It Takes Some Time To Find A Break In The Cliffs, Or A Gully,
Up Which One Can Pass.
Once on the top, trouble is over, for the summit is
flat though often covered with dense scrub; from it a gradual slope takes
one presently down to the same level as the foot of the cliffs.
Occasional
pines find a footing on the face of the rocks - how they manage to grow or
get moisture is hard to tell - showing up fresh and green against the dull
grey background of rock. Round the foot of the cliffs a small plain of
saltbush is usually found, through which numerous small creeks and
watercourses wind their way into the scrub beyond. In any one of these,
as we saw them, water could be obtained by sinking in the gravelly bed.
From the summit of the cliffs, which is often perforated by caves and
holes opening on to the sheer face, square bluffs and walls can be seen,
standing up above the sea of scrub, each exactly like its neighbour, and
itself when again seen from another point. Doubtless the numberless creeks
join and form one larger creek probably running South, as the general
trend of the country is in that direction.
We were getting well into the swing of things now, for at first there is
always some trouble in the distribution of the loads and in loading up and
unloading. On camping at night the camels were always put down in a
circle, as near as might be. All top-loading was taken off and placed near
the centre; the side loads placed one on either side of the camel, and the
saddle by his tail. Thus everything, instead of being scattered about in a
long line, was handy, and easily reloaded the next morning. At this time,
when the packs were heavy, it took us thirty minutes from the time Breaden
and Warri brought the camels in to the time we were ready to start;
Breaden, Charlie, Warri, and I loading, whilst Godfrey, who acted as cook,
got his pots and pans together and packed the "tucker-bags." There is
little of interest in this scrub; an occasional plant perhaps attracts
one's attention. Here and there a vine-like creeper (an Asclepiad) trails
upon the ground. With the fruits of this, commonly called cotton-pods,
the black-fellows vary their diet of grubs and the very rare emu or
kangaroo. The skin, the edible part, is soft, thick, and juicy, and has
quite a nice sweet taste. The blacks eat them raw or roasted in
wood-ashes. The seeds are of a golden yellow, and are joined on to a silky
fibrous core. When bruised the pod exudes a white, milky juice.
Numerous large spiders inhabit the scrubs and build their webs from tree
to tree; wonderfully strong they are too, and so frequent as to become a
nuisance to whoever is walking first. It is quite unpleasant when one's
eyes are fixed on the compass, to find, on looking up, that one's hat has
swept off a great web, whose owner runs over one, furious at unprovoked
assault.
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