- We travelled about twelve miles north by west, over a country
in which scrub, stringy-bark forest, and Cypress pine thickets
alternated.
We passed some patches of broad-leaved tea-tree forest. The
raspberry-jam tree became again more frequent. About a mile from the
camp, we crossed a small creek with water; and at seven miles further,
another, but it was dry; and, at the end of the stage we came to a fine
sandy creek with large pools. Seeing that the natives had encamped here
frequently, and some very lately, by the heaps of broken Pandanus fruit,
I did not hesitate to pitch our tents; but, on examining the water, I was
greatly disappointed in finding it so brackish that the horses and cattle
would not drink it. I, therefore, started with Charley in search of
better, and, in the upper part of the creek, we found some large
water-holes just dried up: but, on digging, they yielded an ample supply
of good water. On this little excursion, we were fortunate enough, by the
aid of Spring, to kill two emus; but the poor dog again received some
deep scratches.
The camps of the natives were, as usual, distinguished by heaps of shells
of Cytherea, oysters, fresh-water mussels, and fish bones. The
fresh-water mussel was small, and of a yellowish colour.
We had some few drops of rain at about half-past 11 o'clock, A. M,
Sept. 12. - The horses, though hobbled, had strayed so far in search of
water, that we had to wait for them until 1 o'clock. We started, however,
but, after travelling a short distance, finding the day far advanced, and
our chance of finding water very doubtful, I determined to return to the
water-hole which we had dug yesterday; about two miles and a half west by
south. The flats of the creek were well-grassed; large drooping tea-trees
with groves of Pandanus grew on the hollows near the creek, and tea-tree
thickets farther off.
I frequently tasted the fine-looking fruit of the Pandanus, but was every
time severely punished with sore lips and a blistered tongue; and the
first time that I ate it, I was attacked by a violent diarrhoea. I could
not make out how the natives neutralized the noxious properties of the
fruit; which, from the large heaps in their camps, seemed to form no
small portion of their food. The fruit appeared either to have been
soaked, or roasted and broken, to obtain the kernels; for which purpose
we invariably found large flat stones and pebbles to pound them with. I
supposed that they washed out the sweet mealy matter contained between
the stringy fibres, and that they drank the liquid, as they do with the
honey; and that their large koolimans which we had occasionally seen,
were used for the purpose. I, consequently, gathered some very ripe
fruit, scraped the soft part with a knife, and washed it until all the
sweet substance was out, and then boiled it; by which process it lost
almost all its sharpness, had a very pleasant taste, and, taken in
moderate quantities, did not affect the bowels. The fruit should be so
ripe as to be ready to drop from the tree.
Sept. 13. - We travelled about ten miles N. 50 degrees W., through a
succession of tea-tree and Cypress pine thickets of the worst
description, interrupted by three creeks, the first dry, the second with
pools of brackish water, and the third with chains of Nymphaea ponds
within and parallel to its bed. We came at last to the steep banks of a
salt-water creek densely covered with Cypress pine scrub, and followed it
for several miles up to its head, when two kites betrayed to us a fine
lagoon, surrounded with Polygonums and good pasture. The natives were
either able to drink very brackish water, or they carried the necessary
supply of fresh water to these Pandanus groves, at which they had
evidently remained a long time to gather the fruit.
Sept. 14. - We travelled three or four miles north-west, through a
tea-tree forest, when the country opened, and a broad salt-water river
intercepted our course. It came from W.S.W., and went to E.N.E. We
proceeded eight or ten miles along its banks before we came to fresh
water. In its immediate neighbourhood, the country was beautifully
grassed, and openly timbered with bloodwood, stringy-bark, the leguminous
Ironbark, and the white-barked tree of the Abel Tasman. Over the short
space of eight miles we saw at least one hundred emus, in flocks of
three, five, ten, and even more, at a time: they had been attracted here
by the young herbage. We killed seven of them, but they were not fat, and
none seemed more than a year old. The extraordinary success induced me to
call this river, the "Seven Emu River."
By following a track of the natives, I found a fine well in the bed of
the river, under the banks; the water was almost perfectly fresh; and
that of the river was only slightly brackish. A fishing weir crossed the
stream, where it was about twenty yards broad, and from two to three feet
deep. We were occupied to a late hour of the night in cutting up our
emus. I had intended to stop the next day, but, as our camp in the bed of
the river was surrounded by a thick underwood; as the dew was very heavy,
the water brackish, and the young feed dangerous for our cattle, which
had fed so long on dry grass, I thought it prudent to continue my
journey. The longitude of this river, according to my daily distances,
was 137 degrees 5 minutes.
Sept. 15. - We travelled about fifteen miles N. 25 degrees W., passing for
the first eight miles over a very fine available country, but without
meeting with water, or even with a watercourse.
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