paved with a
+causeway, and we thus enter the county of Cumberland. Here trap-rock
+still predominates, and the soil is good and appears well cultivated, but
+there is a saltness in the surface water which renders it at some seasons
+unfit for use. The line of great road as planned by me would pass by this
+township (now containing 400 inhabitants) and the town might then
+probably increase by extending towards George's river, a stream which
+would afford a permanent supply of good water.
+
+LIVERPOOL. LANSDOWNE BRIDGE.
+
+Passing through Liverpool, which has a population of 600 inhabitants and
+is situated on the left bank of George's river, I arrived at three miles
+beyond that town at Lansdowne bridge, where the largest arch hitherto
+erected in Australia had been recently built by Mr. Lennox. The necessity
+for a permanent bridge over Prospect Creek arose from the failure of
+several wooden structures, to the great inconvenience of the public, this
+being really a creek rising and falling with the tide. The obstacle, and
+the steepness of the left bank, which was considerable, have been
+triumphantly surmounted by a noble arch of 110 feet span which carries
+the road at a very slight inclination to the level of the opposite bank.
+The bridge is wholly the work of men in irons who must have been fed, and
+must consequently have cost the public just as much if they had done
+nothing all the while; and it may be held up as a fair specimen of the
+great advantage of convict labour in such a country when applied to
+public works. The creek is navigable to this point and, stone being
+abundant and of good quality on the opposite side of George's river, one
+gang was advantageously employed in the quarry there while another was
+building the bridge. Mr. Lennox ably seconded my views in carrying these
+arrangements into effect. He contrived the cranes, superintended the
+stone cutting, and even taught the workmen; planned and erected the
+centres for the arches and finally completed the structure itself which
+had been opened to the public on the 26th of January.
+
+Before venturing on so large a work I had employed Mr. Lennox on a
+smaller bridge in the new pass in the ascent to the Blue Mountains, and
+the manner in which he completed that work was such as to justify the
+confidence with which I suggested to the government this larger
+undertaking.
+
+ARRIVE AT SYDNEY.
+
+At length I arrived at Sydney and had the happiness on terminating this
+long journey to find that all the members of my family were well,
+although they had been much alarmed by reports of my death and the
+destruction of my party by the savage natives of the interior.
+
+...
+
+GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CHARACTER OF THE SETTLED COUNTRY.
+
+Released from the necessity for recording each day's proceedings I may
+now add a few general remarks on the character of the country traversed
+in these various expeditions.
+
+FIRES IN THE WOODS.
+
+It has been observed that the soil in New South Wales is good only where
+trap, limestone, or granite rocks occur. Sandstone however predominates
+so much as to cover about six-sevenths of the whole surface comprised
+within the boundaries of nineteen counties. Wherever this is the surface
+rock little besides barren sand is found in the place of soil. Deciduous
+vegetation scarcely exists there, no vegetable soil is formed for, the
+trees and shrubs being very inflammable, conflagrations take place so
+frequently and extensively in the woods during summer as to leave very
+little vegetable matter to return to earth. On the highest mountains and
+in places the most remote and desolate I have always found on every dead
+trunk on the ground, and living tree of any magnitude also, the marks of
+fire; and thus it appeared that these annual conflagrations extend to
+every place. In the regions of sandstone the territory is, in short, good
+for nothing, and is besides very generally inaccessible, thus presenting
+a formidable obstruction to any communication between isolated spots of a
+better description.
+
+Land near Sydney has always been preferred to that which is remote,
+though the quality may have been equal; yet throughout the wide extent of
+twenty-three millions of acres only about 4,400,000 have been found worth
+5 shillings per acre, and the owners of this appropriated land within the
+limits have been obliged to send their cattle beyond them for the sake of
+pasturage.
+
+EMPLOYMENT OF CONVICTS.
+
+From the labour necessary to form lines of communication across such a
+country, New South Wales still affords an excellent field for the
+employment of convicts; and although some of the present colonists may be
+against the continuance of transportation, it must be admitted that the
+increase and extension of population and the future prosperity of the
+country depends much on the completion of such public works. The dominion
+of man cannot indeed be extended well over nature there without much
+labour of this description. The prisoners should be worked in gangs and
+guarded and coerced according to some well organised system. It can
+require no argument to show how much more pernicious to the general
+interests of mankind the amalgamation of criminals with the people of a
+young colony must be than with the dense population of old countries,
+where a better organised police and laws suited to the community are in
+full and efficient operation, both for the prevention and detection of
+crime; but the employment of convicts on public works is not inseparable
+from the question of allowing such people to become colonists; and
+whoever desires to see the noble harbour of Sydney made the centre of a
+flourishing country, extending from the tropic to the shores of the
+Southern Ocean, rather than one only of several small settlements along
+the coast, will not object to relieve the mother country by employing her
+convicts even at a greater expense than they cost the colonists at
+present. Thus the evil would in time cure itself by preparing the country
+for such accessions of honest people from home as would reduce the
+tainted portion of its inhabitants to a mere caput mortuum.
+
+NECESSITY FOR CUTTING ROADS.
+
+With a well arranged system of roads radiating from such a harbour even
+the sandstone wastes, extensive though they be, might be overstepped and,
+the good parts being connected by roads, the produce of the tropical and
+temperate regions might then be brought to one common market.
+
+PROPORTION OF GOOD AND BAD LAND.
+
+Where there is so much unproductive surface the unavoidable dispersion of
+population renders good lines of communication more essentially
+necessary, and these must consist of roads, for there are neither
+navigable rivers nor in general the means of forming canals. This colony
+might thus extend northward to the tropic of Capricorn, westward to the
+145th degree of east longitude, the southern portion having for
+boundaries the Darling, the Murray and the seacoast. Throughout the
+extensive territory thus bounded one-third, probably, consists of desert
+interior plains; one-fourth of land available for pasturage or
+cultivation; and the remainder of rocky mountain or impassable or
+unproductive country. Perhaps the greater portion of really good land
+within the whole extent will be found to the southward of the Murray, for
+there the country consists chiefly of trap, granite, or limestone. The
+amount of surface comprised in European kingdoms affords no criterion of
+what may be necessary for the growth of a new people in Australia.
+Extreme differences of soil, climate, and seasons may indeed be usefully
+reconciled and rendered available to one community there; but this must
+depend on ingenious adaptations aided by all the facilities man's art can
+supply in the free occupation of a very extensive region. Agricultural
+resources must ever be scanty and uncertain in a country where there is
+so little moisture to nourish vegetation. We have seen, from the state of
+the Darling where I last saw it, that all the surface water flowing from
+the vast territory west of the dividing range, and extending north and
+south between the Murray and the tropic, is insufficient to support the
+current of one small river. The country southward of the Murray is not so
+deficient in this respect for there the mountains are higher, the rocks
+more varied, and the soil consequently better; while the vast extent of
+open grassy downs seems just what was most necessary for the prosperity
+of the present colonists and the encouragement of a greater emigration
+from Europe.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF AUSTRALIA FELIX.
+
+Every variety of feature may be seen in these southern parts, from the
+lofty alpine region on the east, to the low grassy plains in which it
+terminates on the west. The Murray, perhaps the largest river in all
+Australia, arises amongst those mountains, and receives in its course
+various other rivers of considerable magnitude. These flow over extensive
+plains in directions nearly parallel to the main stream, and thus
+irrigate and fertilise a large extent of rich country. Falling from
+mountains of great height, the current of these rivers is perpetual,
+whereas in other parts of Australia the rivers are too often dried up and
+seldom indeed deserve any other name than chains of ponds.
+
+Hills of moderate elevation occupy the central country between the Murray
+and the sea, being thinly or partially wooded and covered with the
+richest pasturage. The lower country, both on the northern and southern
+skirts of these hills, is chiefly open, slightly undulating towards the
+coast on the south, and is in general well watered.
+
+The grassy plains which extend northward from these thinly wooded hills
+to the banks of the Murray are chequered by the channels of many streams
+falling from them, and by the more permanent and extensive waters of deep
+lagoons. These are numerous on the face of the plains near the river, as
+if intended by a bounteous Providence to correct the deficiencies of too
+dry a climate. An industrious and increasing people may always secure an
+abundant supply by adopting artificial means to preserve it and, in
+acting thus, they would only extend the natural plan according to their
+wants. The fine climate is worthy of a little extra toil, especially in
+those parts at a distance from the surplus waters of the large rivers,
+and in places considered favourable in other respects either for the
+rearing of cattle or for cultivation.
+
+In the western portion small rivers radiate from the Grampians an
+elevated and isolated mass presenting no impediment to a free
+communication through the fine country around its base. Hence that
+enormous labour necessary to obtain access to some parts, and for
+crossing continuous ranges to reach others by passes like those so
+essential to the prosperity of the present colony, might be in a great
+degree dispensed with in that southern region.
+
+Towards the south coast on the south and adjacent to the open downs
+between the Grampians and Port Phillip, there is a low tract consisting
+of very rich black soil, apparently the best imaginable for the
+cultivation of grain in such a climate.
+
+WOODS.
+
+On parts of the low ridges of hills near Cape Nelson and Portland Bay are
+forests of very large trees of stringybark, ironbark, and other useful
+species of eucalyptus, much of which are probably destined yet to float
+in vessels on the adjacent sea.
+
+HARBOURS.
+
+The character of the country behind Cape Northumberland affords fair
+promise of a harbour in the shore to the westward. Such a port would
+probably possess advantages over any other on the southern coast; for a
+railroad thence, along the skirts of the level interior country, would
+require but little artificial levelling and might extend to the tropical
+regions or even beyond them, thus affording the means of expeditious
+communication between all the fine districts on the interior side of the
+coast ranges and a sea-port to the westward of Bass Strait.
+
+THE MURRAY.
+
+The Murray, fed by the lofty mountains on the east, carries to the sea a
+body of fresh water sufficient to irrigate the whole country, which is in
+general so level even to a great distance from its banks that the
+abundant waters of the river might probably be turned into canals for the
+purpose either of supplying deficiencies of natural irrigation at
+particular places, or of affording the means of transport across the wide
+plains.
+
+The high mountains in the east have not yet been explored but their very
+aspect is refreshing in a country where the summer heat is often very
+oppressive. The land is in short open and available in its present state
+for all the purposes of civilised man. We traversed it in two directions
+with heavy carts, meeting no other obstruction than the softness of the
+rich soil and, in returning over flowery plains and green hills fanned by
+the breezes of early spring, I named this region Australia Felix, the
+better to distinguish it from the parched deserts of the interior country
+where we had wandered so unprofitably and so long.
+
+This territory, still for the most part in a state of nature, presents a
+fair blank sheet for any geographical arrangement whether of county
+divisions, lines of communication, or sites of towns etc. etc. The growth
+of a colony there might be trained according to one general system with a
+view to various combinations of soil and climate and not left to chance
+as in old countries or, which would perhaps be worse, to the partial or
+narrow views of the first settlers. The plan of a whole state might be
+arranged there like that of an edifice before the foundation is laid, and
+a solid one seems necessary where a large superstructure is likely to be
+built. The accompanying sketch of the limits which I would propose for
+the colony of New South Wales is intended to show also how the
+deficiencies of such a region might be compensated and the advantages
+combined for the convenience and accommodation of a civilised and
+industrious people. The rich pasture land beyond the mountains is already
+connected by roads with the harbour of Sydney and the system, though not
+complete, has been at least sufficiently carried into effect to justify
+the preference of that town and port as a capital and common centre not
+only for the roads, but for steam navigation around the coasts extending
+in each direction about 900 miles. The coast country affords the best
+prospects for the agriculturist, but the arable spots therein, being of
+difficult access by land, his success would depend much on immediate
+means of communication with Sydney by water and, on the facility his
+position would thus afford of shipping his produce to neighbouring
+colonies.*
+
+(*Footnote. A new market for cattle and sheep has just opened on the
+interior side by the establishment of the new colony of South Australia,
+an event more fortunate for New South Wales than the most sanguine friend
+of that colony could have foreseen. It is to be regretted however that
+the colonists are so slow in availing themselves of such a market by the
+direct line of road already traced by my wheels along the right banks of
+the rivers Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Murray, by which flocks and herds
+may be driven to the new colony without any danger of their wanting water
+or the necessity for their crossing any rivers of importance.)
