Wallabies were very numerous between the
cliffs of the felspathic rock; and the fine fig trees along the banks of
the river were covered with ripe fruit. The river made a wide sweep round
the left side of a large limestone hill, whilst a chain of deep basaltic
water-holes continued on its right. The basalt ceased to the westward of
the limestone hill, and was succeeded by considerable flats of Ironbark,
Moreton Bay ash, and Bloodwood. The Capparis still exhibited a few showy
flowers. I examined the country thus far on the 12th April, after the
camp had been formed; on returning, I took with me a large supply of ripe
figs, of which we partook freely, and which caused several of us to
suffer severely from indigestion, though we had frequently eaten small
quantities of them without inconvenience.
April 13. - We avoided the field of basalt by moving up the creek we last
crossed, about four miles, and by crossing over to the flats of the river
where the basalt terminated. These flats, however, were again interrupted
by a basaltic dyke, over which we were compelled to travel, as the steep
banks of the river were on one side, and black bare rocks, forming
sometimes regular walls with a dense scrub between them, prevented us
from turning to the other. After descending from the basalt, we crossed a
good-sized creek from the south-west, and travelled over a fine open
country to lat. 19 degrees 49 minutes 41 seconds.
Two hills were close to the left side of the Burdekin, which, at their
base, were joined by a large running creek from the N.N.W. From the
limestone hill of yesterday, no other hill was visible to the westward,
though ranges and isolated hills lay to the north and north-east, and a
high blue mountain to the south-west.
Some days ago I found, for the first time, Spathodea alternifolia (R.
Br.), which we continued to meet with throughout the remainder of our
journey. I saw but one flower of it, but its falcate seed-vessels, often
more than a foot long, were very numerous. Pandanus spiralis was
frequent. The box (Eucalyptus), on the flats along the creek, the soil of
which is probably formed of the detritus of basaltic rock, had a
lanceolate glossy leaf, uniting the character of the box with glossy
orbicular leaves growing generally on the whinstone soil of the northern
parts of the colony, and of the box with long lanceolate leaves which
prefers stiff flats on the tributary creeks of the Hunter. A Bottle-tree
with a Platanus leaf (Sterculia?) grew in the scrub on the field of
basalt, and was in full blossom. A pretty species of Commelyna, on the
flats, a cucurbitaceous plant with quinquepalmate leaves and large white
blossoms, grew along the river, the approaches of which were rendered
almost inaccessible by a stiff high grass. Charley brought me the long
flower-stalk of Xanthorrhaea from some ridges, which were, doubtless,
composed of sandstone.
Two kangaroos were seen; they were of middle size, and of a yellowish
grey colour, and seemed to live principally about the basaltic ridges.
The cooee of natives had been heard only once during our journey along
the banks of the Burdekin; and the traces of their former presence had
not been very frequently observed. Large lagoons full of fish or mussels
form a greater attraction to the natives than a stream too shallow for
large fish, and, from its shifting sands, incapable of forming large
permanent holes. Wherever we met with scrub with a good supply of water,
we were sure of finding numerous tracks of the natives, as game is so
much more abundant where a dense vegetation affords shelter from its
enemies.
April 14. - Last night, at seven o'clock, a strong breeze set in from the
northward, and continued for about an hour, when it became perfectly
calm. If this was the same breeze which we had observed at the Mackenzie
at eight o'clock, and which set in earlier and earlier, as we travelled
along the Isaacs and Suttor (though it was less regular in these places)
until we felt it at about six o'clock, we were now most evidently
receding from the eastern coast.
We travelled in a N. 60 degrees W. direction to lat. 19 degrees 45
minutes 36 seconds. A basaltic ridge, similar to those we had passed,
extended in an almost straight line from south-east to north-west; it was
covered with a scanty vegetation, with a few small narrow-leaved Ironbark
trees and Erythrinas; the river now approached it, now left it in wide
sweeps enclosing fine narrow-leaved Ironbark flats. To the south-west
side of this ridge or dyke, the soil is basaltic, with box-trees and open
Vitex scrub. The sharp conical hills of the white ant, constructed of red
clay, were very numerous. A very perfect bower of the bower-bird was seen
in a patch of scrub trees.
In a gully, a loose violet coloured sandstone cropped out, over which the
basalt had most evidently spread. Farther on, the ridge enlarged and
formed small hillocks, with bare rock cropping out at their tops; - a form
of surface peculiar to the basaltic or whinstone country of this colony.
Charley shot the sheldrake of Port Essington, (Tadorna Rajah). The
singular hissing or grinding note of the bower bird was heard all along
the river; the fruit of the fig trees growing near, which seemed to
supply it with its principal food during this part of the year.
April 15. - One of our bullocks had gone back on our tracks, and thereby
prevented our starting so early as usual. We travelled in a N. 40 degrees
W. direction to latitude 19 degrees 41 minutes 25 seconds.
