Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume I Part 32

GRa.s.s PULLED AND PILED IN RICKS BY THE NATIVES.

In the neighbourhood of our camp the gra.s.s had been pulled to a very great extent, and piled in hay-ricks so that the aspect of the desert was softened into the agreeable semblance of a hay-field. The gra.s.s had evidently been thus laid up by the natives, but for what purpose we could not imagine. At first I thought the heaps were only the remains of encampments, as the aborigines sometimes sleep on a little dry gra.s.s; but when we found the ricks, or hayc.o.c.ks, extending for miles we were quite at a loss to understand why they had been made. All the gra.s.s was of one kind, a new species of Panic.u.m related to P. effusum R. Br.* and not a spike of it was left in the soil over the whole of the ground. A cucurbitaceous plant had also been pulled up and acc.u.mulated in smaller heaps; and from some of the roots the little yam had been taken, but on others it remained. The surface, naturally soft, thus appeared as bare as a fallow field. I found a pole about 20 feet long, with a forked end, set upright by having one end planted in the ground and fixed by many sticks and pieces of old stumps from the river. As the natives erect similar poles on the banks of the Darling to stretch their nets on for taking ducks it is probable that the heaps of gra.s.s had been pulled here for some purpose connected with the allurement of birds or animals.

(*Footnote. P. laevinode, Lindley ma.n.u.scripts; panicula composita contracta capillari, ramis pedicellisque flexuosis, spiculis acutis glabris, gluma exteriore rotundata laxa: interiore 5-nervi, foliis vaginis geniculisque glabris laevibus.)

HILLS BEYOND THE DARLING.

June 20.

The morning was fine but a heavy dew had fallen during the night. We proceeded across ground quite open, herbless, and so very soft that even my horse waded through it with difficulty. At length we gained some gentle rises at the base of which the soil was a clay, so tenacious as to have hollows in its surface which, during wet seasons, had evidently retained water for a considerable time. A fine hill, apparently connected with a range extending northward, at length became visible beyond the right bank of the river and, as I had previously observed in one or two similar cases, the Darling took a westerly turn towards the hill, so that this day's journey was not much to the south of west. On one of the low eminences which we crossed a new species of parrot was shot, having scarlet feathers on the breast, those on the head and wings being tinged a beautiful blue, and on the back, etc. a dark brownish green.* The round knolls consist of a red earth which is different from the soil of the plains; its basis appearing to be ironstone. We encamped on good firm ground, and there was abundance of good gra.s.s on the riverbank. We were not very far from the heights on the opposite side; a branch from them extending nearly to the river.

(*Footnote. This bird has since been named by Mr. Gould Platycercus haematogaster.)

June 21.

The ground was much better this day for travelling over. We pa.s.sed through a scrub of limited extent, and for the first time in these parts we discovered a new species of casuarina. On ascending a small hill to the left of our route I perceived two summits of a distant range, bearing 169 degrees 20 minutes (from North) and I was not sorry to see that the intervening country was better wooded and undulated more than that we had lately traversed, for wherever trees or bushes grew, we generally found the ground to be hardest. We were compelled to travel much farther than I intended in order to reach the river, which took a great sweep to the west, a change in its direction which I had previously observed to take place in the course of this river on approaching a similar feature on the right bank. The river was narrower and its channel more contracted at this part than at any other I had seen; indeed so great was the change in the dimensions that I doubted whether this was more than an arm of it.

The current however ran at about the same rate, and the general course for some miles to the southward was marked out, as usual, by large trees.

At the camp the head of the range on the right bank bore North 16 degrees West.

CONVENIENT REFRACTION.

June 22.

The distant range which I observed during the journey of yesterday appeared high above the horizon of our camp this morning, and the refracted image was so perfect that with my gla.s.s I could distinguish the trees and other objects. Thus I obtained bearings on the range from a spot whence it could be but seldom visible. The small eminences to the eastward, from which I first saw that range, were also refracted, and appeared like cliffs on a sea coast. To the astonishment of the men all the hills however soon disappeared. The Darling took some bends eastward of south; and we were much troubled during this day's journey by the soft ground through which we were obliged to travel in order to keep clear of the river. At length I could proceed south-west, and on reaching, at 12 1/4 miles, a bend in the channel, I saw one of the low ridges extending westward. On ascending it I discovered a range to the south-west, apparently connected with that already seen to the south, and from the many beaten paths of the natives it seemed probable that this angle was the nearest to the hilly country which lay to the south-east.