+
+It would be establishing a lasting monument of the beneficial influence
+of British power and colonisation thus to engraft a new and flourishing
+state on a region now so desolate and unproductive; but this seems only
+possible under very extensive arrangements and by such means as England
+alone can supply:
+
+"Here the great mistress of the seas is known,
+By empires founded, not by states o'erthrown." Sydney Gazette, January 1,
+1831.
+
+MR. STAPYLTON'S REPORT.
+
+Mr. Stapylton met no difficulty in following my track through Australia
+Felix with heavy wheel-carriages and worn out cattle, as appears by his
+own account of his progress in the following report, which he forwarded
+to me on his arrival at the Murrumbidgee.
+
+Camp near Guy's Station,
+
+Murrumbidgee, November 11.
+
+Sir,
+
+I have the honour to inform you that in compliance with your directions
+of the 18th of September last I quitted the depot near Lake Repose on the
+3rd of October, and that I arrived at this station today. Our journey
+towards the located country has been most prosperous. On the 17th of
+October I reached the Goulburn, the numerous streams which intercepted
+our progress thither having been overcome with rapidity and excellent
+management on the part of the bullock-drivers. On the 23rd of the same
+month the three men whom you sent back to me from the Murray arrived at
+our encampment on the left bank of the Goulburn, and on the 25th the
+passage was effected across it without an accident of any kind
+whatsoever. On the 30th we encamped on the right bank of the Swampy river
+having been again successful in the transit of stores and cattle, and on
+the 2nd of November the party was established on the right bank of the
+King. Here we unfortunately lost one bullock, a weak and lame animal. On
+the 4th of November I made the Murray, and on the 5th, the provision
+party not being arrived, I directed that the boat, which we found in the
+contiguous backwater, should be got afloat, and on the evening of that
+day we took up our position on the right bank of the river; the cattle,
+horses, and equipment having been passed across in safety and in a manner
+highly creditable to all the men employed. The boat-carriage (which as
+well as the boat appeared to have remained untouched by the natives) was
+brought off on the following morning which being Sunday I halted. On the
+7th I resumed our journey and arrived as above-mentioned, the cattle and
+horses having been got safely over the Murrumbidgee the same afternoon. I
+duly received your several communications numbers one, two, three and
+four; your letter by McKane and that by Burnett. Turandurey has grown
+enormously fat which should speak well of the care we had taken of her,
+and to the best of my belief no improprieties with her as a female have
+ever taken place. She was married last night to King Joey and she
+proceeds with him to her friends. Having a superfluity of government
+blankets I have taken the liberty of giving her one now and one formerly
+at the last depot.
+
+I have to acknowledge the receipt of the letter containing your
+instructions of the 26th ultimo which was delivered to me by Overseer
+Burnett on the 5th of this month, who arrived at the moment the first
+boatload from the camp reached the opposite bank of the Murray. By means
+of casks we floated the drays over the three rivers and, after two
+experiments with a raft, both partial failures, and while a third raft
+was in progress, of a more solid and better construction, we discovered
+that a canoe, of very large dimensions and paddled by the native boy
+Tommy, would prove the most expeditious as well as a safe mode of
+shipment for the boxes of value, equipment, etc. I therefore caused a
+canoe to be used for this purpose and it answered admirably. I have to
+mention the loss of three of the cattle. One by death at the depot in
+consequence of previous over-exertion, and two by accidents of a most
+provoking and unlucky nature, but which could not have been foreseen or
+prevented.
+
+I have the honour to be, etc.
+
+...
+
+THE ABORIGINAL NATIVES.
+
+This was one of the best proofs how valuable the services of the
+aborigines who accompanied the party were to us on some occasions. They
+could strip from a tree in a very short time a sheet of bark large enough
+to form a canoe; and they could propel the light bark thus made through
+the water with astonishing ease and swiftness. By this means alone most
+of our effects were transported across broad rivers without an accident
+even to any of my papers or dried plants.
+
+TURANDUREY.
+
+I was now anxious to convince them how much I appreciated that
+assistance, but felt in some degree at a loss, especially in the case of
+The Widow. It was therefore not the least satisfactory part of the
+intelligence subsequently received from Mr. Stapylton that she was
+married on her arrival to Joey, the King of the Murrumbidgee.
+
+MY MODE OF COMMUNICATING WITH MR. STAPYLTON.
+
+Mr. Stapylton had also received my several communications Numbers 1, 2,
+3, and 4, which he dug from the earth at various camps; thus we had for
+once eluded the keen eye of the aborigines in this kind of
+correspondence, although on my first journey we had not been so
+successful. My original plan on this expedition was to bury the letter
+under the ashes of my fire; cutting at the same time a cross in the turf
+where my tent had stood, as the mark by which Mr. Stapylton was to know
+that something was so deposited. But I subsequently improved on this plan
+and buried my letter in the centre of the cross by merely making a hole
+with a stick in the soft earth where the turf had been cut and dropping
+the letter into it.
+
+SURVEY OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE.
+
+In my instructions to Mr. Stapylton, sent by Burnett, I directed him to
+survey the course of the Murrumbidgee upwards from Guy's station until he
+connected our interior survey with the map of the colony. This he
+accomplished by measuring to the junction of the Doomot, a river he had
+himself previously surveyed. The direct distance between that junction
+and the point at which we first arrived on the Murrumbidgee was
+ascertained by Mr. Stapylton's measurement to be 34 3/4 miles, but
+according to my map of the interior country 36 1/2 miles; making an error
+of only 1 3/4 miles + or westward in a chain-measurement continued from
+the station at Buree, where the journey commenced, to the Darling, thence
+to the southern coast, and back to this point on the Murrumbidgee. The
+measurement was checked by latitudes determined nightly from observations
+of several stars, the difference between several amounting to a few
+seconds only. I availed myself of trigonometrical measurements also with
+a good theodolite wherever this was possible, in which case such a survey
+engaged my whole attention, and my route was often directed according to
+the position of good points.
+
+METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL.
+
+The meteorological journal was kept more carefully during this journey
+than on the two preceding; and with the kind assistance of my friends
+Captain King and Mr. Dunlop it affords, in some parts at least, materials
+for comparing the atmospheric changes in the regions explored with those
+occurring simultaneously on the eastern coast.
+
+ARRIVAL OF THE EXPLORING PARTY AT SYDNEY.
+
+It was long before the party arrived in Sydney for, when it reached the
+Murrumbidgee and the apprehension of famine no longer existed, rest was
+so necessary for the cattle that it was indulged in for their sake
+chiefly, to an extent much beyond the wishes of the men. The oxen looked
+tolerably well therefore when the party did reach Sydney, although from
+so long a journey; and my men enjoyed at length the triumph among their
+fellows, to which they had long looked forward, on conducting the boat
+and boat-carriage safely once more into the yard of my office.
+
+PIPER AND THE MEN REWARDED.
+
+But Piper seemed to relish his share of triumph most, and certainly he
+well deserved the kindness he met with on all sides. I clothed him in my
+own red coat and I gave him also a cocked hat and feather which had once
+belonged to Governor Darling. His portrait thus arrayed soon appeared in
+the print shops; an ingenious artist (Mr. Fernyhough) having drawn his
+likeness very accurately. Piper was just the sort of man to enjoy
+superlatively all his newly acquired consequence. He carried his head
+high for (as he now found) everybody knew him and not a few gave him
+money. With these donations he purchased silk handkerchiefs and wore them
+in his breast, gowns for his gins, for he at last had TWO, and to his
+great credit he abstained from any indulgence in intoxication, looking
+down, apparently with contempt, on those wretched specimens of his race
+who lead a gipsy life about Sydney.
+
+The men, after having been examined in my presence by the Council
+composed of the governor, his secretary, and the bishop, respecting the
+events of 27th May, were rewarded according to the standing and condition
+of each. The government granted every indulgence I asked in their behalf.
+Burnett, Muirhead, Woods, and Palmer obtained absolute pardons. Woods
+receiving besides a gratuity of 10 pounds, and several, specially noticed
+in my report, 5 pounds each. Those who had tickets of leave were rewarded
+with conditional pardons, and tickets of leave were awarded to the rest
+with one or two exceptions. Among those excluded was Drysdale, a most
+trustworthy man and in whose behalf I was therefore much interested. He
+had not been long enough in the colony to be entitled by the regulations
+to any indulgence; and all I could do was to obtain for him a very
+laborious place in the general hospital by holding which he avoided the
+hulk.
+
+Piper was impatient to return to his own country near Bathurst, and I
+fulfilled all the conditions of my contract with him by allowing him an
+old firelock, blankets, etc., decorating him also with a brass plate on
+which he was styled not as usual "King," for he said there were "too many
+kings already," but "Conqueror of the Interior"--surely a sufficient
+passport for him among those most likely to read it, the good people of
+Bathurst. But when he came to bid me farewell he was accompanied much
+against his will by the murderer of Mr. Cunningham, Bureemal, who had
+been placed under his protection by Mr. Ferguson to be conducted back to
+his tribe. This fellow had grown so stout that I could perceive no
+resemblance in him to the youth he appeared when captured by Lieutenant
+Zouch, and he had acquired an impudent air very unlike that of other
+natives. According to his own confession he had put Mr. Cunningham to
+death in cold blood, and Mr. Ferguson had in return clothed and fed him
+for one year, and taught him the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments.
+
+THE TWO TOMMIES.
+
+The two Tommies still remained to be provided for, and they were both
+desirous of accompanying me to England. I had seriously intended to take
+one with me but, so docile and so much attached to my service were both
+of these youths, that I felt much difficulty in choosing between them.
+Meanwhile they remained at Sydney while official cares and troubles so
+thickened about me that I at length abandoned my intention, however
+reluctantly and, when they were about to return at last to their own
+country, I gave to each what clothes I could spare and they both shed
+tears when they left my house. They were to travel through the colony
+under the protection of Charles Hammond, one of my steadiest men who,
+having obtained his freedom in reward for his services with me, was
+proceeding towards Bathurst in charge of the teams of a Parcel Delivery
+Company.
+
+BALLANDELLA.
+
+The little Ballandella, child of The Widow, was a welcome stranger to my
+children among whom she remained and seemed to adopt the habits of
+domestic life con amore, evincing a degree of aptness which promised very
+favourably. The great expense of the passage home of a large family
+obliged me at last to leave her at Sydney under the care of my friend Dr.
+Nicholson who kindly undertook the superintendence of her education
+during my absence in England.
+
+CHARACTER OF THE NATIVES OF THE INTERIOR.
+
+My experience enables me to speak in the most favourable terms of the
+aborigines whose degraded position in the midst of the white population
+affords no just criterion of their merits. The quickness of apprehension
+of those in the interior was very remarkable, for nothing in all the
+complicated adaptations we carried with us either surprised or puzzled
+them. They are never awkward, on the contrary in manners and general
+intelligence they appear superior to any class of white rustics that I
+have seen.
+
+LANGUAGE.
+
+Their powers of mimicry seem extraordinary, and their shrewdness shines
+even through the medium of imperfect language and renders them in general
+very agreeable companions.
