Journals of Australian Explorations Part 10

As our object was to explore as far to the northward as circ.u.mstances would allow, we left the river on a north-east course; but two hours'

ride across an open plain, through which several channels ran to the north-west, brought us to dry barren scrubs, in which it appeared hopeless we should find either feed or water; we accordingly altered our course to south-east, and made the river again about sundown.

RETURN UP THE RIVER.

20th to 23rd May.

Was occupied in tracing up the north bank of the river in the hope of finding a tributary coming in from the northward; but, with the exception of one small stream which drains the western face of the Kennedy Range, not a single tributary was met with until we arrived at the Lyons River, a distance of more than ninety miles from Babbage Island. The country on the north bank differs but little from that on the south, except that travelling was somewhat easier.

THE LYONS RIVER. ALMA RIVER.

24th May.

Our horses having had a rest, the previous day being Sunday, we made an early start, and by noon halted on the Lyons River, a short distance above its confluence with the Gascoyne; its channel here was equal in magnitude and similar in appearance to the main river; a small stream was still flowing through the wide sandy bed, and gradually increased in volume for nearly eighty miles up the river. Three miles to the north of our midday halt Mr. Roe and myself ascended a deep sandstone peak, from which we had a fine view of the Kennedy Range, the nearest part of which lay about six miles to the west, extending for nearly thirty miles to the northward; the eastern face presents an almost unbroken line of nearly perpendicular sandstone, of probably 500 or 600 feet elevation. To the north a few remarkable peaks served as valuable points to carry on our triangulation, which had been continued almost uninterruptedly from Mount Hope, on the Murchison.

To the east were several ranges of flat-topped hills, filling in the s.p.a.ce between the Lyons and the great southern bend of the Gascoyne; while to the south, with the exception of a few very distant peaks, it appeared, as far as the eye could reach, to be an uniform plain of open but almost gra.s.sless scrub.

Having completed our round of angles, we struck south-east to a patch of forest on the banks of the river, which we did not reach until sometime after dark.

25th May.

From this point to lat.i.tude 23 degrees 56 minutes the Lyons maintains a general course of north-north-east. The country pa.s.sed over during to-day had evidently been tolerably gra.s.sy, but the floods had been quite as destructive here as on the Gascoyne, the bed of the river and flats for half a mile on each side being mostly choked up or buried under fields of fine white sand, which had been brought down by the inundations. In several places we observed beds of gypsum and fossil sh.e.l.ls with other strong indications of the existence of coal in the vicinity. Bivouac in lat.i.tude 24 degrees 41 minutes 18 seconds.

26th May.

A few miles along the river brought us to a gorge in the eastern edge of the sandstones, to the east of which it opened out into extensive plains in some parts well gra.s.sed, and in others much washed by the river.

Several trap and granite hills were visible at some distance to the northward and eastward. Our bivouac was in lat.i.tude 24 degrees 31 minutes 0.5 seconds, about three miles south of a bold trap-range, the summit of which was named Mount Sandiman.

27th May.

The country still maintained its variable character, travelling near the river being exceedingly heavy on account of the sand. The morning had been calm and sultry, but towards noon a strong breeze set in from the north, bringing with it a dense cloud of fine red dust, against which it was no easy matter to make head with our horses. Towards evening the flats began to improve, and we halted for the night amongst fine gra.s.s; melons and tobacco growing very luxuriantly. To-night it rained for about two hours, clearing the atmosphere of its load of dust.

28th May.

Resuming our course up the river, at four miles we crossed a stream-bed forty yards wide, coming in from the north-north-west, and in the course of the day pa.s.sed over several thin beds of opaque opalline rock resting upon the sandstone. At our camp, which was in lat.i.tude 24 degrees 0.3 minutes 0.8 seconds, granite began to make its appearance in the bed of the river.

29th May.

Our pack-horses having now been much lightened of their loads, we were to-day for the first time able to trot for several hours; and as the country still improved, several fine gra.s.sy valleys coming in from the eastward, we made considerable progress.

ALMA RIVER.

