As, However, We Were Equally Unintelligible To Each Other,
And He Did Not Appear To Be Very Communicative, I Mounted My
Cream-Coloured Horse, And Left Him Staring At Me In Silence Until I Was
Out Of Sight.
We encamped at noon, under two wide-spreading Sarcocephalus
trees, whose grateful shade offered us a shelter from the
Scorching sun.
But, as the sun got low, the shades of the oval crown of the trees drew
rapidly off, and we had to lean against the shady side of the butt to
obtain relief from the heat, which had so enervating an effect upon us
that the slightest exertion was painful. After sunset, however, in the
comparative coolness of the evening, our animal spirits revived; and it
was only during that part of the day, and in the early morning before
sunrise, that I felt inclined to attend to any business that required
much bodily exertion. It was a great enjoyment indeed to lie devoid of
any covering on our couch, and watch the fading tints of sunset. The
usual, and therefore expected, night breeze did not set in; but, about
half-past 10 o'clock P.M., there was a slight stir in the atmosphere,
accompanied with a sense of moisture, as if a distant thunder-storm had
occurred, and interrupted the usual progress of the breeze.
Nov. 4. - We travelled about seven miles, north-west by north, to lat. 13
degrees 56 minutes 46 seconds. After following the creek about a mile, it
turned so far to the westward that I left it, and with much difficulty
ascended the ranges to the northward: from their highest elevation, I saw
that a high range, trending from south-east to north-west, bounded the
valley of the creek I had left; another fine range was seen to the
eastward. Following a gully, we descended into the valley of a creek
flowing to the southward, and which probably joined the creek I had left
below the place of our last encampment. In the lower part of the gully,
we came upon some fine Nymphaea ponds and springs surrounded by ferns.
The whole valley, though narrow, was beautifully grassed. Trichodesma,
Grewia, Crinum, and the trefoil of the Suttor, grew on the flats; the
apple-gum, rusty-gum, the mountain Acacia and Fusanus, the last in
blossom, grew on the ridges.
The rock was a baked sandstone; in the pebbles of the creek I found the
impressions of bivalves (one ribbed like Cardium).
Our bullocks had become so foot-sore, and were so oppressed by the
excessive heat, that it was with the greatest difficulty we could prevent
them from rushing into the water with their loads. One of them - that
which carried the remainder of my botanical collection - watched his
opportunity, and plunged into a deep pond, where he was quietly swimming
about and enjoying himself, whilst I was almost crying with vexation at
seeing all my plants thoroughly soaked.
Nov. 5. - We travelled in all about eleven miles N. 55 degrees W. to
latitude 13 degrees 50 minutes. After following the creek, on which we
had encamped, to its head, we passed over a scrubby stringy-bark forest;
and, whenever we came to watercourses going to the eastward, we turned to
the north-west and westward. We passed several sandstone hills and ridges
rising out of this sandy table land, and attempted to cross one of them,
but our path was intercepted by precipices and chasms, forming an
insurmountable barrier to our cattle. We, therefore, followed a
watercourse to the southward, winding between two ranges to the westward
and southward, and continued again to the north-west, which brought us to
a tributary of the creek we had just left, and in which we found large
water-holes covered with Nymphaeas and Villarsias.
The strata of the range which we ascended, dipped to the south-west; in
which direction I saw a high range, probably the continuation of the one
I had observed at yesterday's stage along Roper's Creek.
The Melaleuca-gum, the Cypress-pine, Fusanus and Banksia abounded in the
stringy-bark forest, and along the creeks; and the flats round the
water-holes were covered with a dark green sedge, which, however, our
cattle did not relish so much as, from its inviting verdure, I had
anticipated would have been the case. The remains of fresh-water turtles
were frequently noticed in the camps of the natives; and Mr. Calvert had
seen one depicted with red ochre on the rocks. It is probable that this
animal forms a considerable part of the food of the natives. John Murphy
reported that he had seen a hut of the natives constructed of sheets of
stringy-bark, and spacious enough to receive our whole party; the huts
which I had observed were also very spacious, but covered with tea-tree
bark. Smoke from the natives' fires was seen from the range in every
direction, and their burnings invariably led us to creeks.
Charley shot a rock wallabi of a different species from any we had
previously seen: it was of a light grey colour; the tail was smooth, and
its black tip was more bushy than in other species; there were two white
spots on the shoulder; it was smaller than those of Ruined Castle Creek,
and the red wallabies of the Mitchell and of the shores of the gulf. John
shot a large Iguana of remarkably bright colours, which were perhaps
owing to a late desquamation of the skin.
Nov. 6. - We travelled fourteen miles N. 30 degrees W. to latitude 13
degrees 38 minutes 28 seconds, and encamped in a little creek, at the
head of which was a grassy drooping tea-tree swamp. We left all the
eastern water-courses to the right, and followed several which went down
to the southward, up to their heads. The country, with the exception of
the ridges which bounded the narrow valleys of watercourses, was a sandy
level stringy-bark forest, interspersed with Melaleuca-gum and leguminous
Ironbark; saplings of which formed large tracts of a low open under-wood.
We had passed a large but dry swamp, having no outlet, and surrounded
with Pandanus, when Brown called my attention to an opening in the
forest, and to a certain dim appearance of the atmosphere peculiar to
extensive plains and valleys.
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