+
+On comparing a vocabulary of the language spoken by the natives on the
+Darling with other vocabularies obtained by various persons on different
+parts of the coast I found a striking similarity in eight words, and it
+appears singular that all these words should apply to different parts of
+the human body. I could discover no term in equally general use for any
+other object as common as the parts of the body, such for instance as the
+sun, moon, water, earth, etc. By the accompanying list of words used at
+different places to express the same meaning,* it is obvious that those
+to which I have alluded are common to the natives both in the
+south-eastern and south-western portions of Australia; while no such
+resemblance can be traced between these words and any in the language
+spoken by natives on the northern coast. Now from this greater uniformity
+of language prevailing throughout the length of this large island, and
+the entire difference at much less distance latitudinally, it may perhaps
+be inferred that the causes of change in the dialect of the aborigines
+have been more active on the northern portion of Australia than
+throughout the whole extent from east to west. The uniformity of dialect
+prevailing along the whole southern shore seems a fact worthy of notice
+as connected with any question respecting the origin of the language, and
+whether other people or dialects have been subsequently introduced from
+the northern or terrestrial portion of the globe. These words although
+few may be useful to philologists as specimens of the general language
+and, as the names of parts of the body can be obtained by travellers from
+men the most savage by only pointing to each part, comparisons may be
+thus extended to the natives of other shores.
+
+(*Footnote. See Appendix 2.1)
+
+I am not aware that any affinity has been discovered, at least in single
+words, between the Australian language and that of the Polynesian
+people;* but with very slight means of comparison I may perhaps be
+excused for noticing the resemblance of Murroa, the name of the only
+volcanic crater as yet found in Australia to Mouna-roa, the volcano of
+the Sandwich Islands; and that tao, the name of the small yam or root
+eaten by Australians, is similar to taro, the name of thirty-three
+varieties of edible root and having the same meaning in the Friendly and
+Society Isles and also in the Sandwich Islands. (See Cook's Voyages and
+Polynesian Researches by William Ellis.)
+
+(*Footnote. Mr. Threlkeld has detected in it a similarity of idiom to the
+languages of the South Sea islanders and the peculiarity of a dual number
+common to all. See his Australian Grammar, Sydney 1834.)
+
+HABITS OF THOSE OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND THE SAME.
+
+The natives of Van Diemen's Land, the only inhabited region south of
+Australia, are said to have been as dark as the negro race and to have
+had woolly hair like them. Little is known of the language and character
+of the unfortunate Tasmanian aborigines, and this is the more to be
+regretted considering how useful a better knowledge of either might have
+been in tracing the progressive extension of the Australasian people. The
+prevailing opinion at present is that the natives of Van Diemen's Land
+were also much more ferocious than the natives of Australia. But, brief
+as the existence of these islanders has been on the page of history,
+these characteristics are very much at variance with the descriptions we
+have of the savages seen by the earliest European visitors, and
+especially by Captain Cook who thus describes those he saw at Adventure
+Bay in 1777: "Their colour is a dull black, and not quite so deep as that
+of the African negroes. It should seem also that they sometimes heighten
+their black colour by smoking their bodies, as a mark was left behind on
+any clean substance, such as white paper, when they handled it." Captain
+Cook then proceeds to describe the hair as being woolly, but all the
+other particulars of that description are identical with the
+peculiarities of Australian natives; and Captain King stated, according
+to the editor of the Northern Voyage of Cook, that "Captain Cook was very
+unwilling to allow that the hair of the natives seen in Adventure Bay WAS
+woolly." The hair of the natives we saw in the interior and especially of
+the females had a very frizzled appearance and never grew long; and I
+should rather consider the hair of the natives of Tasmania as differing
+in degree only from the frizzled hair of those of Australia.
+
+HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABORIGINES.
+
+Instead of the ferocious character latterly attributed to the natives of
+Van Diemen's Land we find on the contrary that Captain Cook describes
+them as having "little of that fierce or wild appearance common to people
+in their situation;" and a historian* draws a comparison, also in their
+favour, between them and the natives of Botany Bay, of whom THREE stood
+forward to oppose Captain Cook at his first landing. The ferocity
+subsequently displayed by natives of Van Diemen's Land cannot fairly be
+attributed to them therefore as characteristic of their race, at least
+until extirpation stared them in the face and excited them to acts of
+desperate vengeance against all white intruders.
+
+(*Footnote. The History of New Holland by the Right Honourable William
+Eden, 1787 page 99.)
+
+The habits and customs of the aboriginal inhabitants are remarkably
+similar throughout the wide extent of Australia, and appear to have been
+equally characteristic of those of Van Diemen's Land: geological evidence
+also leads us to suppose that this island has not always been separated
+from the mainland by Bass Strait. The resemblance of the natives of Van
+Diemen's Land to those of Northern Australia seemed indeed so perfect
+that the first discoverers considered them "as well as the kangaroo, only
+stragglers from the more northern parts of the country;" and as they had
+no canoes fit to cross the sea, that New Holland, as it was then termed,
+"was nowhere divided into islands, as some had supposed."
+
+TEMPORARY HUTS. MODE OF CLIMBING TREES.
+
+Their mode of life, as exhibited in the temporary huts made of boughs,
+bark, or grass,* and of climbing trees to procure the opossum by cutting
+notches in the bark, alternately with each hand as they ascend, prevails
+not only from shore to shore in Australia but is so exactly similar in
+Van Diemen's Land and at the same time so uncommon elsewhere that Tasman,
+the first discoverer of that island, concluded "that the natives either
+were of an extraordinary size, from the steps having been five feet
+asunder or THAT THEY HAD SOME METHOD which he could not conceive of
+climbing trees by the help of such steps." It is strong presumptive
+evidence therefore of the connection of the inhabitants of Van Diemen's
+Land with the race in Australia that a method of climbing trees, now so
+well known as peculiar to the natives of Australia, should have been
+equally characteristic of those of Tasmania. The notches made in climbing
+trees are cut by means of a small stone hatchet and, as already observed,
+with each hand alternately. By long practice a native can support himself
+with his toes on very small notches, not only in climbing but while he
+cuts other notches, necessary for his further ascent, with one hand, the
+other arm embracing the tree. The elasticity and lightness of the simple
+handle of the mogo or stone hatchet employed (see Figure 5 above) are
+well adapted to the weight of the head and assist the blow necessary to
+cut the thick bark with an edge of stone. As the natives live chiefly on
+the opossum, which they find in the hollow trunk or upper branches of
+tall trees and, as they never ascend by old notches but always cut new
+ones, such marks are very common in the woods; and on my journeys in the
+interior I knew, by their being in a recent state, when I was approaching
+a tribe; or when they were not quite recent how long it was since the
+natives had been in such parts of the woods; whether they had any iron
+hatchets or used still those of stone only; etc.
+
+(*Footnote. Many usages of these rude people much resemble those of the
+wandering Arabs. Dr. Pococke mentions some open huts made of boughs
+raised about three feet above the ground which he found near St. John
+D'Acre. He observes: "These materials are of so perishing a nature, and
+trees and reeds and bushes are so very scarce in some places that one
+would wonder they should not all accommodate themselves with tents but we
+find they do not in fact." Volume 2 page 158. "And that they should
+publish and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem saying, Go
+forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches and pine branches and
+myrtle branches and palm branches and branches of thick trees to make
+booths as it is written." Nehemiah 8:15.)
+
+REMARKABLE CUSTOMS.
+
+The men wear girdles usually made of the wool of the opossum, and a sort
+of tail of the same material is appended to this girdle, both before and
+behind, and seems to be the only part of their costume suggested by any
+ideas of decency. The girdle answers besides the important purpose of
+supporting the lower viscera, and seems to have been found necessary for
+the human frame by almost all savages.
+
+CHARMED STONES. FEMALES EXCLUDED FROM SUPERSTITIOUS RITES.
+
+In these girdles the men, and especially their coradjes or priests,
+frequently carry crystals of quartz or other shining stones, which they
+hold in high estimation and very unwillingly show to anyone, taking care
+when they do that no woman shall see them.*
+
+(*Footnote. Genesis 28:18. "From this conduct of Jacob and this Hebrew
+appellative, the learned Bochart, with great ingenuity and reason,
+insists that the name and veneration of the sacred stones called Baetyli,
+so celebrated in all Pagan antiquity, were derived. These baetyli were
+stones of a round form, they were supposed to be animated, by means of
+magical incantations, with a portion of the Deity; they were consulted on
+occasions of great and pressing emergency, as a kind of divine oracles,
+and were suspended either round the neck or some other part of the body."
+Burder's Oriental Customs volume 1 page 40.)
+
+BANDAGE OR FILLET AROUND THE TEMPLES.
+
+The natives wear a neatly wrought bandage or fillet round the head and
+whiten it with pipe-clay as a soldier cleans his belts.* They also wear
+one of a red colour under it. The custom is so general, without obvious
+utility, at least when the hair is short, that we may suppose it is also
+connected with some superstition.
+
+(*Footnote. See illustration Cambo Volume 1.)
+
+STRIKING OUT THE TOOTH.
+
+But still more remarkable is the practice of striking out one of the
+front teeth at the age of puberty, a custom observed both on the coast
+and as far as I penetrated in the interior. On the western coast also
+Dampier observed that the two fore-teeth were wanting in all the men and
+women he saw. According to Piper certain rites belong to this strange
+custom. The young men retire from the tribe to solitary places, there to
+mourn and abstain from animal food for many days previous to their being
+subjected to this mutilation. The tooth is not drawn but knocked out by
+an old man, or coradje, with a wooden chisel, struck forcibly and so as
+to break it. It would be very difficult to account for a custom so
+general and also so absurd, otherwise than by supposing it a typical
+sacrifice, probably derived from early sacrificial rites. The cutting off
+of the last joint of the little finger of females seems a custom of the
+same kind; also boring the cartilage between the nostrils in both sexes
+and wearing therein, when danger is apprehended, a small bone or piece of
+reed.*
+
+(*Footnote. The aborigines of Australia seem to resemble more, although
+at so great a distance, those of the Sandwich Islands than the natives of
+any other of the numerous isles so much nearer to them. According to Cook
+this strange custom of striking out the teeth prevails also there. "The
+knocking out their fore teeth," says that navigator, "may be, with
+propriety, classed among their religious customs. Most of the common
+people and many of the chiefs had lost one or more of them; and this we
+understood was considered as a propitiatory sacrifice to the Eatooa to
+avert his anger; and not like the cutting off a part of the finger at the
+Friendly Islands to express the violence of their grief at the death of a
+friend." Cook's Voyage.)
+
+PAINTING WITH RED.
+
+To paint the body red seems also a custom of the natives in all parts
+that I have visited: but the most constant use of colours both white and
+red appears on the narrow shield or hieleman (see below) which is seldom
+to be found without some vestiges of both colours about the carving with
+which they are also ornamented.*
+
+(*Footnote. "A German pays no attention to the ornament of his person;
+his shield is the object of his care; and this he decorates with the
+liveliest colours." Tacitus de Mor. Germ. c.6.)
+
+RAISED SCARS ON ARMS AND BREAST.
+
+The "large punctures or ridges raised on different parts of their bodies,
+some in straight and others in curved lines" distinguish the Australian
+natives wherever they have been yet seen and, in describing these raised
+scars, I have quoted the words of Captain Cook as the most descriptive
+although having reference to the natives of Adventure Bay, in one of the
+most southern isles of Van Diemen's Land, when first seen in 1777.
+
+CUTTING THEMSELVES IN MOURNING.
