It Is A
Singular Character Of This Remarkable Country, That Extremes So Often
Meet; The Most Miserable Scrub, With The Open Plain And Fine Forest Land;
And The Most Paralysing Dryness, With The Finest Supply Of Water.
Swarms of ducks covered the margin of the lake; pelicans, beyond the
reach of shot, floated on its bosom; land-turties plunged into its
waters; and shags started from dead trees lying half immersed, as we trod
the well-beaten path of the natives along its banks.
The inhabitants of
this part of the country, doubtless, visit this spot frequently, judging
from the numerous heaps of muscle-shells. This fine piece of water,
probably in the main channel of the Suttor, is three miles long, and is
surrounded with one mass of scrub, which opens a little at its
north-western extremity.
March 10. - I continued my ride, ten or twelve miles down the river; the
scrub continued, but the immediate neighbourhood became a little more
open; several trees were observed, that had been recently cut by the
natives in search of honey or opossums. Emus were very numerous;
sometimes a solitary bird, and at others two, three, four, and up to
thirteen together, were seen trotting off in long file, and now and then
stopping to stare at us. We caught a bandicoot with two young ones, which
gave us an excellent luncheon. When we left the lake, Charley thought he
could distinguish a plain to the northward; and, riding in that
direction, I was agreeably surprised to find that the scrub did not
extend more than a mile and a-half from the river; and that, beyond it,
plains and open forest extended far to the northward; and fine ridges
with most excellent feed, to the southward.
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