NATIVE HUTS.

There were also permanent huts on both banks, the first of the kind I had seen, large enough certainly to contain a family of 15 persons; and in one there had recently been a fire. They were semicircular and constructed of branches of trees, well thatched with straw, forming altogether a covering of about a foot in thickness, and they were well able to afford a ready and dry shelter in bad weather. In this respect the inhabitants of that part of the Darling may be considered somewhat before their brethren further eastward as rational beings. These permanent huts seemed also to indicate a race of more peaceful and settled habits, for where the natives are often at war such habitations could neither be permanent nor safe. The river was here itself again, and not contracted as at the last encampment.

INTERVIEW WITH THE RED TRIBE.

June 23.

Early this morning the natives were heard hailing us from the woods, and as soon as I had breakfasted I advanced to them with Burnett. They were seventeen in number, and five or six of the foremost held out green boughs. I also pulled one, but they called to me and beckoned me to lay aside my sword, which I accordingly did, and then they all sat down. They had good, expressive countenances, but they were not strong-looking men.

One, whose physiognomy I thought very prepossessing, and much improved by the cheeks and other features being coloured red, appeared to be their chief. He sat in the middle of the front row, and though he said but little yet he was addressed by the more forward and talkative. This rough, manly, rosy-faced fellow was such a figure as Neptune or Jupiter are usually represented; he had also a flowing beard. The group were almost all marked with the smallpox. I could not gain any certain information from them about the course of the river or the bearing of the nearest sea; but they all pointed to the north-north-west when I made signs of rowing in water, or of large waves, etc. On quitting them I presented the king with a greyhound pup and a tomahawk. A total ignorance of the nature of the latter was a proof that we were indeed strangers to them; for, although the tool had a handle, they knew not what use to make of it until I showed them. We left them quite delighted with both gifts, which were doubtless as important to them as the discovery of a sea would then have been to me. The journey of this day opened prospects the most promising for such a discovery, for the river from that bend pursued a more westerly course. Ranges beyond ranges arose also in the south-west, while vast plains, without any indication of the Darling among them, extended before us to the west-south-west. I had some trouble indeed to get as near to the river as was indispensable for encampment; but at length we halted on a firm bit of ground, close to a very sharp bend in its course.

HOW TO AVOID THE SANDY HILLS AND SOFT PLAINS.

June 24.

We possessed nearly west over open ground skirted on the south by gentle eminences of red earth. There plains of soft naked soil were most distressing to the bullocks, and even to horses and men on foot; in the general direction of the river these plains extended to the horizon, but the southern boundary of small hills was a peculiar feature, not observed higher up. Though the base of these eminences consisted of fine blue clay, yet their tops were so sandy and soft that the carts sank deeper than on the plains. It was my study to keep along the side of these hills as much as my route would permit; for in general the best line for travelling through the valley of the Darling is along the edging of stiff clay always to be found near the base of the red sandhills, which form the limits of those softer plains that usually extend for several miles back from the river.

MACCULLOCH'S RANGE.

On ascending the highest of the hills on my left I discovered that the ground to the southward was much more broken, and the appearance of a valley between me and a range which I named after Dr. Macculloch raised my hopes of finding some change in the country. On ascending however another eminence to the right, I perceived the summit of a hill which bore west-north-west, and rather discouraged my hopes respecting the river, for I had a.s.sumed that its new direction towards the westward would continue. We crossed the hill and encamped about two miles to the southward of a bend of the river. Here there was a fall of about four feet over ma.s.ses of ferruginous clay with selenites embedded.* The banks were lower at this point than usual, and the quant.i.ty of running water was rather increased, probably from the springs which we had latterly observed in great abundance in the banks, generally about two feet above the surface of the stream. On the plains this day we found much selenite.

(*Footnote. This clay, in the opinion of geologists, has every appearance of a mud deposit.)

June 25.

There was again a considerable mirage or refraction this morning on the rising of the frost; and I hastened to a small hill near our camp that I might behold the transient vision of a distant horizon. The view was most interesting for the high lands on all sides appeared raised as if by magic; and I thus discovered that the hill, previously seen in the west, was connected with a chain which extended round to the north, and that there was higher land to the southward of Macculloch's range; the highest point being to the east, or east-north-east, beyond the hill discovered on the 21 instant. The horizon was lowest towards the west-south-west, for even in the south-west I could perceive a rise sufficient to confine the course of the river to the west-south-west. We proceeded nearly west by south over a soft bed of naked earth, across which, at one place, a well-beaten road of the natives led to the valley on the south and to some watercourse, if not to water itself. After 10 1/4 miles of weary travelling, we encamped on a bend of the Darling, in lat.i.tude 31 degrees 31 minutes 20 seconds South.

