- We travelled down to the water-holes, at which I had turned
back. Sandstone rock cropped out on several spots, and pieces of broken
quartz were strewed over the ground. All the water-holes along the low
ridges and within the bed of the river, were full of water; and the
district seemed to be one of those which, from their peculiar
conformation of surface, are more frequently favoured by thunder-storms.
Native companions flew down the river, and flights of ducks held their
course in the same direction. With the hope of finding a good supply of
water lower down, we continued our journey on the 21st March. The creek
frequently divided into channels, forming large islands of a mile and a
mile and a-half in length, covered with scrub, and over which freshes had
swept. All at once, the water disappeared; the deepest holes were dry;
the Melaleucas were not to be found; the flooded-gums became very rare,
and the rich green grass was replaced by a scanty wiry grass. The whole
river seemed to divide into chains of dry water-holes, scarcely connected
by hollows. Two miles farther we came to a fine large water-hole,
surrounded by Polygonums and young water-grass, and, at two miles
farther, to another, and in about the same distance to a third. Recent
camps of the natives were on each of them, and a beaten path led from one
to the other. One of these holes was crossed by a weir made of sticks for
catching fish. Bones of large fish, turtle shells, and heaps of muscles,
were strewed round the fire places.
The whole day was bright and very hot; the wind in the afternoon from
E.S.E. The latitude of our last camp was 21 degrees 31 minutes 16
seconds, being about eighteen miles W.N.W. from the lake.
Mr. Roper and Brown rode about seven miles down the river, and found that
it again formed a large regular bed well supplied with water; and that
the country was of a more open character. They came suddenly upon two
women cooking mussels, who ran off, leaving their dinners to their
unwelcome visitors, who quickly dispatched the agreeable repast; farther
on they saw four men, who were too shy to approach. Charley also, whilst
bringing in the horses on the morning of the 22nd, passed a numerous
camp, who quietly rose and gazed at him, but did not utter a single word.
I travelled with my party to the water-holes found by Mr. Roper; on
approaching them, we crossed an extensive box-flat, near that part of the
river where it is split into collateral chains of holes. Talc-schiste
cropped out at the latter part of the journey; its strata were
perpendicular, and their direction from north-west to south-east; its
character was the same as that of Moreton Bay and New England; numerous
veins of quartz intersected the rock.
The water-holes were surrounded by high Polygonums; blue Nymphaeas were
observed in several of them; and ducks were very numerous.
The forenoon was cloudless and hot; cirrhous clouds formed in the
afternoon; with a breeze from the E.S.E. Our lat. was 21 degrees 25
minutes.
Mr. Gilbert and Charley, when on a reconnoitring ride, met another party
of natives; among them two gins were so horror-struck at the unwonted
sight, that they immediately fled into the scrub; the men commenced
talking to them, but occasionally interrupted their speeches by spitting
and uttering a noise like pooh! pooh! apparently expressive of their
disgust.
March 23. - The party moved on about ten miles to the north-east, and
encamped at the junction of a large creek which comes from the S.S.E. Its
character is similar to that of the Suttor; and I should not be surprised
if it should prove to be the northern anabranch of that creek, and which
we crossed on the 17th of March, the day before we arrived at the lake.
The country opens into lightly-timbered ridges, which are composed of a
hard rock, the sharp pieces of which covered the ground, and made our
animals foot-sore. It seems to me to be a clayey sandstone (Psammite)
penetrated by silica. A coarse-grained sandstone and quartzite cropped
out in that part of the river situated between the two camps. The
melon-holes of the box-flats were frequently over-grown with the
polygonaceous plant, mentioned at a former occasion; and the small scrub
plains were covered with a grey chenopodiaceous plant from three to four
feet high. The stiff-leaved Cymbidium was still very common, and two or
three plants of it were frequently observed on the same tree; its stem is
eatable, but glutinous and insipid.
The morning of Easter Sunday was very clear and hot; the wind from E.N.E.
As soon as we had celebrated the day with a luncheon of fat damper and
sweetened tea, I rode with Charley about seven or eight miles down the
river, and found abundance of water, not only in the bed of the river,
but in lines of lagoons parallel to it. Charley shot several ducks, which
were very numerous upon the water. Whilst riding along the bank of the
river, we saw an old woman before us, walking slowly and thoughtfully
through the forest, supporting her slender and apparently exhausted frame
with one of those long sticks which the women use for digging roots; a
child was running before her. Fearing she would be much alarmed if we
came too suddenly upon her, - as neither our voices in conversation, nor
the footfall of our horses, attracted her attention, - I cooeed gently;
after repeating the call two or three times, she turned her head; in
sudden fright she lifted her arms, and began to beat the air, as if to
take wing, - then seizing the child, and shrieking most pitifully, she
rapidly crossed the creek, and escaped to the opposite ridges.
