The Camps Of The Natives Were, As Usual, Distinguished By Heaps Of Shells
Of Cytherea, Oysters, Fresh-Water Mussels, And Fish Bones.
The
fresh-water mussel was small, and of a yellowish colour.
We had some few drops of rain at about half-past 11 o'clock, A. M,
Sept. 12. - The horses, though hobbled, had strayed so far in search of
water, that we had to wait for them until 1 o'clock. We started, however,
but, after travelling a short distance, finding the day far advanced, and
our chance of finding water very doubtful, I determined to return to the
water-hole which we had dug yesterday; about two miles and a half west by
south. The flats of the creek were well-grassed; large drooping tea-trees
with groves of Pandanus grew on the hollows near the creek, and tea-tree
thickets farther off.
I frequently tasted the fine-looking fruit of the Pandanus, but was every
time severely punished with sore lips and a blistered tongue; and the
first time that I ate it, I was attacked by a violent diarrhoea. I could
not make out how the natives neutralized the noxious properties of the
fruit; which, from the large heaps in their camps, seemed to form no
small portion of their food. The fruit appeared either to have been
soaked, or roasted and broken, to obtain the kernels; for which purpose
we invariably found large flat stones and pebbles to pound them with. I
supposed that they washed out the sweet mealy matter contained between
the stringy fibres, and that they drank the liquid, as they do with the
honey; and that their large koolimans which we had occasionally seen,
were used for the purpose. I, consequently, gathered some very ripe
fruit, scraped the soft part with a knife, and washed it until all the
sweet substance was out, and then boiled it; by which process it lost
almost all its sharpness, had a very pleasant taste, and, taken in
moderate quantities, did not affect the bowels. The fruit should be so
ripe as to be ready to drop from the tree.
Sept. 13. - We travelled about ten miles N. 50 degrees W., through a
succession of tea-tree and Cypress pine thickets of the worst
description, interrupted by three creeks, the first dry, the second with
pools of brackish water, and the third with chains of Nymphaea ponds
within and parallel to its bed. We came at last to the steep banks of a
salt-water creek densely covered with Cypress pine scrub, and followed it
for several miles up to its head, when two kites betrayed to us a fine
lagoon, surrounded with Polygonums and good pasture. The natives were
either able to drink very brackish water, or they carried the necessary
supply of fresh water to these Pandanus groves, at which they had
evidently remained a long time to gather the fruit.
Sept. 14. - We travelled three or four miles north-west, through a
tea-tree forest, when the country opened, and a broad salt-water river
intercepted our course.
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