At This Angle A
Large Creek Joined It From The South; Another Instance Of Creeks Joining
Larger Channels, Coming In A Direction Almost Opposite To Their Course.
Two Other Creeks Joined The Burdekin During This Stage; One From The
South-West, And Another From The North.
The grass was particularly rich
at these junctions.
The river became considerably narrower, but still had
a fine stream. Thunder-storms had probably fallen higher up its course,
causing a fresh; for its waters, hitherto clear, had become turbid.
Narrow patches of brush were occasionally met with along its banks, and I
noticed several brush trees, common in other parts of the country.
Besides the clustered fig, and another species with rough leaves and
small downy purple fruit, there were a species of Celtis; the Melia
Azederach (White Cedar); a species of Phyllanthus, (a shrub from six to
ten feet high); an Asclepiadaceous climber, with long terete twin
capsules; and several Cucurbitaceae, one with oblong fruit about an inch
long, another with a round fruit half an inch in diameter, red and white,
resembling a gooseberry; a third was of an oblong form, two inches and a
half long and one broad; and a fourth was of the size and form of an
orange, and of a beautiful scarlet colour: the two last had an
excessively bitter taste. The night and morning were cloudy, with a
southerly wind, but it cleared up at eleven o'clock. Cumuli in the
afternoon, with wind from the south-east.
From our camp we saw a range of hills, bearing between N. 5 degrees W.
and N. 10 degrees W.; they were about three miles distant. I called them
"Thacker's Range," in acknowledgment of the support I received
from - Thacker, Esq., of Sidney.
April 9. - We travelled about nine miles W. by N., and made our latitude
20 degrees 8 minutes 26 seconds. The western end of Thacker's Range bore
N.E. Two large creeks joined the river from the south and south-west. The
country was openly timbered; the Moreton Bay ash grew along the bergue of
the river, where a species of Grewia seemed its inseparable companion.
The flooded-gum occupied the hollows and slopes of the river banks, which
were covered with a high stiff grass to the water's edge, and the stream
was fringed with a thicket of drooping tea trees, which were
comparatively small, and much bent by the force of floods, the probable
frequency of which may account for the reduced size of the tree. The
ridges were covered with rusty Gum and narrow-leaved Ironbark. An
Erythrina and the Acacia of Expedition Range were plentiful. The grass
was rich and of various species. The granite rock still prevailed. A
felspathic rock cropped out near the second creek, where I met with a
dark rock, composed of felspar and horneblende (Diorite.) Our camp was
pitched at the foot of a series of small conical hills, composed of
porphyry. A larger range to the southward of it was also porphyritic,
very hard, as if penetrated by quartz, and containing small crystals of
flesh-coloured felspar.
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