+
+It is also customary for both men and women to cut themselves in mourning
+for relations. I have seen old women in particular bleeding about the
+temples from such self-inflicted wounds.*
+
+(*Footnote. "We often read of people cutting themselves, in Holy Writ,
+when in great anguish; but we are not commonly told what part they
+wounded. The modern Arabs, it seems, gash their arms which with them are
+often bare: it appears from a passage of Jeremiah that the ancients
+wounded themselves in the same part, 'Every head shall be bald, and every
+beard clipt; upon all hands shall be cuttings and upon the loins
+sackcloth.' Chapter 48:37." Harmer volume 4 page 436.)
+
+AUTHORITY OF OLD MEN.
+
+Respect for age is universal among the aborigines. Old men, and even old
+women, exercise great authority among assembled tribes and "rule the big
+war" with their voices when both spears and boomerangs are ready to be
+thrown.* Young men are admitted into the order of the seniors according
+to certain rites which their coradjes, or priests, have the sagacity to
+keep secret and render mysterious.
+
+(*Footnote. Leviticus 19:32. "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head,
+and honour the face of the old man." The Lacedemonians had a law that
+aged persons should be reverenced like fathers. See also Homer Iliad
+15:204 et 23:788. Odyss. 13:141.)
+
+LAW AGAINST EATING EMU FLESH.
+
+No young men are allowed to eat the flesh or eggs of the emu, a kind of
+luxury which is thus reserved exclusively for the old men and the women.
+I understood from Piper, who abstained from eating emu when food was very
+scarce, that the ceremony necessary in this case consisted chiefly in
+being rubbed all over with emu fat by an old man. Richardson, one of our
+party, was an old man and Piper reluctantly allowed himself to be rubbed
+with emu fat by Richardson; but from that time he had no objection to eat
+the flesh of that bird. The threatened penalty was that young men, after
+eating it, would be afflicted with sores all over the body.
+
+NATIVE DOGS.
+
+The native dog, so common in Australia, is not found in Tasmania; while
+on the other hand two animals, the Dasyurus ursinus and Thylacynus, exist
+in Tasmania but have not been found hitherto in Australia. Have these
+been extirpated in Australia by the dog on his introduction subsequently
+to the opening of the straits? It may be observed that this is the more
+likely as the above-mentioned species found in Van Diemen's Land only,
+consist of those two unable to climb and avoid such an enemy. The
+Australian natives evince great humanity in their behaviour to these
+dogs. In the interior we saw few natives who were not followed by some of
+these animals, although they did not appear of much use to them. The
+women not unfrequently suckle the young pups and so bring them up, but
+these are always miserably thin so that we knew a native's dog from a
+wild one by the starved appearance of the former. The howl of a native
+dog in the desert wilds is the most melancholy sound imaginable, much
+resembling that of a tame dog when he has lost his master. We find no
+remains of this genus among the fossils and it seems therefore probable
+that the dog accompanied the native, wherever he came from.
+
+FEMALES CARRYING CHILDREN.
+
+We trace a further resemblance between this rude people and the orientals
+in their common method of carrying children on their shoulders; and the
+sketch of Turandurey with Ballandella so mounted (Plate 24) affords the
+best illustration of a passage in Scripture which has very much puzzled
+commentators.* But the savage tribes of mankind as they approach nearer
+to the condition of animals seem to preserve a stronger resemblance to
+themselves and to each other. The uniform stability of their manners
+seems a natural consequence of the uncultivated state of their faculties;
+and it is satisfactory to discover such direct illustrations of ancient
+history among these rude and primitive specimens of our race.
+
+(*Footnote. "Was the custom anciently the reverse of this? So it might be
+imagined from Isaiah 49:22. 'They shall bring thy sons in their arms and
+thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders'"! Harmer's Oriental
+Customs.)
+
+WEAPONS. THE SPEAR. WOOMERA.
+
+The weapons used by the natives are not more remarkable and peculiar in
+their construction than general in their use on every shore of New
+Holland. The spear is thrown by means of a woomera which is a slight rod
+about three feet long having at one end a niche to receive the end of the
+spear. The missile is shot forward by this means with great force and
+accuracy of direction; for by the peculiar method of throwing the spear
+the woomera affords a great additional impetus from this most ingenious
+lengthening of the arm to that extent.*
+
+(*Footnote. For the shape of the woomera see Moyengully Plate 49 above;
+and the manner of throwing the spear may be seen in Plate 8 Volume 1.)
+
+THE BOOMERANG. ITS PROBABLE ORIGIN.
+
+The boomerang, a thin curved missile, can be thrown by a skilful hand so
+as to rise upon the air and thus to deviate from the ordinary path of
+projectiles, its crooked course being nevertheless equally under control.
+It is of the form here represented, being about two feet four inches
+long. These weapons are cut according to the grain from the curved parts
+of acacia or other standing trees of compact hard wood. They usually
+weigh about 9 1/2 ounces. One side, which is the uppermost in throwing,
+is slightly convex, and is sometimes elaborately carved. The lower side
+is flat and plain. The boomerang is held, not as a sabre, but
+sickle-wise, or concave towards the thrower and, as a rotatory motion is
+imparted to it when sent off, the air presents so much resistance to the
+flat side and so little to the sharp edge as it cuts forward, that the
+long-sustained flight of the whirling missile seems independent of the
+common effect of gravitation.
+
+The native, from long practice, can do astonishing things with this
+weapon. He seems to determine with great certainty what its crooked and
+distant flight shall be, and how and where it is to end. Thus he
+frequently amuses himself in hurling the formidable weapon to astonishing
+heights and distances from one spot to which the missile returns to fall
+beside him. Sometimes the earth is made a fulcrum to which the boomerang
+descends only to resume a longer and more sustained flight, or to leap,
+perhaps, over a tree and strike an object behind it.
+
+The contrivance probably originated in the utility of such a missile for
+the purpose of killing ducks where they are very numerous, as on the
+interior rivers and lagoons and where, accordingly, we find it much more
+in use than on the seacoast and better made, being often covered with
+good carving.* (See Cambo, Volume 1, also small figures in Plate 28
+above.)
+
+(*Footnote. That Dampier saw this weapon also on the western coast in
+latitude 16 degrees 50 minutes is evident from the following observation.
+"These swords were afterwards found to be made of wood and rudely shaped
+something like a cutlass.")
+
+SHIELD OR HIELEMAN.
+
+There is also much originality in the shield or hieleman of these people.
+It is merely a piece of wood of little thickness and 2 feet 8 inches
+long, tapering to each end, cut to an edge outwards and having a handle
+or hole in the middle behind the thickest part. This is made of light
+wood and affords protection from missiles, chiefly by the facility with
+which it is turned round the centre or handle.
+
+SKILL IN APPROACHING THE KANGAROO.
+
+Great ingenuity is necessary and is as cleverly practised by the natives
+in approaching the kangaroo. This they display in creeping, stalking with
+bushes, advancing behind trees, etc. and to such a degree are their wits
+sharpened by their appetites that they can even distinguish when the
+kangaroo kills a fly; and they consider in their proceedings, from the
+habit of the kangaroo to kill flies and smell the blood, whether the
+animal may discover from the blood the fly contains that men are near.
+
+FOOD OF THE NATIVES. MODES OF COOKING.
+
+The natives are accustomed to cook such animals by digging a hole in the
+ground, making a fire in it, and heating the stones found about. The
+kangaroo is placed in this hole with the skin on, and is covered with
+heated embers or warm stones.
+
+OPOSSUM. SINGEING.
+
+The opossum which constitutes the more ordinary food of the native is not
+cooked so much, but only singed, so as to have a flavour of the singed
+wool; but it is nevertheless palatable enough even to a white man.
+
+VEGETABLE FOOD. THE SHOVEL.
+
+The young natives of the interior usually carry a small wooden shovel
+(see foreground figure, Plate 12 Volume 1) with one end of which they dig
+up different roots, and with the other break into the large anthills for
+the larvae, which they eat: the labour necessary to obtain a mouthful
+even, of such indifferent food, being thus really more than would be
+sufficient for the cultivation of the earth according to the more
+provident arrangements of civilised men. Yet in a land affording such
+meagre support the Australian savage is not a cannibal: while the New
+Zealander, who inhabits a much more productive region, notoriously feasts
+on human flesh.
+
+GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
+
+Were it expedient to enter here into further details, or upon a longer
+description of the natives of Australia, I might quote largely from
+Captain Cook's account of those he saw at Adventure Bay, Van Diemen's
+Land, as being more detailed and descriptive, both of the natives in the
+interior, and of those also around the whole circumference of Australia,
+than any I could give. In the descriptions by Dampier and other
+navigators who have touched on any part of these shores we recognise the
+same natives with all their characteristics, and are led to conclude that
+they are derived from the same stock and, as the judicious compiler of
+the first History of New Holland considered it most probable from this
+and other circumstances "that the number is small, and that the interior
+parts of the country are inhabited,"* I may observe that I have had no
+reason to entertain a contrary opinion from what I saw of the interior
+country beyond the Darling. The native population is very thinly spread
+over the regions I have explored, amounting to nearly a seventh part of
+Australia. I cannot estimate the number at more than 6000; but on the
+contrary I believe it to be considerably less. They may increase rapidly
+if wild cattle become numerous; and as an instance I may refer to the
+number and good appearance of the Cudjallagong tribe near Macquarie range
+where they occasionally fell in with a herd of wild cattle.
+
+(*Footnote. History of New Holland pages 31 and 232.)
+
+DESTRUCTION OF THE KANGAROO.
+
+The kangaroo disappears from cattle runs, and is also killed by stockmen
+merely for the sake of the skin; but no mercy is shown to the natives who
+may help themselves to a bullock or a sheep. Such a state of things must
+infallibly lead to the extirpation of the aboriginal natives, as in Van
+Diemen's Land, unless timely measures are taken for their civilisation
+and protection. I have heard some affecting allusions made by natives to
+the white men's killing the kangaroo. At present almost every stockman
+has several strong kangaroo dogs; now it would be only an act of justice
+towards the aborigines to prohibit white men by law from killing these
+creatures which are as essential to the natives as cattle are to the
+Europeans. The prohibition would be at least a proof of the disposition
+of the strangers to act as humanely as they possibly could towards the
+natives. If wild cattle on the contrary become numerous the natives also
+might increase in number and, if not civilised and instructed now, might
+become formidable and implacable enemies then, as no absolute right to
+kill even wild cattle would be conceded to them. The evils likely to
+result from such circumstances were apparent both in the commencement and
+termination of my first journey; but although the desert character of the
+interior renders such a state of things less likely to happen, at least
+on a larger scale, the unfortunate race whom we have found on the shores
+of Australia are not the less entitled to our protection.
+
+CIVILISATION OF THE ABORIGINES.
+
+Some adequate provision for their civilisation and maintenance is due on
+our part to this race of men, were it only in return for the means of
+existence of which we are depriving them. The bad example of the class of
+persons sent to Australia should be counteracted by some serious efforts
+to civilise and instruct these aboriginal inhabitants. That they are
+capable of civilisation and instruction has been proved recently in the
+case of a number who were sentenced for some offence to be confined with
+a chaingang on Goat Island in Sydney harbour. By the exertions of Mr.
+Ferguson, who was I believe a missionary gentleman, these men were taught
+in five months to read tolerably well, and also to explain in English the
+meaning of the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments. During that time they
+had been initiated in the craft of stone-cutting and building so as to
+completely erect a small house. They grew fat and muscular and appeared
+really stronger men, when well fed, than the white convicts.
+
+The natives have also proved very good shepherds when any of them have
+been induced, by proper encouragement and protection, to take charge of a
+flock. Tommy Came-first, one of the lads who travelled with me, had
+previously tended sheep for a year and had given great satisfaction.
