The
Latitude Of Our Camp Was 26 Degrees 56 Minutes 11 Seconds.
Oct. 6.
- Was fully occupied with mending our packsaddles and straps,
broken by the bullocks in throwing off their loads.
Oct. 7. - In following the chain of lagoons to the westward, we came,
after a few miles travelling, to the Condamine, which flows to the
north-west: it has a broad, very irregular bed, and was, at the time,
well provided with water - a sluggish stream, of a yellowish muddy colour,
occasionally accompanied by reeds. We passed several gullies and a creek
from the northward, slightly running.
The forest on the right side of the river was tolerably open, though
patches of Myal scrub several times exposed us to great inconvenience;
the left bank of the Condamine, as much as we could see of it, was a fine
well grassed open forest. Conglomerate and sandstone cropped out in
several sections. Mosquitoes and sandflies were very trouble-some. I
found a species of snail nearly resembling Succinea, in the fissures of
the bark of the Myal, on the Box, and in the moist grass. The
muscle-shells are of immense size. The well-known tracks of Blackfellows
are everywhere visible; such as trees recently stripped of their bark,
the swellings of the apple-tree cut off to make vessels for carrying
water, honey cut out, and fresh steps cut in the trees to climb for
opossums. Our latitude was 26 degrees 49 minutes. The thermometer was
41 1/2 at sunrise; but in the shade, between 12 and 2 o'clock, it stood at
80 degrees, and the heat was very great, though a gentle breeze and
passing clouds mitigated the power of the scorching sun.
Oct. 8. - During the night, we had a tremendous thunder-storm, with much
thunder and lightning from the west. The river was very winding, so that
we did not advance more than 7 or 8 miles W.N.W.; the Bricklow scrub
compelled us frequently to travel upon the flood-bed of the river. Fine
grassy forest-land intervened between the Bricklow and Myal scrubs; the
latter is always more open than the former, and the soil is of a rich
black concretionary character. The soil of the Bricklow scrub is a stiff
clay, washed out by the rains into shallow holes, well known by the
squatters under the name of melon-holes; the composing rock of the low
ridges was a clayey sandstone (Psammite). Sky cloudy; wind north-east;
thermometer 80 degrees at 2 o'clock; the sunshine plant (Mimosa
terminalis) was frequent on the black soil; a Swainsonia; an Anthericum,
with allium leaf and fine large yellow blossoms; and another species with
small blossoms, (Stypandra).
Oct. 9. - Commenced with cloudy weather, threatening rain. It cleared up,
however, about 10 o'clock, and we had a very warm day. We followed the
course of the river for some time, which is fringed with Myal scrubs,
separated by hills with fine open forest. Finding that the river trended
so considerably to the northward [It seems that NORTHWARD here is merely
miswritten for WESTWARD.
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