At our noon halt Mr. Moore and myself ascended a hill of red schist of 300 or 400 feet elevation, in lat.i.tude 23 degrees 57 minutes 15 seconds, which had been named Mount Thompson. From this hill we had an extensive view of the surrounding country; close to the northern foot the river divided into two nearly equal parts--one coming from the north-north-east we named the Alma. To the north, just resting on the edge of the tropic, lay a compact range through which there was apparently but one break, and that was on the line of the Alma; from the southern face of this range, which extends nearly forty miles to the eastward, numerous streams take their rise and flow southward into the Lyons, which had altered its course and was now coming from the east-south-east. Our intention had been to keep our course until we had touched upon the tropic; but as the Alma was not running, we decided upon following the main course of the stream, and accordingly adopted an easterly course for the remainder of the day, encamping about six miles to the east of Mount Thompson. The river here was much narrower, with a rocky bed containing many pools of permanent character, overshadowed by flooded-gums of large growth, much resembling the Eucalyptus piperita of the flats of the Swan, but not possessing the same pungent leaf.

30th May (Sunday).

Found our lat.i.tude to be 23 degrees 58 minutes 32 seconds, and longitude 111 degrees east by account.

31st May.

NATIVE TOBACCO.

We started off at a quick pace, clearing sixteen miles by noon, over some fine open gra.s.sy flats, timbered for nearly a mile back from the river; one tributary 100 yards wide having joined from the north, and a smaller one from the south. Leaving the party busily occupied catching fish, which were abundant in this part of the river and much resembling those found in the Murchison, but larger, some of them being upwards of a pound in weight, I walked with Mr. Nairn to the summit of a granite hill two miles to the northward, from which I had a number of cross-bearings to hills already observed from Mount Thompson. One of considerable elevation bearing north 121 degrees 30 minutes east, distance fifty miles, lay directly up the valley of the river, and was ultimately named Mount Augustus, after my brother, now conducting the expedition in quest of the remains of Dr. Leichhardt. Pushing on twelve miles further, we halted for the night in lat.i.tude 23 degrees 59 minutes 39 seconds. Tobacco here grew to sufficient size for manufacture, occupying many hundred acres of the best land; a plant much resembling stramonium was also abundant on the moist land, yielding a strongly offensive odour from its leaves.

1st June.

For the first twelve miles along the river the flats much improved, and were only occasionally broken up by stony ridges; good country was seen to extend up the tributaries, several of which came in from the north. To the south, at two or three miles distant, and running parallel to the river for many miles, was an even gra.s.sy range of moderate elevation nearly dest.i.tute of trees or bushes; the acacia and melaleuca, which had hitherto generally covered the plains, was evidently fast giving way to an open undulating and thinly-gra.s.sed country, the back lands being however still too stony to yield much pasture, the summer gra.s.s being already parched and dry, the flats alone continuing moist and verdant.

At our noon halt the main river had ceased to flow, but a tributary coming from the north-east had a small stream still running in the bottom of a muddy channel down which the recent floods had brought flags and portions of bulrush, the only instance throughout the district in which we had observed them.

The next ten miles pa.s.sed over between this and sunset was chiefly an alluvial flat, much resembling the fertile lands near the mouth of the Greenough; the acacias and several varieties of melaleuca, amongst which was the Callistemon phoeniceus, with its beautiful scarlet flowers, were growing with tropical luxuriance, the soil in many places being still saturated with moisture. A water-melon was here first observed, the fruit not attaining to more than two inches in length, but not otherwise differing from the cultivated kinds; we also found a fruit in shape like a pear, three inches in length, growing on a small creeper, the interior of the fruit consisting of a number of small flat seeds, to which were attached a bundle of long silky fibres resembling cotton. Our bivouac was in lat.i.tude 24 degrees 7 minutes 52 seconds, near a fine pool of fresh water, with limestone cropping out in a thin bed on the banks; we had frequently met with it distributed in small nodules scattered over a large portion of the country on the Upper Murchison.

Since quitting the mouth of the Gascoyne we had seen natives almost daily; to-night we again found ourselves in close proximity to a large encampment of them.

2nd June.

Our neighbours paid us an early visit this morning, some of them evidently bent on mischief, but were restrained by others more prudent--not, however, before it had nearly cost one of them his life; having pointed a spear at Mr. Moore, Dugel, whose natural instincts are very destructive, hastily took aim at him, but fortunately pulled the wrong trigger, which just gave his adversary time to lower his weapon; on our mounting our horses they hastily fell back and joined their other companions at their camp, which was just in our line of march; about thirty of them awaited our approach with some tokens of defiance, but most of them decamped on our coming within spear's throw.

