Brown Was Fortunate Enough To Shoot Two Ducks; And,
As The Sun Was Setting Behind A Neighbouring Hill, We Made Our Camp For
The Night.
May 22.
- We returned to our companions, and by taking a W.N.W. course, we
avoided all the ranges and gullies that we had crossed yesterday. At the
westerly creek I found a rose-coloured Sterculia, with large campanulate
blossoms and tomentose seed-vessels: the tree had lost all its foliage. I
had met with this species on the rocky ranges of Moreton Bay (at Mount
Brisbane), but there it was a low shrub, whereas in this place, and all
round the gulf of Carpentaria, it formed a middle sized tree with
spreading branches. A new Hakea, with long thin terete leaves (different
from H. lorea) and Grevillea chrysodendron, grew along the creek.
Grevillea ceratophylla (R. Br.) and another Grevillea, with a compound
terminal thyrsus, and long lanceolate falcate leaves, grew on the slopes,
in company with a Xylomelum, with smooth and smaller seed-vessels than
those of X. pyriforme. The rocky ridges were occupied by the
stringy-bark, fine Cypress-pine trees, the stunted silver-leaved
Ironbark, a Eucalyptus, with very scanty foliage, orange-coloured
blossoms, seed-vessels longitudinally ribbed, and as large as the egg of
a fowl; its butt was covered with a lamellar bark, but the upper part and
the branches were white and smooth; also by another Eucalyptus, with a
scaly butt like the Moreton Bay ash, but with smooth upper trunk and
cordate ovate leaves, which was also new to me; we called it the
Apple-gum. We frequently met with the grass tree (Xanthorrhaea.)
May 23. - We moved our camp to the westerly creek I had found the day
before, which with several others formed the heads of a river, flowing to
the N.W. I called this river the "Lynd," after R. Lynd, Esq., a gentleman
to whom I am under the greatest obligation, for his unmeasured liberality
and kindness enabled me to devote my time exclusively to the pursuits of
science and exploration.
The nights had been as usual very cold, and the dew very heavy. The
prevailing breeze was from the east, veering towards evening to the
north-east; during the morning a cold south-east wind. The rock was
primitive, granite and pegmatite in several varities, with a few
exceptions of anagenitic formation. Near the place of our first
encampment on the Lynd, in lat. 17 degrees 58 minutes, I observed a
sienite, to which the distribution of the hornblende in layers had given
the stratified appearance of gneiss. Another rock was composed of felspar
and large leaflets of white mica, or of quartz and white mica. The veins
which traversed these rocks were all of quartz, which, within the
pegmatite, enlarged into big masses and hills, particularly where
basaltic rock was near. Mr. Gilbert and Charley went down the creek to
find water and a practicable road, in case the country should prove
mountainous and rocky. I had a view from a small peak near our camp; the
country was full of ridges, but openly timbered, and I saw a low range to
the northward, trending from east to west.
May 24. - It was the Queen's birth-day, and we celebrated it with what - as
our only remaining luxury - we were accustomed to call a fat cake, made of
four pounds of flour and some suet, which we had saved for the express
purpose, and with a pot of sugared tea. We had for several months been
without sugar, with the exception of about ten pounds, which was reserved
for cases of illness and for festivals. So necessary does it appear to
human nature to interrupt the monotony of life by marked days, on which
we indulge in recollections of the past, or in meditations on the future,
that we all enjoyed those days as much, and even more, than when
surrounded with all the blessings of civilized society; although I am
free to admit, that fat-cake and sugared tea in prospectu might induce us
to watch with more eagerness for the approach of these days of feasting.
There were, besides, several other facts interesting to the psychologist,
which exhibited the influence of our solitary life, and the unity of our
purpose, on our minds. During the early part of our journey, I had been
carried back in my dreams to scenes of recent date, and into the society
of men with whom I had lived shortly before starting on my expedition. As
I proceeded on my journey, events of earlier date returned into my mind,
with all the fantastic associations of a dream; and scenes of England,
France, and Italy passed successively. Then came the recollections of my
University life, of my parents and the members of my family; and, at
last, the days of boyhood and of school - at one time as a boy afraid of
the look of the master, and now with the independent feelings of the man,
communicating to, and discussing with him the progress of my journey, the
courses of the rivers I had found, and the possible advantages of my
discoveries. At the latter part of the journey, I had, as it were,
retraced the whole course of my life, and I was now, in my dreams, almost
invariably in Sydney, canvassing for support, and imagining that,
although I had left my camp, yet that I should return with new resources
to carry us through the remainder of our journey. It was very remarkable,
that all my companions were almost invariably anticipating the end of our
journey, dreaming that they reached the sea-coast, and met with ships, or
that they were in Port Essington and enjoying the pleasures of civilized
life; whilst I, on awaking, found my party and my interests on the place
where I had left them in my dreams. During the leisure moments of the
day, or at the commencement of night, when seated at my fire, all my
thoughts seemed riveted to the progress and success of my journey, and to
the new objects we had met with during the day.
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