The Country Along Its Left
Bank Was Well-Grassed And Openly Timbered With Box; Hills Were On The
Opposite Side.
Its course was from north-west to south-east; but this
seemed to be rather local.
Natives seemed to be numerous; for their
foot-path along the lagoon was well beaten; we passed several of their
fisheries, and observed long fishtraps made of Flagellaria (rattan). All
the cuts on various trees were made with an iron tomahawk. Natives,
crows, and kites were always the indications of a good country. Charley,
Brown, and John, who had been left at the lagoon to shoot waterfowl,
returned with twenty ducks for luncheon, and went out again during the
afternoon to procure more for dinner and breakfast. They succeeded in
shooting thirty-one ducks and two geese; so that we had fifty-one ducks
and two geese for the three meals; and they were all eaten, with the
exception of a few bony remains, which some of the party carried to the
next camp. If we had had a hundred ducks, they would have been eaten
quite as readily, if such an extravagant feast had been permitted.
Oct. 20. - We travelled about ten miles N. 60 degrees W. up the river; and
I was fortunate enough to determine my latitude by an observation of
Alpheratz, which cloudy nights had prevented me from obtaining since the
15th October: it was 14 degrees 47 minutes; my longitude, according to
reckoning, was 135 degrees 10 minutes. The river continued equally broad,
with a fine open box-tree country on its right, whilst a range of hills
with several bluff breaks extended along the left side, interrupted
occasionally by some openings of small creeks, and, in one place, by the
valley of a small river, which Brown saw joining it from the northward.
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