It Would Have Been Highly Amusing For A Looker On To Observe How
Remarkably Eager We Were To Pluck The Feathers From Its Rump, And Cut The
Skin, To See How Thick The Fat Was, And Whether It Was A Rich Yellow, Or
Only Flesh-Coloured.
We had, indeed, a most extraordinary desire for
anything fat; and we soon found where to look for it.
In the emu it
accumulates all over the skin, but particularly on the rump, and between
the shoulders, and round the sternal plate. To obtain the oil, we skinned
those parts, and suspended them before a slow fire, and caught the oil in
our frying pan; this was of a light yellowish colour, tasteless, and
almost free from scent. Several times, when suffering from excessive
fatigue, I rubbed it into the skin all over the body, and its slightly
exciting properties proved very beneficial. It has always been considered
by the white inhabitants of the bush, a good anti-rheumatic.
The sea breeze from the northward still continued during the day; the
nights were clear and dewy, but ceased to be so cold.
I found a piece of granite and a fragment of fortification agate in the
sandy bed of the creek.
Sept. 5. - We travelled about ten miles west by north, to lat. 16 degrees
48 minutes 22 seconds. Having passed a rather open forest of bloodwood,
apple-gum, and leguminous Ironbark, with isolated patches of scrub, and
some dry teat-ree swamps with heaps of calcined mussel-shells, we came to
a thick stringy-bark forest, on a sandy soil, with a hard sandstone
cropping out frequently. This opened into the flats of a sandy Pandanus
creek, which we crossed; and, three miles farther, we came to another
broad creek with salt water. Its bed was rocky, and we forded it easily.
I followed one of its branches for several miles, and found, after
passing its salt-water pools, a small pool of fresh water in its rocky
sandy bed, near which I observed an old camping place of the natives. I
was considerably in advance of my train, and the dog was with me. As I
was examining the pool of water and the numerous tracks round it, an emu
came walking along the shady bed of the creek; I immediately mounted my
horse and pursued it with the dog, and caught it after a very short run;
to prevent its wounding the dog, I dismounted to kill it, when my horse
became frightened, broke loose, and ran away. I returned with the emu to
the water, and when the train arrived, I sent Charley after the horse,
whilst I walked about two miles further up the creek to find a better
supply of water. Not succeeding, however, I returned and encamped at the
small pool, which we enlarged with the spade, and obtained a sufficient
supply of very good water. Charley returned with the horse, but my
saddlebags, my journals and a calabash were lost.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 195 of 272
Words from 100973 to 101476
of 141354
