Him, and, as he expressed
himself, "looked more like monkeys than like wallabies." Mr. Gilbert and
Charley came on two flocks of emus, and killed two young ones; and
Charley and John Murphy hunted down another; Charley fell, however, with
his horse, and broke a double-barrelled gun, which was a very serious
loss to us, and the more so, as he had had the misfortune to break a
single-barrelled one before this.
The weather continued showery; loose scud passed over from the east and
south-east, with occasional breaks of hot sunshine. The Corypha palm is
frequent under the range; the Ebenaceous tree, with compound pinnate
leaves and unequilateral leaflets, is of a middle size, about thirty feet
high, with a shady and rather spreading crown.
We have travelled about seventy miles along the Isaacs. If we consider
the extent of its Bastard-box and narrow-leaved Ironbark flats, and the
silver-leaved Ironbark ridges on its left bank, and the fine open country
between the two ranges through which it breaks, we shall not probably
find a country better adapted for pastoral pursuits. There was a great
want of surface water at the season we passed through it; and which we
afterwards found was a remarkably dry one all over the colony: the wells
of the natives, however, and the luxuriant growth of reeds in many parts
of the river, showed that even shallow wells would give a large supply to
the squatter in cases of necessity; and those chains of large water-holes
which we frequently met along and within the scrubs, when once filled,
will retain their water for a long time. The extent of the neighbouring
scrubs will, however, always form a serious drawback to the squatter, as
it will be the lurking place and a refuge of the hostile natives, and a
hiding place for the cattle, which would always retire to it in the heat
of the day, or in the morning and evening, at which time the flies are
most troublesome.
March 7. - I moved my camp through the mountain gorge, the passage of
which was rather difficult, in consequence of large boulders of
sandstone, and of thickets of narrow-leaved tea-trees growing in the bed
of the river. To the northward, it opens into fine gentle Ironbark slopes
and ridges, which form the heads of the Isaacs. They seem to be the
favourite haunts of emus; for three broods of them were seen, of ten,
thirteen, and even sixteen birds. About four miles from the gorge, we
came to the heads of another creek, which I called "Suttor Creek" after
- Suttor, Esq., who had made me a present of four bullocks when I
started on this expedition; four or five miles farther down we found it
well supplied with fine water-holes. Here, however, patches of scrub
again appeared. The ridges were covered with iron-coloured quartz
pebbles, which rendered our bullocks footsore. The marjoram was abundant,
particularly near the scrubs, and filled the air with a most exquisite
odour. A mountain range was seen to the right; and, where the ranges of
the head of the Isaacs abruptly terminated, detached hills and ridges
formed the south-western and southern barrier of the waters of Suttor
Creek.
March 8. - As we followed the creek about nine miles farther down, it
became broader, and the Casuarinas were more frequent. Its bed was sandy,
occasionally filled with reeds, and contained numerous water-holes,
particularly where the sandstone rock formed more retentive basins.
During the last two days we had drizzling rain, which cleared up a little
about noon and at night. The weather was delightfully cool; the wind was
very strong from the eastward. I sent Mr. Roper forward to look for
water, of which he found a sufficient supply. He stated that the country
to the westward opened into fine plains, of a rich black soil; but it was
very dry. The bluff terminations of the left range bore E. by S., and
that on the right E.N.E.
March 9. - We moved to the water-holes found yesterday by Mr. Roper. On
our way we crossed a large scrub creek, coming from the northward and
joining Suttor Creek, which turned to the westward, and even W. by S. and
W.S.W.
Mr. Gilbert and Charley made an excursion to the westward, in which
direction Mr. Roper had seen a distant range, at the foot of which I
expected to find a large watercourse. Wind continued from the east and
south-east; about the middle of last night we had some rain.
A slender snake, about five feet long, of a greyish brown on the back,
and of a bright yellow on the belly, was seen nimbly climbing a tree. The
head was so much crushed in killing it that I could not examine its
teeth.
Mr. Roper and John Murphy succeeded in shooting eight cockatoos, which
gave us an excellent soup. I found in their stomachs a fruit resembling
grains of rice, which was slightly sweet, and would doubtless afford an
excellent dish, if obtained in sufficient quantity and boiled.
March 10. - We had slight drizzling showers towards sunset; the night very
cloudy till about ten a.m., when it cleared up. The variety of grasses is
very great; the most remarkable and succulent were two species of
Anthistiria, the grass of the Isaacs, and a new one with articulate ears
and rounded glumes. A pink Convolvulus, with showy blossoms, is very
common. Portulaca, with terete leaves, grows sparingly on the mild rich
soil.
Were a superficial observer suddenly transported from one of the reedy
ponds of Europe to this water-hole in Suttor Creek, he would not be able
to detect the change of his locality, except by the presence of
Casuarinas and the white trunks of the majestic flooded-gum.
