It Seemed That The Natives Sat And Lay Between The Fires And The
Row Of Branches.
There were, besides, three huts of the form of a
bee-hive, closely thatched with straw and tea-tree bark.
Their only
opening was so small, that a man could scarcely creep through it; they
were four or five feet high, and from eight to ten feet in diameter.
[A hut of this description, but of smaller dimensions, is described by
Capt. King, at the North Goulburn Island. - King's Voyage, vol. I. p. 72.]
One of the huts was storied, like those I noticed on the banks of the
Lynd. It would appear that the natives make use of these tents during the
wet and cold season, but encamp in the open air in fine weather.
A brown wallabi and a bustard were shot, which enabled us to save some of
our meat. We encamped at a fine long water-hole, in the bed of a scrubby
creek.
July 15. - Mr. Roper's illness increased so much that he could not even
move his legs, and we were obliged to carry him from one place to
another; I therefore, stopt here two days, to allow him to recover a
little.
July 17. - We travelled about ten miles south 55 degrees west over an
almost uninterrupted box and Melaleuca flat, free from melon-holes and
grassy swamps, but full of holes, into which our horses and bullocks sank
at every step, which sadly incommoded our wounded companions.
About two miles and a half from our camp, we came to the Caron River
(Corners Inlet), which deserved rather the name of a large creek. Its
sandy and occasionally rocky bed, was dry; but parallel lines of Nymphaea
lagoons extended on both sides. The drooping tea-tree was, as usual, very
beautiful. We skirted a tea-tree scrub, without a watercourse, about two
miles and a half south of the "Caron," and passed some undulations, with
Grevillea forest. To the south-west of these undulations, we came to a
chain of lagoons; from which several white cranes and a flight of the
black Ibis rose. Brown shot one of the latter, which, when picked and
cleaned for cooking, weighed three pounds and a half; it was very fat,
and proved to be excellent eating. Cytherea shells were again found,
which showed that the salt water was not very far off.
Charley gave a characteristic description of this country, when he
returned from a ride in search of game: "It is a miserable country!
nothing to shoot at, nothing to look at, but box trees and anthills." The
box-forest was, however, very open and the grass was good; and the
squatter would probably form a very different opinion of its merits. When
we were preparing to start in the morning some natives came to look at
us; but they kept within the scrub, and at a respectable distance.
July 18. - We travelled south-west by west, over a succession of plains,
and of undulating Grevillea forest, which changed into tea-tree thickets,
and stunted tea-tree scrubs, on a sandy soil with Salicornia, Binoe's
Trichinium, and several other salt plants. At about five miles from the
camp, we came to salt-water inlets, densely surrounded by mangroves, and
with sandy flats extending along their banks, encrusted with salt.
Charley rode through the dry mangrove scrub, and came on a sandy beach
with the broad Ocean before him. We had a long way to go to the east and
S.S.E. to get out of the reach of the brackish water, and came at last to
grassy swamps, with a good supply of fresh water. We encamped in lat. 17
degrees 41 minutes 52 seconds; about ten miles south by west from our
last camp. Charley was remarkably lucky to-day, in catching an emu, and
shooting six teals, a brown wallabi of the Mitchell, and a kangaroo with
a broad nail at the end of its tail. Brown also shot a sheldrake and a
Malacorhynchus membranaceus. During the time that we were travelling to
the southward, we had a north-east wind during the forenoon, which in the
afternoon veered round to the east and south. Such a change, in a
locality like ours, was very remarkable; because, in the neighbourhood of
the sea, it was natural to expect a sea breeze, instead of which,
however, the breeze was off the land. The cause can only be attributed to
a peculiar formation of the country south and south-east of the gulf.
July 19. - We travelled seven miles and a half due south, through a
succession of stunted tea-tree thickets and tea-tree forests, in which
the little bread-tree of the Lynd was common. We passed two creeks with
rocky beds, the one with salt water, and the other fresh. The natives had
been digging here, either for shells or roots. We came to a fine river
with salt water about two hundred and fifty or three hundred yards broad,
with low banks fringed with stunted mangroves. The well beaten foot-path
and the numerous fire-places of the natives, proved how populous the
country must be. In following a foot-path, we came to some large lagoons,
but containing very little water; the natives had been digging in the dry
parts, perhaps for the roots of Nymphaea. We encamped at one of them in
lat. 17 degrees 49 minutes.
The country along the river was an open box-forest. Natives cooeed around
us; and we saw a man and his gin, and farther on two others busily
occupied in burning the grass. When Charley came to the lagoon he saw a
black boy, who immediately retreated out of sight. Two straw-necked
Ibises and seven ducks were shot. Mr. Roper had suffered much by the long
rides of the last stages; but his health was improving, notwithstanding.
The Nonda tree had disappeared north of the Van Diemen, and the emu here
feeds on the fruit of the little Severn tree, which is so excessively
bitter, as to impart its quality to the meat, and even to the gizzard and
the very marrow.
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