In Rainy Weather This Soil Forms The Best
Travelling Ground, And Is By No Means So Rotten As When Dry.
Large hornets of a bright yellow colour, with some black marks, made
their paper nests on the stems of trees, or suspended them from the dry
branches; most of us were several times severely stung by them.
When
found near our encampment we generally destroyed them, by quickly raising
a large fire with dry grass.
A species of Gristes was abundant in the water-holes, but it was of small
size: the eels have disappeared.
Nov. 25. - We travelled about eight miles, north by west, ascending a
spur, from which the waters flowed, both to the south-west and to the
eastward, but both collecting in Robinson's Creek. Every time we turned
to the westward we came on tremendous gullies, with almost perpendicular
walls, whereas the easterly waters formed shallow valleys of a gently
sloping character. The range was openly timbered with white-gum,
spotted-gum, Ironbark, rusty-gum, and the cypress-pine near the gullies;
and with a little dioecious tree belonging to the Euphorbiaceae, which I
first met with at the Severn River, and which was known amongst us under
the name of the "Severn Tree:" it had a yellow or red three-capsular
fruit, with a thin fleshy pericarp, of an exceedingly bitter taste; the
capsules were one-seeded. The gullies were full of bush-trees, amongst
which the Bottle-tree, and the Corypha-palm were frequent. Pomaderris and
Flindersia were in fruit and blossom. According to Mr. Gilbert, rock
wallabies were very numerous. On a RECONNOISSANCE I traversed the
continuation of the range, which I found to be of a flat, sandy, and
rotten character, having, with the exception of the Blackbutt, all the
trees and other characteristics of the sandstone country of Moreton Bay:
Xylomelum, Xanthorrhaea, Zamia, Leptospermum, a new species of forest
oak, which deserves the name of Casuarina VILLOSA, for its bark looks
quite villous; Persoonia falcata, R. Br., a small tree about fifteen feet
high, with stiff glaucous falcate leaves, and racemose inflorescence; a
dwarf Persoonia, with linear leaves, the stringy-bark, and a species of
Melaleuca along the creek. In my excursion I crossed the main branch of
Robinson's Creek, and found the gullies of its right bank as steep and
tremendous as those of the left. Water was very scarce. The whole country
is composed of a fine-grained sandstone.
As the water-holes on the range are very few and distant from each other,
they are frequented by the bronze-winged pigeons in great numbers. Mr.
Gilbert shot eight of them, and Mr. Roper, John Murphy, and Charley,
added to the number, so that we had a fine pigeon supper and breakfast,
each having his bird - a rare occurrence in our expedition. A few drops of
rain fell in the morning.
Nov. 26. - When we were waiting for our bullocks, four emus came trotting
down the slope towards the camp. Messrs. Gilbert, Roper, Murphy, and
Brown, having their horses ready, gave chase, and, after a dangerous
gallop, over extremely rocky ground, succeeded, with the assistance of
our kangaroo dog, Spring, in securing one of them. When Charley returned
to the camp with the bullocks, he told us that he had found these emus
walking amongst the bullocks, and that he had struck one of them with his
tomahawk. On our road to the water, which I had found on my
reconnoisance, about seven miles W.N.W., under a still higher range,
rising at the right of Robinson's Creek, we started a herd of eight
kangaroos, when our horsemen, assisted by Spring, were again successful
in taking one of them.
Nov. 27. - A thunder-storm during the night, which passed, however, to the
other side of the range. After a gust of wind of short duration, we had
some very light showers; so light indeed, as not to interrupt our
meat-drying process.
Proceeding on our journey, we ascended the range, and travelled between
four and five miles on its level summit, which was covered with open
forest, interspersed with thickets of Acacias and Casuarinas. From the
extremity of the range we enjoyed a very fine and extensive view. Ranges
of mountains with conspicuous peaks, cupolas, and precipitous walls of
rock, were observed extending at various distances from west by north to
north-west. The most distant range was particularly striking and
imposing; I called it "Expedition Range," and to a bell-shaped mountain
bearing N. 68 degrees W., I gave the name of "Mount Nicholson," in honour
of Dr. Charles Nicholson, who first introduced into the Legislative
Council of New South Wales, the subject of an overland expedition to Port
Essington; and to a sharp peak N. 66 degrees W., the name of "Aldis's
Peak," in acknowledgment of the kind assistance received from Mr. Aldis
of Sydney. We then descended, with great difficulty into a broad valley,
bounded on either side by fine slopes and ridges, openly timbered with
silver-leaved Ironbark. On the small well-grassed flats along the
watercourse, the flooded-gum and apple-trees grew to a considerable size.
The morning was cloudy, with occasional drops of rain; but it cleared up
towards noon, and, near sunset, a wall of dark clouds rose in the west,
over the ranges. Thunder-storms very generally come with westerly cloudy
weather, with north-westerly, and northerly winds. We busied ourselves in
extracting the oil from the skin of the emu: this operation was performed
by suspending it on sticks before a gentle fire, the oil dripping from it
into a shallow vessel. It is of a light amber colour, and is very useful
in oiling the locks of our fire-arms; it has been considered a good
anti-rheumatic, and I occasionally used it for that purpose.
Mr. Gilbert skinned the tail of the kangaroo to make a bag for holding
fat; but it broke and ripped so easily when dry, as to render it unfit
for that purpose.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 16 of 139
Words from 15277 to 16287
of 141354
