Keeping North From
The Janet Creek We Crossed Stony Tablelands Timbered With Gums, And
Numerous Ravines And Small Creeks, Until, On Following Down A Nicely
Grassed Gorge With A Creek Running Through It, We Struck The Dry Bed Of
The Mary River On November 25th.
Henceforth our path lay through pleasant
places; shady trees, long grass, and frequent pools of water in the
shingly beds of the creeks made a welcome change after the awful
desolation of the desert.
Indications of white men were now constantly
met with - marked trees, old camps, and horse-tracks. Striking north from
the Mary, over plains of spinifex and grass, passing many queer,
fort-like hills, we reached the Margaret River, a noble creek, even when
dry as we saw it. Nice grass plains extend along its banks, and the
timber and bush is alive with the sounds of birds, whose bright plumage
was indeed good to look upon. Cockatoos and parrots of the most gorgeous
colouring darted here and there amongst the trees, and every now and then
a swamp-pheasant would fly shrieking from the branches above.
CHAPTER XIV
DEATH OF STANSMORE
Where the Margaret River forces its way through the Ramsay Range, a fine
pool enclosed between two steep rocks has been formed. This is a
permanent pool, and abounds in fish of various kinds. Above and below it
the river was merely a dry expanse of gravel and shingle; a month later
it was a roaring torrent, in places twenty feet deep.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 334 of 468
Words from 90966 to 91217
of 127189
