It Would Appear That The Stiff Clay Of The Plains Had Been
Covered By The Sandy Detritus Of The Ridges, From Which The Water Slowly
Drained To The Wells.
It was evident, from the pains which the natives
had taken in digging them, that the supply of fresh water was very
precarious.
In many instances, however, I observed that they had been
induced to do so, simply by the want of surface water in the immediate
neighbourhood of places where they obtained their principal supply of
food. This was particularly the case near the sea-coast, where no surface
water is found; whilst the various fish, and even vegetable productions,
attract the natives, who will, in such a case, even contract the habit of
going the longest possible time without water, or, at least, with very
little, as is well shown in Mr. Eyre's journey round the Australian
Bight. We had to water our horses and the bullock with the stew pot; and
had to hobble the latter, to prevent his straying, and attacking the
natives.
The natives were remarkably kind and attentive, and offered us the rind
of the rose-coloured Eugenia apple, the cabbage of the Seaforthia palm, a
fruit which I did not know, and the nut-like swelling of the rhizoma of
either a grass or a sedge. The last had a sweet taste, was very mealy and
nourishing, and the best article of the food of the natives we had yet
tasted. They called it "Allamurr" (the natives of Port Essington,
"Murnatt"), and were extremely fond of it.
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