If There Are Any Natives In Our
Neighbourhood, They Must Have Discovered Us, And Keep Out Of The Way,
Otherwise Upon These Clear Flats We Could Not Avoid Seeing Them.
We were again fortunate enough to kill an emu, a most acceptable
supply, since continued exercise gives us appetites something beyond
what our ration can satisfy.
July 5. - Independently of the nature of the country rendering it
altogether uninhabitable, the noxious vapours that must naturally arise
during the heats of summer from these marshes (should the present
surface of land on which we are now travelling be then free from water),
would render the whole tract peculiarly unhealthy. Even during the short
space of a fortnight, when it might be presumed that the winter's cold
had in a great degree rendered the effluvia innoxious, every person in
the expedition was more or less affected by dysenterical complaints; and
the putrid sour smell that constantly attended us was symptomatic of
what would be its effects when rendered active by the powerful heats of
summer.
Although there was no grass out of the marshes for the horses to feed
upon, yet they appeared to live very tolerably upon a species of
atriplex which covered the plains, and being extremely succulent was
eaten with avidity by them; they certainly preferred it to the grasses
which the swamps produced.
Our route lay over the same unvarying plain surface as on the preceding
days, and after travelling about five miles, we again saw the line of
trees growing on the banks of the stream; and having performed about ten
miles more, we halted on the immediate banks of it.
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