MOUNT AUGUSTUS 3,480 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

Directing our course for Mount Augustus, we pushed on at a rapid pace with the object of ascending it if possible before sundown; but after riding twenty miles, we found it to be farther off than we antic.i.p.ated, and accordingly altered our course and encamped at a pool in the river about three miles north-east of the mount, in lat.i.tude 24 degrees 20 minutes, and at an elevation of 1500 feet above the sea.

We here met with strong evidences of the cannibalism of the natives; at a recently occupied encampment we found several of the bones of a full-grown native that had been cooked, the teeth marks on the edges of a bladebone bearing conclusive evidence as to the purpose to which it had been applied; some of the ribs were lying by the huts with a portion of the meat still on them.

Nearly the whole of the country pa.s.sed over this day was an alluvial flat extending on the south-west to the gra.s.sy range already described, while to the north and east it extended for many miles, branching out into the numerous valleys that drain the different ranges in that direction; the gra.s.s and vegetation on these flats is not so rank as on that traversed the previous day, but more even, and the soil better adapted for agriculture; the amount of good land on this part of the Lyons River was estimated at 150 square miles, while on the tributaries between Mount Thompson and Mount Augustus I have no doubt that there is as much more.

Water at this time was plentiful in the numerous channels that intersect the plain, their permanency being the only matter of doubt--our limited acquaintance with the nature of the seasons in these lat.i.tudes does not enable us to decide with any degree of certainty; the pools lower down the river are unquestionably of a permanent character, but many of them were already becoming brackish.

The quant.i.ty of game seen in this part of the country was also a favourable indication. Turkeys, and a new variety of pigeon, having a brown back and slate-coloured breast, on the wing resembling a tame pigeon, congregate in flights sometimes of a thousand together; emus, c.o.c.katoos, quail, and parakeets are also very numerous, particularly the latter.

3rd June.

A gentle ascent of two and a half miles brought us to the foot of Mount Augustus, where, leaving our horses in charge of Fairburn and Dugel, we commenced the ascent up the only accessible point on this side of the hill; it required two hours' heavy toil to bring us to the summit, the barometer gradually falling until it only registered 26.10, which, compared with the simultaneous observations kept at Champion Bay by Mr.

H. Gray, gives an elevation of 3,480 feet above the level of the sea; the last 500 feet of the summit being clothed in thickets of melaleuca, amongst which grew a nondescript variety of red gum-tree, the only new thing observed in this locality. The air was fortunately very clear, enabling us to take bearings to almost every remarkable summit within eighty miles, and in two instances to hills more than a hundred miles distant.

From this commanding position I was enabled to sketch in the courses of the rivers for more than twenty miles, some of them probably taking their rise from 60 to 100 miles still further to the eastward. To the north-east the country continued to improve in appearance until the view was intercepted by bold ranges of trap and granite--one of which bearing north 32 degrees east magnetic, distant nearly 100 miles, having a sharp volcanic outline, reared its summit above all the rest. To the south-east the country was not quite so promising, the ridges presenting naked stony outlines, upon which was only a little scanty gra.s.s or a few bushes; to the south it was almost an uninterrupted plain, extending nearly as far as the Murchison River, over which lay our homeward course. Descending the mount, we encamped at a spring in some fine feed close at its foot.

RETURN TOWARDS SETTLEMENTS.

4th June.

As we had now been out fifty-one days, and our provisions were only calculated to last twenty-four days longer, although we had reduced our allowance shortly after quitting the Geraldine Mine, we were reluctantly compelled to turn our steps homewards, being still 360 miles from the settled districts; pa.s.sing, therefore, over the eastern foot of Mount Augustus, we pursued a south-south-east course for twenty miles over alternating gra.s.sy plains and stony ridges, and encamped on the river with a sandy bed, in which were a few shallow pools, its trend bearing north-north-west, and probably joins the Gascoyne near the Lockier Range.

The feed on this river, as well as on those between this and the Murchison, was princ.i.p.ally kangaroo-gra.s.s of strong growth; the course of the streams being easily traceable from a distance by the flooded-gum trees that invariably lined their margins.

5th June.

A south course of ten miles over a poor stony country brought us to the head of a stream, which, following in the same direction to lat.i.tude 24 degrees 51 minutes 52 seconds, we found plenty of feed on its banks and pools of water in its bed, which was here thirty yards wide; the princ.i.p.al features of the adjacent country being low granite ridges, intersected by occasional quartz d.y.k.es, alternating with chlorite schist.

6th June (Sunday).

7th June.