- I thought it advisable to stop here, and give our meat a fair
drying.
The natives were not seen again. Charley and John took a ride to
procure some game, and came to a salt-water creek, which joined the river
about three miles from our camp; the river flowed in a very winding
course from the eastward. They found some good fresh water-holes, at the
head of the salt-water.
August 8. - We travelled about seven miles E.S.E. over plains and Ironbark
ridges. The approaches of the creek, broken by watercourses and gullies,
were covered with thickets of raspberry-jam trees. The rock cropped out
frequently in the creek, which was said to be very rocky lower down. The
salt-water Hibiscus, a species of Paritium, Adr. Juss. (Hibiscus
tiliaceus? Linn. D.C. Prodr. I. p. 454) grew round the water-holes. We
found the same little tree at the salt-water rivers on the west coast of
the gulf, and at Port Essington. I had formerly seen it at the sea coast
of Moreton Bay; its bark is tough and fibrous, and the heart-wood is
brown with a velvety lustre.
August 9. - When Charley returned with the horses, he told us, that, when
he was sitting down to drink at a water-hole about three miles up the
creek, ten emus came to the other side of the water; keeping himself
quiet, he took a careful aim, and shot one dead; then mounting his horse
immediately, he pursued the others, and approaching them very near,
succeeded in shooting another. He broke the wings of both and concealed
them under water. It is a singular custom of the natives, that of
breaking the wings upon killing an emu; as the wings could only slightly
assist the animal in making its escape, should it revive. But in
conversation with Brown as to the possibility of one of the emus having
escaped, he said very seriously: "Blackfellow knows better than white
fellow; he never leaves the emu without breaking a wing. Blackfellows
killed an emu once, and went off intending to call their friends to help
them to eat, and when they came back, they looked about, looked about,
but there was no emu; the emu was gone - therefore the Blackfellows always
broke the wings of the emus they killed afterwards." This was, however,
very probably one of Brown's yarns, made up for the occasion.
I sent Mr. Calvert and Charley to fetch the game, whilst we loaded the
bullocks, and by the time they returned, we were ready to start. The emus
were fine large birds, but not fat; this season seemed to be unfavourable
for them. When we came out into the plain, we saw the smoke of the
natives to the southward, and I steered for it, supposing that they were
either near the river, or at all events not far from fresh water. After
two miles travelling, we crossed another creek with fine Polygonum
water-holes, and, emerging from it into a second plain, we saw a flock of
emus in the distance. Chase was given to them, and with the assistance of
Spring, one was caught. Loaded with three emus, we travelled over a
succession of plains, separated by narrow belts of timber, mostly of-box,
bloodwood, and tea-tree. The plains were broken by irregular melon-holes,
which rendered our progress slow and fatiguing. We came to Ironbark
ridges, and to the very spot where the natives had been burning the
grass, but no watercourse, nor lagoon was seen. Brown rode farther to the
southward, and observed the tracks of the natives in that direction, but
found nothing but box-tree flats. I sent Charley forward to the westward,
and followed slowly in the same direction; night overtook us, when we
were crossing a large plain, but Charley had lighted a large fire, which
guided us, and made us believe that he had found water. He was indeed at
the steep banks of the river Albert, but it was still salt. We hobbled
and tethered all the horses, and watched the bullocks. Fortunately we had
provided ourselves with some water, which allowed half a pint to every
man, so that we felt the inconvenience of a waterless camp less than
formerly. Besides, we had fresh meat, which made a great difference in
our desire for water. It was a beautiful night, and even the dew was
wanting, which had been such a hindrance to drying our meat during the
previous nights. During my watch, I seated myself on one of the
prominences of the steep banks, and watched the loud splashings of
numerous large fish which momentarily disturbed the tranquillity of the
mirror-like surface of the water. Brown had found a bar across the river,
and, on examination it proved perfectly dry during low water, and allowed
us to cross, after having brought our bullocks and horses down the steep
banks, which, however, was not effected without great difficulty. We had
most fortunately hit the very spot where such a crossing was possible.
Brown saw a great number of fine fish in the river, which he called
"Taylors." The natives had been here frequently: the grass had been
recently burnt, and fish bones indicated this as one of their habitual
camping places. We could not, however, discover where they quenched their
thirst. I sent Charley forward in a north-west direction to look for
water. When we came out into the plains which stretched along both sides
of the river as far as the eye could reach, we saw smoke very near us on
the right. I went towards it, until I found that it rose on the opposite
side of the river we had just crossed; Brown, however, detected a pool of
slightly brackish water in a deep creek at a short distance from its
junction with the river. It was too boggy for our cattle to approach, but
it allowed us to quench our own thirst.
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