The front tooth in the upper row was
wanting in them all: they were unarmed, having nothing with them but
their stone hatchets. It appeared from their conduct that they had
either seen or heard of white people before, and were anxious to depart,
accompanying the motion of going with a wave of their hand.
About three miles from our last night's halting-place we had to cross a
small creek, the banks of which were so steep that we were obliged to
unload the horses. I rode up the creek about three quarters of a mile,
and came upon those extensive plains before-mentioned; the soil of this
level appears a good loamy clay, but in some places very wet: it was far
too extensive to permit us to traverse much of it; we saw sufficient to
judge that the whole surface was similar to that we examined; it was
covered with a great variety of new plants, and its margin encircled by
a new species of acacia, which received the specific name of PENDULA,
from its resembling in habit the weeping willow. Low hills to the north
bounded this plain, whilst a slip of barren land, covered with small
trees and shrubs, lay between it and the river.
It appeared to me that the whole of these flats are occasionally
overflowed by the river, the water of which is forced up the creek
before-mentioned, and which again acts as a drain on the fall of the
water.
At four o'clock we halted for the evening, after a fatiguing day's
journey; the boats were obliged to cut their passage three or four
times, and the whole navigation was difficult and dangerous: the current
ran with much rapidity, and the channel seemed rather to contract than
widen. We were obliged to stop on a very barren desolate spot, with
little grass for the horses; but further on the country appeared even
worse. The south bank of the river (as far as I could judge) is
precisely similar to that which we are travelling down. The clear levels
examined to-day were named the Solway Flats. Many fish were caught here,
one of which weighed upwards of thirty pounds.
May 6. - Proceeded down the river. It is impossible to fancy a worse
country than the one we were now travelling over, intersected by swamps
and small lagoons in every direction; the soil a poor clay, and covered
with stunted useless timber. It was excessively fatiguing to the horses
which travelled along the banks of the river, as the rubus and
anthistiria
were so thickly intermingled, that they could scarcely force a passage.
After proceeding about eight miles, a bold rocky mount terminated on the
river, and broke the sameness which had so long wearied us:
