Whilst I Was Preparing The Tea, Brown Went
To Shoot Pigeons; And, Whilst Thus Employed, He Was Surprised By The
Cooee of a Blackfellow; and, on looking round, he saw one on the opposite
bank of the creek making signs
To him, as if to ask in what direction we
were going. Brown pointed down the creek; the black then gave him to
understand that he was going upward to join his wife. We started about
half-an-hour afterwards, and met with him, about two miles up the creek,
with his wife, his daughter, and his son. He was a fine old man, but he,
as well as his family, were excessively frightened; they left all their
things at the fire, as if offering them to us, but readily accepted two
pigeons, which had been shot by Brown. We asked them for water (yarrai)
which, according to what we could understand from their signs, was
plentiful lower down the creek. In returning homewards we cut off
considerable angles of the creek, and passed through a much finer and
more open country. On its left bank we passed a scrub creek containing
magnificent lagoons. At my arrival in the camp, I was informed that
natives had been close at hand, although none had showed themselves.
Jan. 8. - I moved my camp about eight miles to the northward, and halted
at a fine water-hole in a scrub creek joining Comet Creek. A pretty
little diver was amusing himself on the water. The country is very rich
in game. Kangaroos and wallabies are very frequent; several brush turkeys
were seen, and the partridge and bronze-winged pigeons are very
plentiful. Our latitude was 23 degrees 51 minutes.
Jan. 9. - In travelling down to the water-hole, where we had met the
Blackfellow and his family, we kept a little too much to the westward, in
hope of finding a more open country; instead, however, of an improvement,
we encountered sandy hills covered with a dense low scrub and
cypress-pine. The latter almost invariably grows on the slight sandstone
elevations in a scrubby country. After surmounting many difficulties, we
came upon a broad scrub creek, in the dry bed of which we travelled down
to Comet Creek, which we followed, and at last reached our intended
camping place. Our cattle and luggage had suffered severely, and we
devoted the next day to sundry repairs. The weather was very hot: the
night clear. Our latitude was 23 degrees 41 minutes 14 seconds.
Jan. 10. - To prevent unnecessary loss of time by my reconnoitring
excursions, and to render them less fatiguing to myself, I arranged that
both the blacks should go with me, in order that I might send one back
from the first favourable camping place, to bring the party on, whilst I
continued to explore the country with the other. Under this arrangement,
therefore, I went forward, and, following the creek, it was found to
sweep to the eastward, round a high plain of rich black soil, and covered
with luxuriant vegetation. This plain is basaltic, but, in the valley of
the creek, sandstone crops out below it. The slopes from the plain to the
creek are steep, and torn by deep gullies, which made travelling very
fatiguing. As the creek again turned to the west and north-west, the
water-holes increased both in size and number, although the flats within
the valley were limited and intersected by watercourses. I sent Charley
back when we were about seven miles N.W. by N. from our camp, and
proceeded with Brown down the creek, which, at about four miles farther,
to my inexpressible delight, joined a river coming from the west and
north-west, and flowing to the east and north-east. It was not, however,
running, but formed a chain of small lakes, from two to three and even
eight miles in length, and frequently from fifty to one hundred yards
broad, offering to our view the finest succession of large sheets of
water we had seen since leaving the Brisbane. Its course continued
through a very deep and winding valley, bounded by high but generally
level land. The gullies going down to the river were generally covered
with a belt of thick scrub, as was also the high land nearest to it; but,
farther off, the country appeared to be more open, plains alternating
with open forest land, but yet, in places, much occupied by tracts of
almost impervious scrub of various extent. We met frequent traces of the
natives, who had recently gone down the river, having previously burned
the grass, leaving very little for our horses and cattle. At 8 o'clock
P.M. a fine strong northerly breeze came up the river, flowing along its
broad open valley, and which I supposed to be the sea breeze. This
supposition was somewhat confirmed by a similar breeze occurring at the
same time on the following evening.
The plains are basaltic, and occasionally covered with pebbles of white
and iron-coloured quartz and conglomerate, and are in the vicinity of
slight elevations, which are probably composed of sandstone and
conglomerate, and usually covered with low scrub and cypress-pine.
Sandstone crops out in the gullies of the valley, in horizontal strata,
some of which are hard and good for building, others like the blue clay
beds of Newcastle, with the impressions of fern-leaves identical with
those of that formation. At the junction of Comet Creek and the river, I
found water-worn fragments of good coal, and large trunks of trees
changed into ironstone. I called this river the "Mackenzie," in honour of
Sir Evan Mackenzie, Bart., as a small acknowledgment of my gratitude for
the very great assistance which he rendered me in the preparations for my
expedition. Farther down the river, the country became better watered,
even at a distance from the river; some small creeks, winding down
between scrubby sandstone hills, were full of water, and a chain of fine
lagoons was crossed, covered with splendid blue Nymphaeas.
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