From Jimba We Started With A
Few Horses Without Load, Which Only Enabled Us To Ride Alternately; But,
As Our Provisions Gradually Decreased In Quantity, One After The Other
Mounted His Horse; And This Day I Had The Pleasure Of Seeing Everybody On
Horseback.
We travelled along the valley of the river about ten miles, in a
west-northerly course; our latitude of
This day being 26 degrees 3
minutes 44 seconds Fine box and apple-tree flats were on both sides of
the creek, now deserving the appellation of a "River," and which I called
the "Dawson," in acknowledgment of the kind support I received from R.
Dawson, Esq., of Black Creek, Hunter's River. At the foot of the ridges
some fine lagoons were observed, as also several plains, with the soil
and the vegetation of the Downs, but bounded on the northward by
impenetrable Bricklow scrub. In a watercourse, meandering through this
scrub, sandstone cropped out, in which impressions of fossil plants were
noticed by me. It was interesting to observe how strictly the scrub kept
to the sandstone and to the stiff loam lying upon it, whilst the mild
black whinstone soil was without trees, but covered with luxuriant
grasses and herbs; and this fact struck me as remarkable, because, during
my travels in the Bunya country of Moreton Bay, I found it to be exactly
the reverse: the sandstone spurs of the range being there covered with an
open well grassed forest, whilst a dense vine brush extended over the
basaltic rock. The phenomenon is probably to be explained by the
capability of the different soils of retaining moisture, and, at the same
time, by taking into account the distance of the localities from the
seacoast. I called these plains "Calvert's Plains," after my companion,
Mr. Calvert. Farther to the westward we passed over open ridges, covered
with Bastard-box and silver-leaved Ironbark: the former tree grows
generally in rich black soil, which appeared several times in the form of
ploughed land, well known, in other parts of the colony, either under
that name, or under that of "Devil-devil land," as the natives believe it
to be the work of an evil spirit.
Nov. 7. - The first two hours of the day were cloudy, but it cleared up
and became very hot; the atmosphere was hazy and sultry; cumuli with
undefined outlines all round the horizon: wind from south-west and south.
I travelled west by north about eight miles, along the foot of
Bastard-box and silver-leaved Ironbark ridges. The country was
exceedingly fine; the ground was firm; the valley from two to three miles
broad, clothed with rich grass, and sprinkled with apple-tree,
flooded-gum, and Bastard-box; the hills formed gentle ascents, and were
openly timbered. The water-holes seemed to be constant; they are very
deep, densely surrounded by reeds, and with numerous heaps of broken
muscle-shells round their banks. Scrub was, however, to be seen in the
distance, and formed the dark spot in the pleasant picture.
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