To The Northward, Two Hills Skirted The Valley At A
Distance Of Six Or Seven Miles, Which Might Be About
The medium width of
it from north to south, in which quarter a rocky range, clothed with
pines and iron-
Bark, prevented us from seeing to any great distance; to
the east and south-east, the same low irregular country appeared, thinly
covered with trees and grass.
Desirous of ascertaining if our conjectures were well founded in respect
to the river, we altered our course, which was east, to north-east,
keeping down the south side of the valley or plain, which we had seen
from Mount Johnston. A finer or more fertile country than that we passed
through for about four miles and a half cannot be imagined: the soil, a
light brown, sandy loam, covered with broom-grass from four to five feet
high. After travelling the above distance, we most unexpectedly came
upon a stream, which from its high grassy banks and rocky bottom we were
obliged to conclude must be the river we were in search of; but so
diminished in magnitude that the motion of the water connecting the long
chains of reedy ponds, was so slow as scarcely to entitle it to the
appellation of a living stream. The whole country from where we quitted
the Lachlan to this spot had borne evident marks of long continued
drought, and in no part was it more apparent than in the present stream
which was so much smaller than it was at Bathurst, even after the great
drought in 1815, that after going up it three or four miles, I began to
entertain great doubts of its being the same, hoping that it might be
one of the channels which must convey the waters from the high ranges of
hills, lying nearly midway between the Lachlan and the Macquarie Rivers.
Observing a fine and extensive flat on the opposite side of the stream,
which having been formerly burnt, was now covered with good grass, we
crossed over at a place not ankle deep, and about six or eight feet wide,
over a bottom of sand and stone, and halted for the evening; intending
also to remain the ensuing day, to refresh the horses, as they had
performed an excellent and continued week's work, and much required it.
On reaching the present stream numerous cattle tracks were observed, and
although not very recent, I do not think they were more than four or six
months old, since the marks of young cattle were among them; it is
probable they were those that have been missing for a length of time
from the government herds at Cox's River, and are now straying wild
through this beautiful country, abounding in every thing that can tempt
them to remain here.
The plants on the banks and in the stream were precisely similar to
those on the Macquarie in the vicinity of Bathurst; but I have observed
that no certain conclusions can be drawn from a similarity between the
botanical productions of two places, a truth which has been exemplified
more than once in the course of this Journal.
August 17. - During the whole day the weather did not permit me to make
the usual observations; it was not however uselessly passed, as the
country was examined several miles to the north-east and east of our
tents, and every report concurred as to the general beauty and goodness
of the tracts passed over. Mr. Evans and myself ascended a high grassy
hill about a mile and a half north of the tent, and the prospect round
was highly pleasing. The general appearance of the country southerly
made me still adhere to the opinion I entertained that the stream along
which we were travelling would prove to derive its source from a very
lofty range in that direction; whilst the Macquarie would be found still
farther to the eastward, in which quarter I must have deceived myself
greatly, if we do not find a stream superior to the present; and my
hopes in that respect are much strengthened when I consider that we are
not above fifty miles in a straight line from the spot where Mr. Evans
left the Macquarie, a strong and powerful stream, and that too in a
season as long and even longer dry than the present one. In these hopes
and expectations I shall continue an easterly course until nearly on the
meridian of Bathurst, when they must either be realized, or the negative
indisputably established, that there are no considerable rivers rising
in the interior of New South Wales. From the hill on which we stood,
bearings were taken to the most remarkable objects, which were but few;
for the country, as far as the eye could reach, was a continued series
of low grassy hills and valleys; the whole thinly covered with wood, and
in many places entirely bare of it. The hills to the southward and
south-west on the west side of the stream, and immediately bordering on
it, were rocky and irregular; a few cypresses were growing on their
sides and summits. We named the hill on which we stood Mount Elizabeth,
and the extensive flats or plains north of it, and on the east side of
the stream, McArthur's Plains.
The tracks of cattle were observed in various places on these plains,
some very recent, perhaps not a month old. A fish was also caught, of
the species common both to the Lachlan and the Macquarie. The soil of
the country round, is far as we had time to examine it, was a rich,
light, sandy loam, most abundantly covered with long broom-grass: the
rocks and stones on the hills were granite of various qualities. Nothing
was found new to the botanists; in truth, this is not a country adapted
to their pursuits.
August 18. - In pursuance of the intention formed yesterday of still
continuing an easterly course, we again set forward at half past eight
o'clock.
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