Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 36

NATIVE FEMALES.

The fog was succeeded by a fine warm day, and as we proceeded we saw two gins and their children at work separately on a swampy meadow; and, quick as the sight of these natives is, we had travelled long within view before they observed us. They were spread over the field much in the manner in which emus and kangaroos feed on plains, and we observed them digging in the ground for roots. All carried bags and when Piper went towards them they ran with great speed across the vast open plains to the southward.

CATTLE TRACKS.

This day we perceived the fresh track of several bullocks, a very extraordinary circ.u.mstance in that situation. The beautiful yellow-wreathed acacia was not to be seen after we quitted the open country. The ground was becoming almost hopelessly soft, when we reached a small run of water from the hills and, by keeping along its bank, we had the good fortune to reach an extremity of the range where the solid granite was as welcome to our feet as a dry beach is to shipwrecked seamen.

ASCEND MOUNT COLE.

We had at length arrived under Mammala, the bluff hill which had been my landmark from the time I left Mr. Stapylton. I found this was the southern extremity of a lofty range which I lost no time in ascending after I had fixed on a spot for the camp. It consisted of huge blocks of granite,* and was crowned with such lofty timber that I could only catch occasional peeps of the surrounding country: nevertheless I obtained, by moving about among the trees with my pocket s.e.xtant, almost all the angles I wanted; and I thus connected the survey of the region I was leaving with that I was about to enter. My first view over this eastern country was extensive, and when I at length descended to a projecting rock I found the prospect extremely promising, the land being variegated with open plains and strips of forest, and studded with smooth green hills of the most beautiful forms. In the extreme distance a range much resembling that on which I stood declined at its southern extremity in the same manner as this did, and thus left me a pa.s.sage precisely in the most direct line of route homewards.

(*Footnote. Consisting of pink felspar, white quartz and silvery mica.)

ENTER ON A GRANITE COUNTRY.

The carts had still however to cross the range at which we had arrived and which, as I perceived here, not only extended southward but also broke into bold ravines on the eastern side, being connected with some n.o.ble hills, or rather mountains, all gra.s.sy to their summits, thinly wooded and consisting wholly of granite. They resembled very much some hills of the lower Pyrenees in Spain, only that they were more gra.s.sy and less acclivitous, and I named this hill Mount Cole. To the southward the sea-haze dimmed the horizon: but I perceived the eastern margin of a large piece of water bearing south-south-east, and which I supposed might be Cadong. It was sheltered on the south-east by elevated ground apparently very distant, but no high range appeared between us and that inlet of the sea. On the contrary the heights extending southward from this summit, being connected with the highest and most southern hills visible from it, seemed to be the only high land or separation of the waters falling north and south. With such a country before us I bade adieu to swamps and returned well pleased to the camp, being guided to it only by the gushing torrent, for I had remained on the hill as long as daylight lasted.

MANY RIVULETS.

September 24.

The morning was rainy and our way having to be traced up the ravines and round the hills was very tortuous for the first three miles. We then reached the dividing part of the range and descended immediately after into valleys of a less intricate character. Having pa.s.sed over the swampy bed of a rivulet flowing southward, and having also crossed several fine bold ridges with good streams between them, we at length encamped near a round hill which, being clear on the summit, was therefore a favourable station for the theodolite. This hill also consisted of granite and commanded an open and extensive view over the country to the eastward.

September 25.

One bold range of forest land appeared before us and after crossing it we pa.s.sed over several rivulets falling northward, then over a ridge of trappean conglomerate with embedded quartz pebbles, and descended into a valley of the finest description. Gra.s.sy hills clear of timber appeared beyond a stream also flowing northward. These hills consisted of old vesicular lava. We next entered a forest of very large trees of ironbark eucalyptus, and we finally encamped in a gra.s.sy valley in the midst of this forest.

September 26.