+
+My experiment with the little native girl, Ballandella, will be useful I
+trust in developing hereafter the mental energies of the Australian
+aborigines for, by the last accounts from Sydney, I am informed that she
+reads as well as any white child of the same age.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.15.
+
+Geological specimens collected.
+Connection between soil and rocks.
+Limestone.
+Granite.
+Trap-rocks.
+Sandstone.
+Geological structure and physical outline.
+Valleys of excavation.
+Extent of that of the Cox.
+Quantity of rock removed.
+Valley of the Grose.
+Wellington Valley.
+Limestone caverns.
+Description and view of the largest.
+Of that containing osseous breccia.
+First discovery of bones.
+Small cavity and stalagmitic crust.
+Teeth found in the floor.
+A third cavern.
+Breccia on the surface.
+Similar caverns in other parts of the country.
+At Buree.
+At Molong.
+Shattered state of the bones.
+Important discoveries by Professor Owen.
+Gigantic fossil kangaroos.
+Macropus atlas.
+Macropus titan.
+Macropus indeterminate.
+Genus Hypsiprymnus, new species, indeterminate.
+Genus Phalangista.
+Genus Phascolomys.
+Ph. mitchellii, a new species.
+New Genus Diprotodon.
+Dasyurus laniarius, a new species.
+General results of Professor Owen's researches.
+Age of the breccia considered.
+State of the caverns.
+Traces of inundation.
+Stalagmitic crust.
+State of the bones.
+Putrefaction had only commenced when first deposited.
+Accompanying marks of disruption.
+Earthy deposits.
+These phenomena compared with other evidence of inundation.
+Salt lakes in the interior.
+Changes on the seacoast.
+Proofs that the coast was once higher above the sea than it is at
+present.
+Proofs that it was once lower.
+And of violent action of the sea.
+At Wollongong.
+Cape Solander.
+Port Jackson.
+Broken Bay.
+Newcastle.
+Tuggerah Beach.
+Bass Strait.
+
+GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS COLLECTED.
+
+As any geological information respecting a country so little known as the
+eastern coast of Australia may be acceptable to the public, I venture to
+subjoin a few observations on some of the more prominent subjects of my
+researches, and I do so with the more confidence because it will appear
+how largely I am indebted for the interest they possess to the kindness
+of my scientific friends in England.
+
+CONNECTION BETWEEN SOIL AND ROCKS.
+
+During the surveys and expeditions I carefully collected specimens at
+every important locality, and I have thus been enabled since my return to
+England to mark upon my maps the geological structure of the country. By
+this means also I have been able to determine the relative value of the
+land in the districts recently explored and to compare it with that of
+the country previously known.
+
+By a little attention to the geological structure of Australia we learn
+how much the superficial qualities of soil and productions depend upon
+it, and where to look for arable spots amid the general barrenness. The
+most intelligent surveyors of my department have on several occasions
+contributed considerably to my collection.
+
+Curiosity led me to investigate some of the fossil remains of those
+lately discovered regions while my public duties obliged me to study also
+the external features of the country; and I have thus been enabled to
+draw some inferences respecting various changes which have taken place in
+the surface and in the relative level of sea and land.
+
+The following are the principal rocks which I noticed in the country.
+
+LIMESTONE.
+
+Limestone occurs of different ages and quality presenting a considerable
+variety.
+
+1. A light-coloured compact calcareous rock resembling mountain
+limestone; at Buree and Wellington, rising, at the former place, to the
+height of about 1500 feet above the sea.
+
+2. A dark grey limestone appears at perhaps a still greater height on the
+Shoalhaven river; in immediate contact with granite.
+
+3. A crystalline variegated marble is found in blocks a few miles
+westward of the above, near the Wollondilly.
+
+4. Another variety of this rock is very abundant in the neighbourhood of
+Limestone plains on the interior side of the Coast ranges and near the
+principal sources of the Murrumbidgee. This contains corals belonging to
+the genus favosites; crinoideae are also found abundantly in the plains
+and distinguish this limestone from the others above-mentioned.
+
+These rocks present little or no appearance of stratification.
+
+A remarkably projecting ridge on the banks of Peel's river contained
+limestone of so peculiar an aspect as to resemble porphyry, and it was
+associated with a rock having a base of chocolate-coloured granular
+felspar. (See Volume 1.)
+
+A yellow highly calcareous sandstone, apparently stratified, occurs near
+the banks of the Gwydir. Large rounded boulders of argillaceous limestone
+have been denuded in the bed of Glendon brook; and an impure limestone is
+found in the neighbourhood of William's river, both belonging to the
+basin of the Hunter and not much elevated above the sea. Calcareous tuff
+or grit may be observed in various localities, and calcareous concretions
+abound in the blue clay of almost all the extensive plains on both sides
+of the mountains.
+
+A soft shelly limestone, most probably of recent origin though slightly
+resembling some of the oolites of England, occurs extensively on the
+southern coast between Cape Northumberland and Portland bay where it
+forms the only rock with the exception of amygdaloidal trap.
+
+GRANITE.
+
+Granite or granitic compounds are more or less apparent at or near the
+sources of the principal rivers; but with the exception of the Southern
+Alps and some patches in the counties of Bathurst and Murray this
+fundamental rock is visible in Australia only where it appears to have
+cracked a thick overlying stratum of ferruginous sandstone. Thus near the
+head of the river Cox where the latter attains its greatest elevation,
+and from the character of the valley has evidently been violently
+disturbed, we find granite in the valley near the bed of the stream.
+
+Observation 1. Such is the character of the country where the waters
+separate, or in the line of greatest elevation which we are accustomed to
+term the Coast Range. The general direction of this range is
+north-north-east and accords perfectly with the hypothesis of Dr. Fitton,
+founded on the general parallelism observed in the range of the strata,
+even on the north-western coast, as noticed in his interesting little
+volume, the first ever devoted to Australian Geology.* The parallelism so
+remarkable in the range of strata in that portion, the general tendency
+of the coastlines to a course from the west of south to the east of north
+on the mainland, and even in the islands west of the Gulf of Carpentaria,
+and a general elevation of the strata towards the south-east, as deduced
+from Flinders' remarks, are all facts which should be studied in
+connection with the direction of the granite along this part of the
+eastern coast.
+
+(*Footnote. An account of some Geological specimens from the coasts of
+Australia by William Henry Fitton, M.D., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., etc. 1826.)
+
+Observation 2. It may be also observed that the sandstone reposing on the
+rock eastward of this division or watershed is slightly inclined towards
+the sea, whereas all the sandstone on the interior side, or westward of
+it, dips to the north-west.
+
+TRAP-ROCKS.
+
+Trap-rocks are displayed in a great variety of situations. They often
+occur connected with limestone in valleys, sometimes constitute lofty
+ranges as on the north or left bank of the Hunter, and along the seashore
+at the Illawarra; they likewise cap the summit of isolated hills, but no
+particular place can be assigned to them with reference to the position
+of any other rocks. Trap forms a good soil on decomposition as is shown
+in the rich districts of the Illawarra, Cowpastures, Valley of the
+Hunter, Liverpool Plains, Wellington Valley, and Buree.
+
+Vesicular lava and amygdaloid are the chief ingredients of some of the
+best parts of Australia Felix. In that region volcanic phenomena are more
+apparent than in other parts of Eastern Australia, especially where the
+Grampians, consisting of a mass of sandstone 4000 feet thick, seem a
+portion of the great formation covering the districts of the north. The
+strata in these mountains are inclined to the north-west, as if in
+obedience to the upheavings of Murroa or Mount Napier, an extinct volcano
+in the very line of their outcrop.
+
+Observation. We found in the interior, hills of sandstone only, but at
+this extremity of the great Coast range granite is extensively exposed in
+ridges, between which, in one extensive district, are round heights of
+mammeloid form, consisting of pure lava, and in another, tabular masses
+of trap reposing on granite occupy one side of a valley.
+
+GRAVEL.
+
+Beds of gravel are not common in these parts of Australia; but occur
+partially in the basins of the larger streams on the interior side of the
+Coast range where the pebbles in general consist of quartz.
+
+SANDSTONE.
+
+The prevailing geological feature in all Eastern Australia is the great
+abundance of a ferruginous sandstone in proportion to any other rocks.
+The sterility of the country where it occurs has been frequently noticed
+in these volumes. It is found on the coast at Port Jackson and it was the
+furthest rock seen by me in the interior beyond the Darling.
+
+A deposit upwards of 1200 feet thick forms the Blue Mountains west of
+Sydney, ranging thence, with the intersection of no other rock of
+importance, to the Hawkesbury; and although declining towards the sea at
+the rate of only 100 feet per mile, or 1 in 52, or at an angle of about 1
+degree with the horizon; yet it is traversed by ravines which increase in
+depth in proportion as the sandstone attains a greater elevation, and
+present perpendicular crags and cliffs of a very remarkable character.
+
+A region consisting of a sandstone deposit of so great thickness and so
+slightly inclined necessarily presents a monotonous aspect in all
+directions; and when it is compared with European countries composed of
+many formations and presenting great diversity of scenery it proves how
+much geological structure influences pictorial and physical outlines.
+(See Plate 10 Volume 1, also Plate 38 above.)
+
+In the eastern part of Australia the geologist will certainly find
+sections in abundance but they are nearly all of sandstone for, with few
+exceptions no other rocks have been denuded in situations similarly
+exposed.
+
+GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND PHYSICAL OUTLINE. VALLEYS OF EXCAVATION. EXTENT
+OF THAT OF THE COX.
+
+The ravines which discharge their waters into the little river Cox occupy
+an area of 1,212 square miles, or one-half of the county of Westmoreland
+on the right or south side of that river, and one-fourth of the county of
+Cook on the other. Of this area 796 square miles, equal to one-half of
+the county of Westmoreland, are on the right or south side of that river,
+and 416, or one-fourth of the county of Cook, on the left. The whole
+extent comprises the basin of this mountain stream, and is bounded by
+heights rising very gradually from about 1000 feet at the gorge or outlet
+of the Cox, to 3,400 feet on the north side at Blackheath, and on the
+south to Murruin and Werong, summits of still greater elevation; the
+lowest part of the ridge bounding this basin on the west or interior side
+being nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea. Cox's river flows over
+a bed of water-worn rocks which, in the upper part of the valley, is
+2,150 feet above the sea, and on the road to Bathurst this bed consists
+of trap and granite. The river falls rapidly on leaving the granite of
+the vale of Clwyd to a level not much above that of the sea, and it
+escapes near its junction with the Warragamba from this spacious basin
+through a gorge about 2,200 yards wide and flanked on each side by points
+about 800 feet high.
+
+QUANTITY OF ROCK REMOVED.
+
+Supposing but two-thirds of the enclosed area of sandstone to have been
+excavated to the depth of 880 feet only, which I allow as the mean
+thickness of the stratum thus broken into, and considering the
+inclination of the Cox and other valleys, then 134 CUBIC MILES of stone
+must have been removed from this basin of the Cox alone.
+
+VALLEY OF THE GROSE.
+
+The valley of the Grose, whose basin is contiguous to that of the Cox on
+the north, is of less extent but enclosed by cliffs of greater
+perpendicular height. That river has been already described in the
+journal, and the general character of the valley through which it flows
+is represented in Plate 10 Volume 1.* We now perceive but slight
+indications of the action by which the great area of stone in the valley
+of the Cox, the Grose etc. has been removed. There are no accumulations
+of sand but huge blocks of rock, scarcely worn by attrition, occur in
+great abundance in the bed of the stream; neither do we find in the
+larger channels of the rivers below any sand deposits, but on the
+contrary the very rich alluvium which distinguishes the banks of the
+Hawkesbury.
+
+(*Footnote. This book is already almost too full of plates and I beg to
+refer the geological reader to my three-sheet map of the Colony for the
+superficial forms and extent of these valleys.)
