I Returned To The Creek, In Order To Find Another Water-Hole
With Water; But Did Not Succeed, And Had To Encamp Without It.
During the
night we heard the noise of a frog, "brrr, brrr;" probably a new species,
for we had never heard that croak before.
It seemed, however, to frighten
Brown, who, like all blackfellows, is very timid after night-fall.
Yesterday we met with a new leguminous shrub. It belongs to the section
Cassia, and has a long pinnate leaf, the leaflets an inch long, and half
an inch broad. Its pods were about a foot long, half an inch broad; and
every seed was surrounded by a fleshy spongy tissue, which, when dry,
gave to the pod a slightly articulate appearance. The seeds, when young,
had an agreeable taste, and the tissue, when dry, was pleasantly
acidulous, and was eaten by some of my companions without any ill effect,
whilst others, with myself, were severely purged. To day I found the same
plant in form of a tree, about thirty feet high, with a short stem, and
long spreading shady branches.
CHAPTER IV
SWARMS OF COCKATOOS - ALLOWANCE OF FLOUR FURTHER REDUCED - NATIVE
FAMILY - THE MACKENZIE - COAL - NATIVES SPEAKING A DIFFERENT IDIOM - MOUNT
STEWART - BROWN AND MYSELF MISS THE WAY BACK TO THE CAMP - FIND OUR PARTY
AGAIN, ON THE FOURTH DAY - NEUMAN'S CREEK - ROPER'S PEAK - CALVERT'S
PEAK - GILBERT'S DOME - GREAT WANT OF WATER.
Jan. 1, 1845. - After a ride of about four miles down the creek, we came
to a deep hole of good water, that had been filled by the late
thunder-storms, the traces of which, however, had disappeared every where
else.
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