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.
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