+
+WELLINGTON VALLEY.
+
+In the year 1830, after I had traced out the new line of descent from the
+Blue Mountains to the interior country by the pass which I then named
+Mount Victoria, I extended my survey to the heights beyond Wellington
+Valley. This includes a rich alluvial tract watered by the river Bell,
+one of the principal tributaries of the Macquarie, and is about 170 miles
+to the westward of Newcastle. It is bounded on each side by a compact
+calcareous rock resembling the mountain limestone of England and rising
+on the east side to about 100 feet above the Bell.
+
+On the west side of this valley hills of greater elevation, consisting of
+a red sandstone and conglomerate, extend parallel to the limestone; and
+on the east side of it is another range composed of trap-rocks. The basis
+of a tract still further eastward, dividing the watershed of the interior
+from that which sends its streams to the sea is, as has been already
+observed, of granite.
+
+The limestone presents a naked and rugged surface composed of pointed,
+weather-worn blocks between which are small crevices leading to caves and
+fissures. From these crevices a warm air ascends, accompanied by a smell
+peculiar to the caves. The worn aspect of the external rock, resembling
+half-dissolved ice, is very remarkable, particularly near the largest
+caverns.
+
+An account of the survey of these caves was communicated to the
+Geological Society in a paper read on the 13th of April 1831, of which an
+abstract was published in its Proceedings, but the particulars respecting
+the animal remains found by me have derived great additional importance
+from the discoveries made by Professor Owen since my return to England. I
+may be excused therefore for again calling attention to the situation of
+those curious caves respecting which the following details are now
+published with the consent of the Council of the Society.
+
+LIMESTONE CAVERNS.
+
+The entrance to the caves of Wellington Valley is in the side of a low
+hill and 65 feet above the adjacent alluvial flat. It consists of two
+crevices between large blocks of limestone in one side of a hollow about
+12 feet deep; and which has evidently been widened by water. (Plate 41.)
+
+DESCRIPTION AND VIEW OF THE LARGEST.
+
+We first descended the fissure at the mouth of the large cave, and then
+clambered over great rocks until, at 125 feet from the entrance, we found
+these inequalities to be covered by a deep bed of dry, reddish dust,
+forming an even floor. This red earth lay also in heaps under lateral
+crevices, through which it seemed to have been washed down from above. On
+digging to a considerable depth at this point, we found a few fragments
+of bone, apparently of the kangaroo. At 180 feet from the mouth is the
+largest part of the cavern, the breadth being 25 feet and the height
+about 50 feet. The floor consisted of the same reddish earth, but a thick
+stalagmitic crust extended for a short distance from a gigantic
+stalactite at the further end of the cavern. On again digging several
+feet deep into the red earth here we met with no lower layer of
+stalagmite nor any animal remains.
+
+On a corner of the floor behind the stalactite and nearly under a
+vertical fissure we found a heap of dry white dust into which one of the
+party sunk to the waist.* (G. Plate 44.)
+
+(*Footnote. The dust when chemically examined by Dr. Turner was found to
+consist principally of carbonate of lime with some phosphate of lime and
+animal matter. Proceedings of the Geological Society for 1831.)
+
+Passing through an opening to the left of the stalactite we came upon an
+abrupt descent into a lower cavern. Having reached the latter with some
+difficulty, we found that its floor was about 20 feet below that of the
+cavern above. It was equally level and covered to a great but
+unascertained depth with the same dry red earth which had been worn down
+about five feet in a hollow or rut.
+
+A considerable portion of the farthest part of the floor (at H) was
+occupied with white dust or ashes similar to that found in the corner of
+the upper floor (at G).
+
+This lower cavern terminated in a nearly vertical fissure which not only
+ascended towards the external surface but descended to an unascertained
+depth beneath the floor. At about 30 feet below the lowest part of the
+cavern it was found to contain water, the surface of which I ascertained
+was nearly on a level with that of the river Bell. Having descended by a
+rope I found that the water was very transparent but unfit to drink,
+having a disagreeable, brackish flavour.
+
+This lower cavern is much contracted by stalactites and stalagmites.
+After having broken through some hollow-sounding portions (at O and N) we
+entered two small lateral caverns and in one of these, after cutting
+through (at I) about eight inches of stalagmitic floor, we discovered the
+same reddish earth. We dug into this deposit also, but discovered no
+pebbles or organic fragments; but at the depth of two and a half feet met
+with another stalagmitic layer which was not penetrated. This fine red
+earth or dust seems to be a sediment that was deposited from water which
+stood in the caves about 40 feet below the exterior surface; for the
+earth is found exactly at that height both towards the entrance of the
+first cavern and in the lateral caverns. (See Plate 44.)
+
+That this cave had been enlarged by a partial sinking of the floor is not
+improbable, as broken stalagmitic columns, and pillars like broken
+shafts, once probably in contact with the roof, are still apparent. (See
+the view of the largest cavern Plate 43.)
+
+OF THAT CONTAINING OSSEOUS BRECCIA.
+
+Eighty feet to the westward of this cave is the mouth of another of a
+different description. Here the surface consists of a breccia full of
+fragments of bones; and a similar compound, confusedly mixed with large
+blocks of limestone, forms the sides of the cavity. This cave presents in
+all its features a striking contrast to that already described. Its
+entrance is a sort of pit, having a wide orifice nearly vertical, and its
+recesses are accessible only by means of ladders and ropes. Instead of
+walls and a roof of solid limestone rock we found shattered masses
+apparently held together by breccia, also of a reddish colour and full of
+fragments of bones. (Plate 45.) The opening in the surface appears to
+have been formed by the subsidence of these rocks at the time when they
+were hurled down, mixed with breccia, into the position which they still
+retain. Bones were but slightly attached to the surface of this cement,
+as if it had never been in a very soft state, and this we have reason to
+infer also from its being the only substance supporting several large
+rocks and at the same time keeping them asunder. On the other hand we
+find portions of even very small bones, and also small fragments of the
+limestone, dispersed through this cementing substance or breccia.
+
+FIRST DISCOVERY OF BONES.
+
+The pit had been first entered only a short time before I examined it by
+Mr. Rankin, to whose assistance in these researches I am much indebted.
+He went down by means of a rope to one landing-place and then, fixing the
+rope to what seemed a projecting portion of rock, he let himself down to
+another stage where he discovered, on the fragment giving way, that the
+rope had been fastened to a very large bone, and thus these fossils were
+discovered. The large bone projected from the upper part of the breccia,
+the only substance which supported as well as separated several large
+blocks, as shown in the accompanying view of the cave (Plate 45) and it
+was covered with a rough tuffaceous encrustation resembling mortar. No
+other bone of so great dimensions has since been discovered within the
+breccia. (See Figures 12 and 13, Plate 51.)
+
+From the second landing-place we descended through a narrow passage
+between the solid rock on one side and huge fragments chiefly supported
+by breccia on the other, the roof being also formed of the latter and the
+floor of loose earth and stones.
+
+SMALL CAVITY AND STALAGMITIC CRUST.
+
+We then reached a small cavern ending in several fissures choked up with
+the breccia. One of these crevices (K. Plate 44) terminated in an
+oven-shaped opening in the solid rock (Plate 50) and was completely
+filled in the lower part with soft red earth which formed also the floor
+in front of it and resembled that in the large cavern already described.
+Osseous breccia filled the upper part of this small recess and portions
+of it adhered to the sides and roof adjoining, as if this substance had
+formerly filled the whole cavity. At about three feet from the floor of
+this cavity (Plate 50) the breccia was separated from the loose earth
+below by three layers of stalagmitic concretion, each about two inches
+thick and three apart; and they appeared to be only the remains of layers
+once of greater extension, as fragments of stalagmite adhered to the
+sides of the cavity as shown in Plate 50. The spaces between what
+remained of these layers were filled with red ochreous matter and bones
+embedded partially in the stalagmite. Those in the lower sides of the
+layers were most thickly encrusted with tuffaceous matter; those in the
+upper surfaces on the contrary were very white and free from the red
+ferruginous ochre which filled the cavities of those in the breccia,
+although they contained minute transparent crystals of carbonate of lime.
+
+TEETH FOUND IN THE FLOOR.
+
+On digging (at K) into the soft red earth forming the floor of this
+recess, some fragments of bone, apparently heavier than those in the
+breccia, were found, and one portion seemed to have been gnawed by a
+small animal. We obtained also in this earth the last phalange of the
+greatest toe of a kangaroo, and a small water-worn pebble of quartz. By
+creeping about 15 feet under a mass of solid rock which left an opening
+less than a foot and a half above the floor, we reached a recess about 15
+feet high and 12 feet wide (L). The floor consisted of dry red earth and,
+on digging some feet down, we found fragments of bones, a very large
+kangaroo tooth (Figure 6 Plate 47) a large tooth of an unknown animal
+(Figures 4 and 5 Plate 51) and one resembling some fragments of teeth
+found in the breccia. (See Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9, Plate 51.)
+
+A THIRD CAVERN.
+
+We next examined a third cave about 100 yards to the westward of the last
+described. The entrance, like that of the first, was tolerably easy, but
+the descent over the limestone rocks was steeper and very moist and
+slimy. Our progress downwards was terminated by water which probably
+communicated with the river Bell, as its level was much lower when the
+cave was first visited during a dry season. I found very pure iron ochre
+in some of the fissures of this cavern but not a fragment of bone.
+
+BRECCIA ON THE SURFACE.
+
+Perceiving that the breccia, where it occurred below, extended to the
+surface, I directed a pit to be dug on the exterior about 20 feet from
+the mouth of the cave and at a part where no rocks projected. (N, Plate
+44.) we found that the hill there consisted of breccia only; which was
+harder and more compact than that in the cave and abounded likewise in
+organic remains.
+
+Finally I found on the summit of the same hill some weathered blocks of
+breccia from which bones protruded, as shown in the accompanying drawing
+of a large and remarkable specimen. (Plate 46.)
+
+SIMILAR CAVERNS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+Other caverns containing breccia of the same description occur in various
+parts within a circuit of 50 miles, and they may probably be found
+throughout the limestone country not yet examined.
+
+AT BUREE.
+
+On the north bank of the Macquarie, 8 miles east from the Wellington
+caves, and at Buree, about 50 miles to the south-east of them, I found
+this breccia at considerable depths, having been guided to it by certain
+peculiar appearances of subsidence and disruption, and by yawning holes
+in the surface, which previous experience had taught me to consider as
+indications of its existence.
+
+On entering one of these fissures from the bed of the little stream near
+Buree and following, to a considerable distance, the subterraneous
+channel of the rivulet, we found a red breccia containing bones as
+abundantly as that of Wellington Valley. It occurred also amidst masses
+of broken rocks, between which we climbed until we saw daylight above
+and, being finally drawn out with ropes, we emerged near the top of a
+hill from a hole very similar in appearance to the mouth of the cave at
+Wellington, which it also resembled in having breccia both in the sides
+of the orifice and in the surface around it.
+
+AT MOLONG.
+
+At Molong, 36 miles east of Wellington Valley, I found some concreted
+matter within a small cavity of limestone rock on the surface and, when
+broken, this proved to be also breccia containing fragments of bone.
+
+SHATTERED STATE OF THE BONES.
+
+It was very difficult to obtain any perfect specimens of the remains
+contained in the breccia--the smallest of the various portions brought to
+England have nevertheless been carefully examined by Professor Owen at
+the Hunterian Museum, and I have received from that distinguished
+anatomist the accompanying letter containing the result of those
+researches and highly important determinations by which he has
+established several points of the greatest interest as connected with the
+Natural History of the Australian continent.
+
+IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES BY PROFESSOR OWEN.