The soil of the plains being extremely soft, uneven, and full of holes, the cattle were at length almost unable to get through their allotted journeys; I therefore determined to let them rest during the three following days while I proceeded to the hills beyond the Darling, in a west-north-west direction nearly, and distant from our camp 11 2/3 miles.

VISIT A HILL BEYOND THE DARLING.

June 26.

I forded the Darling where the bottom was a hard clay; and I proceeded in a direction bearing 27 degrees north of west to the hill. There was much less of the soft soil on this bank, and at a mile from the ford we travelled on very firm clay, quite clear of vegetation, white, shining, and level as ice. At about seven miles from the river we reached the first rise of firm red earth. The vegetation upon it consisted of the two species of atriplex so very common on that soil, and more of the salsolae than I had before seen. This rise seemed to mark the extent of the bed of clay through which the Darling flows, at least as far as we had hitherto traced it. The country was open to about three miles from the summit where we pa.s.sed through a scrub of stunted casuarinae, interspersed with a few of the acacia with spotted bark. Here we crossed some beds of conglomerate, consisting of grains and pebbles of quartz, cemented by a hard ferruginous matrix, probably decomposed felspar; and we saw soon after a few blocks of the same hard sandstone which occurs at Dunlop's range and other high points.

VIEW FROM ITS SUMMIT.

The summit, consisting of the same rock, was very broad and strewed with small stones, and partly covered with a dwarf acacia bush which gave a uniform tinge, like heath, to the whole country as far as my view extended to the westward. The horizon to the west and south-west was finely broken by hills resembling Oxley's Tableland and D'Urban's group, but the day was hazy, and I looked in vain for any indication of water.

The heights towards the south-west appeared too detached also to promise any; more resembling islands in a sea, or pinnacles, only half-emerged from a deluge, so level was the general surface. Towards the north-west however the heights did seem connected, and had the appearance of being the loftier summits of very distant ranges; especially an eminence bearing 21 degrees north of west which I named Mount Lyell. There was also an isolated and remarkable summit which bore 50 1/2 degrees north of west, to which I gave the name of my friend, Dr. Daubeny. The lower ground seemed to undulate, but no part of it was intersected by open plains or any lines of large river trees indicating the permanent existence of water. On the contrary, as far as I could judge from colour and outline, the same thick dwarf scrub appeared to be the universal covering of the land; neither could I distinguish any smoke or other trace of human inhabitants, nor even the track of a single emu or kangaroo in that trans-Darling region. Still, it was impossible to ascertain from the hill whether any streams did flow through the country beyond, although appearances were by no means in favour of such a conclusion. Neither could I distinguish from that summit, as I hoped to do, the ultimate course of the Darling, as the line of large trees upon its banks continued, as far as I could distinguish, in the same direction. Another low but extensive range, exactly resembling that to the eastward of our camp, was visible on the horizon beyond it, and seemed to be the limit of its bed or basin on the eastern or left bank, and the range certainly did differ most essentially in its outline from the hills on the right bank, being the last and lowest termination of the higher ranges in the east.

MOUNT MURCHISON.

As we descended I named the first hill beyond the Darling ever ascended by any European after my friend Mr. Murchison, a gentleman who has so greatly advanced the science of geology. We recrossed the river at the ford just as the sun was going down, and I had the satisfaction to find that no natives had visited the camp during my absence.

CHAPTER 2.6.

Natives of the Spitting tribe.

Singular behaviour on the discharge of a pistol.

Conjectures.

Second interview with the Spitting tribe.

Strange ceremonial.

Amusing attempts to steal, or diamond cut diamond.

Dry channel of a stream.

Tombs on the sandhills.

White b.a.l.l.s on tombs.

Australian shamrock.

Old canoe.

Dry state of the country.

Danger and difficulty of watching the cattle on the riverbanks.

Uniform character of the Darling.

The Grenadier bird.

The Doctor and the natives.

A range discovered by refraction.

Dance of natives.

A lake.

Tombs of a tribe.

Plan of natives' hut.

Method of making cordage.

The tall native's first visit.

Channel of a small stream.

The carts beset on the journey by very covetous natives.

Mischievous signals.

Cattle worn out.