After
Admiring It For Some Time They Discovered The Broad Arrow, With Which
It Was Marked On Both Sides, The
Impression of which exactly resembles
that made by the foot of the emu; it amused them extremely, and they
frequently
Pointed to it and the emu skins which we had with us. All
this time they were paying great attention to the roasting of their
opossums, and when they were scarcely warm through, they opened them,
and, taking out the fat of the entrails, presented it to us as the
choicest morsel; on our declining to receive it they ate it themselves,
and again covered up the opossums in the hot ashes. When they were
apparently well done, they laid them, the snake, and the things we had
presented them with, on the ground, making signs that they wished to go;
which of course we allowed them to do, together with their little store
of provisions and such things as we were able to spare them. The
collection of words which we had made at the depot on the Lachlan, we
found of no use, as they did not understand a single one. They had
neither of them lost the upper front tooth, though apparently men grown.
August 15. - We were somewhat disappointed in not seeing anything more of
our native acquaintances, as we hoped the treatment and presents they
had received would have induced them to return to us with their
companions, as they had endeavoured to make us understand by signs they
would. At eight we proceeded on an easterly course, when a mile of
gently rising ground brought us to the edge of a fine valley, in which
was a chain of ponds connected by a small stream; alternate hills and
valleys of the best description of pasture land: the soil, a rich,
light, sandy loam, continued until we halted, at the end of eleven
miles, in a spacious, well-watered valley; where to our great surprise
we found distinct marks of cattle tracks: they were old, and made when
the ground was soft from rain, as appeared from the deep impression of
their feet. These cattle must have strayed from Bathurst, from which
place we were now distant in a direct line between eighty and ninety
miles. From several of the hills over which our route led us, we had the
most extensive and beautiful prospects; from thirty to forty miles
round, from the north to south, the country was broken in irregular low
hills thinly studded with small timber, and covered with grass: the
whole landscape within the compass of our view was clear and open,
resembling diversified pleasure grounds irregularly laid out and
planted. The animation of the whole scenery was greatly increased by the
smoke of the natives' fires arising in every quarter, distinctly marking
that we were in a country which afforded them ample means of
subsistence; far different from the low deserts and morasses to the
south-west.
The tops of the hills were generally stony (granite of different degrees
and qualities), but the broom-grass grew strongly and abundantly in the
interstices.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 75 of 184
Words from 38532 to 39053
of 95539