+
+Royal College of Surgeons, May 8th, 1838.
+
+Dear Sir,
+
+I have examined, according to your request, the fossil remains which you
+discovered in Wellington Valley, Australia, and which are now deposited
+in the Museum of the Geological Society; they belong to the following
+genera:
+
+GIGANTIC FOSSIL KANGAROOS.
+
+MACROPUS Shaw.
+
+Sp. 1. Macropus atlas. O. This must have been at least one-third larger
+than Macropus major, the largest known existing species: it is chiefly
+remarkable for the great size of its permanent spurious molar; in which
+respect it approaches the subdivision of Shaw's genus, called
+Hypsiprymnus by Illiger. The remains of this species consist of a
+fragment of the right ramus of the lower jaw. (I*) Figure 1 Plate 47.
+
+(*Footnote. The numbers and letters within a parenthesis in this letter
+refer to labels on the specimens.)
+
+Sp. 2. Macropus titan. O. I gave this name to an extinct species, as
+large as the preceding, but differing chiefly in the smaller size of the
+permanent spurious molar; which in this respect more nearly corresponds
+with the existing Macropus major. The remains of this species consist of
+a fragment of the right ramus of the lower jaw. (II) Figure 3 Plate 47.
+
+In both the above specimens the permanent false molar is concealed in its
+alveolus, and was discovered by removing part of the substance of the
+jaw, indicating the nonage of the individuals.
+
+A portion of cranium with the molar series of teeth of both sides. (II)
+Figures 4 and 5 Plate 47. This specimen I believe to belong to Macropus
+titan.
+
+The permanent false molar, which is also concealed in this upper jaw, is
+larger than that of the lower jaw of Macropus titan, but I have observed
+a similar discrepancy in size in the same teeth of an existing species of
+Macropus.
+
+To one or other of the two preceding gigantic species of kangaroo must be
+referred:
+
+II.a. Crown of right inferior incisor, Figure 6 Plate 47.
+
+II.b. Lower extremity of right femur.
+
+II.c. Lower extremity of right femur, with the epiphysis separated,
+showing its correspondence in age with the animals to which the fossil
+jaws belonged.
+
+II.d. 5th Lumbar vertebra, Figure 8 Plate 47.
+
+II.e. 10th or 11th Caudal vertebra. The proportion of this bone indicates
+that these great kangaroos had a relatively stouter and perhaps shorter
+tail than the existing species.
+
+Macropus sp. indeterminate. Agrees in size with Macropus major, but there
+is a difference in the form of the sacrum: the second vertebra of which
+is more compressed--to this species which cannot be determined till the
+teeth be found, I refer the specimens marked:
+
+III. Sacrum.
+
+III.a. Proximal end of left femur.
+
+III.b. Proximal end of left tibia, in which the anterior spine sinks more
+gradually into the shaft than in Macropus major. As this is the only
+species with the skeleton of which I have been enabled to compare the
+preceding fragments, I am not able to pronounce as to their specific
+distinctness from other existing species of equal size with the Macropus
+major.
+
+Macropus sp. indeterminate. From want of skeletons of existing species of
+kangaroo, I must also leave doubtful the specific determination of a
+species smaller than Macropus major, represented by the left ramus of the
+lower jaw (IV) in which the permanent false molar is in place together
+with four true molars, and which would therefore be a species of
+Halmaturus of Fred. Cuvier.
+
+Macropus.
+
+(V.) Part of the left ramus of the lower jaw, with two grinders in place,
+and a third which has not quite cut through the jaw.
+
+(V.a.) Sixth and seventh grinders according to the order of their
+development, right side, upper jaw, of a kangaroo not quite so large as
+Macropus major.
+
+Several other bones and portions of bone are referable to the genus
+Macropus, but they do not afford information of sufficient interest or
+importance to be specially noticed.
+
+GENUS HYPSIPRYMNUS.
+
+Hypsiprymnus, sp. indeterminate.
+
+(VI.) Figures 1 and 2 Plate 48. A portion of the upper jaw and palate
+with the deciduous false molar and four true molars in place on each
+side; the fifth or posterior molar is concealed in the alveolus, as also
+the crown of the permanent false molar.
+
+Hypsiprymnus.
+
+(VI.a.) Figure 3 Plate 48. Part of the right ramus of the lower jaw,
+exhibiting a corresponding stage of dentition.
+
+Observation. This species is rather larger than any of the three species
+with the crania of which I have had the opportunity of comparing them:
+there is no evidence that it agrees with any existing species.
+
+GENUS PHALANGISTA.
+
+(VII.) Cranium, coated with stalactite.
+
+(VII.a.) Part of right ramus, with spurious and 2nd molar.
+
+(VII.b.) Right ramus, lower jaw.
+
+Observation. The two latter specimens disagree with Phalangista vulpina
+in having the spurious molar of relatively smaller size, and the 2nd
+molar narrower: the symphysis of the lower jaw is also one line deeper in
+the fossil. As the two latter specimens agree in size with the cranium,
+they probably are all parts of the same species, of which there is no
+proof that it corresponds with any existing species. But a comparison of
+the fossils with the bones of these species (which are much wanted in our
+osteological collections) is obviously necessary to establish the
+important fact of the specific difference or otherwise of the extinct
+Phalanger.
+
+GENUS PHASCOLOMYS.
+
+Sp. Phascolomys mitchellii, a new species.
+
+(VIII.) Figure 4 Plate 48. Mutilated cranium.
+
+(VIII.a.) Figure 5 Plate 48. Part of lower jaw belonging to the above.
+
+(VIII.b.) Figure 6 Plate 48. Right series of molar teeth in situ.
+
+(VIII.c.) Right ramus of the lower jaw.
+
+Observation. These remains come nearer to the existing species than do
+those of any of the preceding genera; but after a minute comparison I
+find that there is a slight difference in the form of the grinders which,
+in the fossil, have the antero-posterior diameter greater in proportion
+than the transverse; the first grinder also is relatively larger, and of
+a more prismatic form; the upper incisors are less compressed and more
+prismatic; this difference is so well marked that, once appreciated,
+anyone might recognise the fossil by an incisor alone. There is a similar
+difference in the shape of the lower incisor. The fossil is also a little
+larger than the largest wombat's cranium in the Hunterian Collection.
+From these differences I feel no hesitation in considering the species to
+which these fossils belong as distinct; and propose to call it
+Phascolomys mitchellii.
+
+NEW GENUS DIPROTODON.
+
+I apply this name to the genus of Mammalia represented by the anterior
+extremity of the right ramus, lower jaw, with a single large procumbent
+incisor.
+
+(IX.) Figure 1 Plate 49. This is the specimen conjectured to have
+belonged to the Dugong, but the incisor resembles the corresponding tooth
+of the wombat in its enamelled structure and position. See Figure 2 Plate
+49 and a section of the wombat's teeth in Figure 7 Plate 48. But it
+differs in the quadrilateral figure of its transverse section, in which
+it corresponds with the inferior incisors of the hippopotamus.
+
+To this, or to some distinct species, of equal size, have belonged the
+fragments of bones of extremities marked X., X.a., X.b.
+
+GENUS DASYURUS.
+
+Dasyurus laniarius, O. A new species. I apply this name to the species to
+which the following remains belong.
+
+(XI.) Figures 3 and 4 Plate 49. Portions of the left side of the upper
+jaw.
+
+(XI.a.) Figure 5 Plate 49. Portions of the left side of the upper jaw.
+
+(XI.b.) Figure 6. Left ramus lower jaw, with last grinders.
+
+(XI.c.) Figure 7. Anterior part of the right ramus of lower jaw.
+
+This species closely resembles Dasyurus ursinus, but differs in being
+one-third larger, and in having the canines, or laniaries, of
+proportionately larger size.
+
+The position of the teeth in the specimen marked XI.c. Figure 7, which
+are wider apart; leads me to doubt whether it is the lower jaw of
+Dasyurus laniarius, or of some extinct marsupial carnivore of an allied
+but distinct species.
+
+GENERAL RESULTS OF PROFESSOR OWEN'S RESEARCHES.
+
+The general results of the above examination are:
+
+1. That the fossils are not referable to any known extra-Australian genus
+of mammals.
+
+2. That the fossils are not referable, from the present evidence, to any
+existing species of Australian mammal.
+
+3. That the greater number certainly belong to species either extinct or
+not yet discovered living in Australia.
+
+4. That the extinct species of Macropus, Dasyurus, Phascolomys,
+especially Macropus atlas and Macropus titan are larger than the largest
+known existing species.
+
+5. That the remains of the saltatory animals, as the Macropi, Halmaturi,
+and Hypsiprymni, are all of young individuals; while those of the
+burrowing Wombat, the climbing Phalanger, and the ambulatory Dasyure, are
+of adults.
+
+I remain, dear Sir, etc.
+
+(Signed) Richard Owen.
+
+AGE OF THE BRECCIA CONSIDERED.
+
+Nothing could be discovered in the present state of these caverns at all
+likely to throw any light on the history or age of the breccia, but the
+phenomena they present seem to indicate more than one change in the
+physical outline of the adjacent regions, and probably of more distant
+portions of Australia; at a period antecedent to the existing state of
+the country.
+
+STATE OF THE CAVERNS.
+
+Dry earth occurred in the floor of both the caverns at Wellington Valley
+and in the small chamber (Plate 28) of the breccia cave it was found, as
+before stated, beneath the three lines of stalagmite and the osseous
+breccia. It seems probable therefore that this earth once filled the cave
+also to the same line, and that the stalagmite then extended over the
+floor of red earth. Moreover I am of opinion that the interval between
+the stalagmite and the roof was partly occupied by the bone breccia of
+which portions remain attached to the roof and sides above the line of
+stalagmite. It is difficult to conceive how the mass of red earth and
+stalagmitic floors could be displaced, except by a subsidence in the
+original floor of the cave. But the present floor contains no vestiges of
+breccia fallen from the roof, nor any remains of the stalagmitic crust
+once adhering to the sides, which are both therefore probably deposited
+below the present floor.
+
+In the external or upper part of the same cave, as shown in Plate 45, the
+floor consisted of the red dust, and was covered with loose fragments of
+rock, apparently fallen from conglomerated masses of limestone and
+breccia which also however extended under the red earth there. Thus it
+would appear that traces remain in these caverns: First, of an aqueous
+deposit in the red earth found below the stalagmite in one cavern, and
+beneath breccia in the other. Secondly, of a long dry period, as appears
+in the thick crust of stalagmite covering the lowest deposit in the
+largest cavern, and during which some cavities were filled with breccia,
+even with the external surface. Thirdly, of a subsidence in the breccia
+and associated rocks and, lastly, of a deposit of red earth similar to
+the first.
+
+TRACES OF INUNDATION.
+
+The present floor in both caves bears all the evidence of a deposition
+from water which probably filled the interior of the cavern to an unknown
+height. It is clear that sediment deposited in this manner would, when
+the waters were drawn off, be left in the state of fine mud, and would
+become, on drying, a more or less friable earth.
+
+STALAGMITIC CRUST.
+
+Any water charged with carbonate of lime which might have been
+subsequently introduced would have deposited the calcareous matter in
+stalactites or stalagmites; but the general absence of these is accounted
+for in the dryness of the caves. This sedimentary floor contained few or
+no bones except such as had previously belonged to the breccia, as was
+evident from the minuter cavities having been still filled with that
+substance.
