My Readers Will, Therefore, Readily Understand Why Brown's
Joyous Exclamation Of "Salt Water!" Was Received By A Loud Hurrah From
The whole party; and why all the pains, and fatigues, and privations we
had endured, were, for the moment, forgotten,
Almost as completely as if
we had arrived at the end of the journey.
July 6. - remained in camp the whole of this day, to rest the poor
animals, which had been much fatigued by our last long stage. Charley
shot a duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus); and he, Brown, and John
Murphy, went to the salt water to angle. My expectations, however, of
catching fish in the salt water, and of drying them, were sadly
disappointed. The whole amount of their day's work was, a small Silurus,
one mullet, and some small guard-fish.
The weather continued fine, the forenoon usually very hot, but the air
was cooled in the afternoon by a south-west breeze; the nights were clear
and rather cold.
When I left Moreton Bay, I had taken a spare set of horse-shoes with me
for every horse. They were shod at our leaving the Downs, but they soon
lost their shoes; and, as our stages were short, and the ground soft, I
did not think it necessary to shoe them again. In travelling along the
Burdekin, however, and the upper Lynd, they became very foot-sore; but
still there was a sufficient change of good country to allow them to
recover; I had been frequently inclined to throw the spare shoes away,
but they had as often been retained, under the impression that they might
be useful, when we came to the gulf, to barter with the natives for food,
particularly for fish. Finding, however, that the natives were hostile,
and scarcely wishing to have any farther intercourse with them, I decided
upon leaving the horse-shoes, and several other cumbersome articles
behind; and they were consequently thrown, with two spare gun barrels,
into the water-hole at which we were encamped. The natives will probably
find them, when the holes dry up; and, if preserved, they will be a
lasting testimonial of our visit.
July 7. - Charley told me that he had followed the river up to its
termination. I consequently kept a little more to the left, in order to
head it, and travelled two or three miles through a fine bloodwood and
Nonda forest, the verdant appearance of which was much increased by the
leguminous Ironbark, which grew here in great perfection. Two emus had
just made their breakfast on some Nonda fruit when we started them, and
Charley and Brown, assisted by Spring, succeeded in killing one of them.
We soon came to a salt-water river, with a broad sandy bed, perfectly
free of vegetation, although its banks were fringed with drooping
tea-trees. The tide being low, we were enabled to ford it. Whilst
crossing it, a flock of black-winged pelicans stood gravely looking at
us. The latitude of the ford, which was two miles and a half south from
our last camp, would be 16 degrees 30 minutes, which corresponds with
that of the Staaten, marked at the outline of the coast.
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