He Had
Left His Couch Without Being Observed, And, When He Returned, It Was Too
Dark To Recognize Him; He Was, However, Very Near Losing His Life, Or At
Least Being Shot At, For His Wild Yells "Tis Me!
Tis me!" which he
uttered when he became aware of his dangerous position, were not
understood, but only increased our belief that they were the war-cry of
attacking natives.
The creek, on a water-hole of which we encamped in lat. 16 degrees 54
minutes 50 seconds, was doubtless one of the heads of the broad
salt-water creek we crossed, and which I called "Turner's Creek," after
Cowper Turner, Esq. of Sydney:
Sept. 3. - We travelled about nine miles west by north, through an open
tea-tree forest skirting the heads of those scrubby creeks which went
down to the salt water, the dark mangrove line of which we had seen
yesterday. But we crossed four good sized dry creeks, lined with drooping
tea-trees and white-gum trees. Their banks and flats were covered with
groves of Pandanus, whose stately crowns were adorned with red-fruited
cones: the seed-vessels contained in their stringy texture a rich mellow
pear-like substance, which however was hot, and made our lips and tongues
very sore. We encamped on some water-holes, with excellent water, in a
fifth creek, which lower down contained some fine reaches of brackish
water covered with wild geese (Anseranas melanoleuca, GOULD.) and black
ducks. As Charley was watching some geese, an emu walked up to him, which
he shot; he succeeded besides in getting two geese, which were in most
excellent condition, and weighed better than five pounds each.
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