+
+I do not pretend to account for the phenomena presented by the caverns,
+yet it is evident, from the sediments of mud forming the extensive
+margins of the Darling, that at one period the waters of that spacious
+basin were of much greater volume than at present, and it is more than
+probable that the caves of Wellington Valley were twice immersed under
+temporary inundations. I may therefore be permitted to suggest, from the
+evidence I am about to detail of changes of level on the coast, that the
+plains of the interior were formerly arms of the sea; and that
+inundations of greater height have twice penetrated into, or filled with
+water, the subterraneous cavities, and probably on their recession from
+higher parts of the land, parts of the surface have been altered and some
+additional channels of fluviatile drainage hollowed out. The accumulation
+of animal remains very much broken and filling up hollow parts of the
+surface show at least that this surface has been modified since it was
+first inhabited; and these operations appear to have taken place
+subsequently to the extinction, in that part of Australia, of the species
+whose remains are found in the breccia; and previously to the existence,
+in at least the same districts, of the present species.
+
+STATE OF THE BONES.
+
+No entire skeleton has been discovered, and very rarely were any two
+bones of the same animal found together. On the contrary even the
+corresponding fragments of a bone were frequently detected some yards
+apart (as for instance those in Figures 2 and 1 Plate 49).
+
+PUTREFACTION HAD ONLY COMMENCED WHEN FIRST DEPOSITED.
+
+On the other hand it would appear from the position of the teeth in one
+skull (Figure 4 Plate 48) that they were only falling out from
+putrefaction at the time the skull was finally deposited in the breccia,
+and from the nearly natural position of the smaller bones in the foot of
+a dasyurus (Figure 2 Plate 51) it can scarcely be doubted that this part
+of the skeleton was imbedded in the cement when the ligaments still bound
+the bones together. The united radius and ulna of a kangaroo (Figure 1
+Plate 51) are additional evidence of the same kind; and yet if the bones
+have been so separated and dispersed and broken into minute fragments, as
+they now appear in this breccia, while they were still bound together by
+ligaments, it is difficult to imagine how that could take place under any
+natural process with which we are acquainted.
+
+ACCOMPANYING MARKS OF DISRUPTION. EARTHY DEPOSITS.
+
+It may however be observed that the breccia is never found below ground
+without unequivocal proofs in the rocks accompanying it of disruption and
+subsidence, and that the best specimens of single bones have been found
+wedged between huge rocks, where the breccia occurs like mortar between
+them, in situations eight or ten fathoms underground.
+
+THESE PHENOMENA COMPARED WITH OTHER EVIDENCE OF INUNDATION.
+
+That changes have taken place in the relative level of land and sea is
+evident from the channel of the Glenelg which is worn in the rock to a
+depth of five fathoms below the sea level. The sea must have either
+risen, or the earth must have subsided, since that channel was worn by
+any current of water for it is now as still as a canal, the tide making a
+difference of only a few inches.
+
+The features on the shores of Port Jackson extend underwater, preserving
+the same forms as they have above it; while the bays and coves now
+subject only to the ebb and flow of a tide present extensive
+ramifications, and can only be considered the submerged valleys of a
+surface originally scooped out by erosion at a period when the land stood
+higher above the sea.
+
+SALT LAKES IN THE INTERIOR.
+
+The hills on the margins of the Australian salt lakes are always on the
+north-east side, or opposite that of the prevailing south-west winds. The
+formation of these hills is probably due to the action of the wind, the
+growth and decomposition of small shells, the carbonate of lime
+disengaged by evaporation, and the concretion of calcareous matter and
+friable tuff so common in these ridges.
+
+In two of the most remarkable, Mitre Lake and Greenhill Lake, a portion
+of the basin of each, between the hilly curves and the water, was filled
+by a dark-coloured perfectly level deposit, apparently of vegetable
+mould. This being of a quality different from that of the hills, it would
+appear that any process by which these heights may have originated
+through the agency of the water adjacent and the wind could not continue
+after this different formation had accumulated between them. Accordingly
+where this dark-coloured deposit is most extensive the curved hill
+concentric with the outer margin seems less perfect; but whether worn by
+time or sweeping inundations I cannot pretend to say.
+
+That some affinity exists between such accumulations and the salt water
+in the lakes is the more probable from the present state of those of
+Cockajemmy, which occur in the bed of a former current, and between the
+rocky sides of a kind of ravine. Even in such a situation a mound of very
+firm ground has been formed on the eastern bank of each, and was found
+very convenient for the passage of the ravine by the carts of the party.
+(See above.)
+
+In those hills beside salt lakes on the plains a tendency to regular
+curvature was the chief feature: the relative situation with respect to
+the water and the wind was always the same; while in some cases, where
+grassy flats had once been lakes, crescent-shaped green mounds were still
+apparent on the north-eastern sides of each. If these remains of salt
+water are of less volume than they have been formerly, as may be presumed
+from these circumstances; and if the waters according to Professor
+Faraday's analysis "are solutions of common salt and, except in strength,
+very much resemble those of the ocean,"* we cannot have much difficulty
+in believing that the sea deposited the water in these situations at no
+very remote period.
+
+As a dark-coloured soil is also found in the ridges about some of these
+lakes we must look deeper for the original cause of such depressions in
+those extensive plains; and may attribute them either to cavities or
+protuberances in the lower rocks, which may not have been sufficiently
+filled or covered by the superincumbent deposits: or they may be due to
+partial subsidences in a thin stratum of limestone.
+
+CHANGES ON THE SEACOAST. PROOFS THAT THE COAST WAS ONCE HIGHER ABOVE THE
+SEA THAN IT IS AT PRESENT. PROOFS THAT IT WAS ONCE LOWER. AND OF VIOLENT
+ACTION OF THE SEA.
+
+The sea, probably when higher relatively to the land than it is at
+present, appears to have acted with some violence in isolating various
+points along the eastern coast; most of which we now find curiously
+analogous, in their situation on the southern sides of inlets, and in
+being now united to the mainland by mounds of sand.
+
+AT WOLLONGONG.
+
+The point of Wollongong was formerly an island and is now only connected
+by drifted sandhills with the site of the township.
+
+CAPE SOLANDER.
+
+Cape Solander, the south head of Botany Bay, on which Captain Cook first
+landed, was evidently once an island though at present connected with the
+mainland by the neck of sand which separates Botany Bay from Port
+Hacking.
+
+PORT JACKSON.
+
+The south head of Port Jackson has also been isolated but is again
+connected with the shore of Bellevue between Bondi Bay and Rose Bay, by
+drifted hills of sand. The north head appears to have been likewise
+isolated.
+
+BROKEN BAY.
+
+Barrenjoey, the south head of Broken Bay, is connected only by a low
+beach of sand.
+
+NEWCASTLE.
+
+The Beacon head of Newcastle was once an island; and the drifted sand
+forming the hills on which the town is built has since been thrown up by
+the sea.
+
+TUGGERAH BEACH.
+
+Brisbane Water, Tuggerah beach, and Lake Macquarie are also striking
+proofs of change of the same character as those at Port Jackson,
+especially as they occur in a country possessing no inland lakes, and
+along a coastline which is very even and straight in other respects.
+
+BASS STRAIT.
+
+The line of rocky islets extending across Bass Strait seems to be the
+remains of land once continuous between the two shores, probably when the
+current was still active in the channel of the Glenelg, and before the
+sea had penetrated far within the heads of Port Jackson.
+
+Thus it would appear that the Australian continent bears marks of various
+changes in the relative height of the sea; on its shores and in the
+interior; and that the waters have been at some periods much higher and
+at another period lower with respect to the land than they are at
+present.
+
+...
+
+
+(APPENDIX 2.1.
+
+VOCABULARY OF WORDS HAVING THE SAME MEANING IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF
+AUSTRALIA.
+
+APPENDIX 2.2.
+
+METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL KEPT DURING THE JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW
+SOUTH WALES IN 1836.)
+
+...
+
+
+APPENDIX 2.3.
+
+EXTRACT FROM THE SYDNEY HERALD OF MAY 21, 1838.
+
+The murder of Mr. Faithful's servants by the blacks having created a more
+than ordinary sensation among the settlers in the interior, we have
+obtained the following authentic particulars of that desperate outrage.
+It appears that on the morning of the 11th ultimo, a party of men in
+charge of Mr. Faithful's sheep on the route to Port Phillip were
+preparing to proceed from the Winding Swamp, about 30 miles beyond the
+Ovens River, on their way to the Goulburn, where it was understood that
+good sheep stations might be had; and while the bullocks were being yoked
+the men with the drays heard the shouts of the shepherds crying out for
+help. These men, who were at a short distance from the encampment
+collecting the sheep, were presently seen running with great speed
+towards the dray, pursued by a body of blacks throwing spears after them.
+Their companions near the encampment, three of whom were armed with guns,
+immediately ran to their assistance, and if possible to drive off the
+blacks, who by that time were within 300 or 400 yards of the camp. One of
+these men, named Bentley, fired his gun in the air, thinking that such a
+display would intimidate them, but it had no effect. The blacks still
+came forward, cautiously sheltering themselves behind the trees in their
+path until, when within near approach of the adverse party, one came
+forward and was in the act of deliberately poising his spear when Bentley
+shot him dead and was himself immediately after pierced with three
+spears. This unfortunate man was last seen desperately fighting with the
+butt-end of his musket. The combat now became general--spears flew in all
+directions and several shots were fired without effect, owing to the
+caution exercised by the blacks of interposing the trees between
+themselves and the defensive party, but still gradually closing upon the
+latter. It was now seen that further resistance would be of no avail, and
+that in flight lay the only chance of safety, as the blacks continued to
+increase in numbers as they advanced. There was fifteen in all of Mr.
+Faithful's servants, out of which seven in number were killed by the
+blacks, and one other so severely wounded that his recovery is considered
+hopeless. When attempting to make their escape a line was opened by the
+blacks, consisting of about 150 in number, who thus appeared at the
+fugitives' right and left as they passed. At about 100 yards distance
+from the scene of this outrage, another strong party of armed blacks was
+drawn up, doubtless as a reserve, but they took no part in the contest.
+There could not, we are assured, have been fewer than 300 fighting men
+present--not an old man was seen among them. The party in charge of the
+sheep and cattle had remained at this particular place from the Saturday
+previous, waiting the arrival of Mr. George Faithful, who was only a
+day's stage behind, and was then momentarily expected. During their stay
+every precaution was taken by the overseer and the rest to keep on
+friendly terms with the natives, who constantly hovered about the
+encampment in groups of 10 or 20 at a time. So friendly did they appear,
+that neither the overseer nor any of the men, save Bentley, anticipated
+any hostile intention; but his suspicion was excited by the fact of no
+women appearing at any time among the blacks, and by finding, while going
+his rounds as guard, the night preceding the attack, a large number of
+spears, at a short distance from the camp, which he concealed. All the
+sheep, except 130, we understand, have been recovered, and some of the
+cattle; the remainder, it is expected, may also be recovered when a party
+sufficiently strong to protect themselves from the blacks can be formed
+to go in search of them.
+
+...
+
+(APPENDIX 2.4.
+
+AN ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF POUNDS OF WOOL IMPORTED FROM NEW SOUTH WALES
+AND FROM VAN DIEMEN'S LAND FROM 1820 TO 1837, DISTINGUISHING EACH YEAR.
+
+APPENDIX 2.5.
+
+AN ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF SHIPS, AND THEIR TONNAGE, CLEARED OUT TO NEW
+SOUTH WALES AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND FROM 1820 TO 1837, DISTINGUISHING EACH
+YEAR.
+
+APPENDIX 2.6.
+
+AN ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF SHIPS, AND THEIR TONNAGE, REPORTED INWARDS
+FROM NEW SOUTH WALES AND VAN DIEMEN'S LAND FROM 1820 TO 1837,
+DISTINGUISHING EACH YEAR.)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Three Expeditions into the Interior of
+Eastern Australia, Vol 2 (of 2), by Thomas Mitchell
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13033 ***