We first crossed more hills of the trappean conglomerate on which grew ironbark eucalypti and box. The rock consisted of a base of compact felspar with embedded grains of quartz, giving to some parts the character of conglomerate, and there were also embedded crystals of common felspar. By diverging a little to the right we entered upon an open tract of the most favourable aspect, stretching away to the south-west among similar hills until they were lost in the extreme distance. The whole surface was green as an emerald and on our right for some miles ran a fine rivulet between steep gra.s.sy banks and over a bed of trap-rock.

MAMMELOID HILLS.

At length this stream was joined by two others coming through similar gra.s.sy valleys from the south; and when we approached two lofty smooth round hills, green to their summits, the united streams flowed in an open dell which our carts rolled through without meeting any impediment. I ascended the most western of these hills as it was a point which I had observed from various distant stations, and I enjoyed such a charming view eastward from the summit as can but seldom fall to the lot of the explorers of new countries. The surface presented the forms of pristine beauty clothed in the hues of spring; and the shining verdure of these smooth and symmetrical hills was relieved by the darker hues of the wood with which they were interlaced; which exhibited every variety of tint, from a dark brown in the foreground to a light blue in extreme distance.

LAVA, THE SURFACE ROCK.

The hills consisted entirely of lava and I named them from their peculiar shape the Mammeloid hills, and the station on which I stood Mount Greenock. In travelling through this Eden no road was necessary, nor any ingenuity in conducting wheel-carriages wherever we chose. The beautiful little terrestrial orchidaceous plants Caladenia dilatata and Diuris aurea were already in full bloom; and we also found on the plains this day a most curious little bush resembling a heath in foliage, but with solitary polypetalous flowers resembling those of Sollya.* When we had completed fourteen miles we encamped on the edge of an open plain and near a small rivulet, the opposite bank consisting of gra.s.sy forest land.

(*Footnote. This has been ascertained to be a new species of the genus Campylanthera of Hooker, or p.r.o.naya of Baron Hugel, of which two species were found by the latter botanist and the late Mr. Frazer at Swan River.

Campylanthera ericoides, Lindley ma.n.u.scripts; erecta, fruticosa, glabra, foliis oblongo-cuneatis mucronatis margine revolutis, floribus solitariis terminalibus erectis, antheris subrotundis.)

ABORIGINAL IMITATIONS.

September 27.

I was surprised to hear the voice of a Scotchwoman in the camp this morning. The peculiar accent and rapid utterance could not be mistaken as I thought, and I called to inquire who the stranger was, when I ascertained that it was only Tommy Came-last who was imitating a Scotch female who, as I then learnt, was at Portland Bay and had been very kind to Tommy. The imitation was ridiculously true through all the modulations of that peculiar accent although, strange to say, without the p.r.o.nunciation of a single intelligible word. The talent of the aborigines for imitation seems a peculiar trait in their character. I was informed that The Widow could also amuse the men occasionally by enacting their leader, taking angles, drawing from nature, etc.

While the party went forward over the open plains with Mr. Stapylton I ascended a smooth round hill, distant about a mile to the southward of our camp, from which I could with ease continue my survey by means of hills on all sides, the highest of them being to the southward. I could trace the rivulets flowing northward into one or two princ.i.p.al channels, near several ma.s.ses of mountain: these channels and ranges being probably connected with those crossed by us on our route from the Murray. In these bare hills and on the open gra.s.sy plains, old vesicular lava abounded; small loose elongated fragments lay on the round hills, having a red scorified appearance and being also so cellular as to be nearly as light as pumice. We this day crossed several fine running streams and forests of box and bluegum growing on ridges of trappean conglomerate. At length we entered on a very level and extensive flat, exceedingly green and resembling an English park. It was bounded on the east by a small river flowing to the north-west (probably the Loddon) and abrupt but gra.s.sy slopes arose beyond its right bank. After crossing this stream we encamped, having travelled nearly fifteen miles in one straight line bearing 60 1/2 degrees east of north. This tract was rather of a different character from that of the fine country of which we had previously seen so much, and we saw for the first time the Discaria australis, a remarkable green leafless spiny bush and resembling in a most striking manner the Colletias of Chili. Sheltered on every side by woods or higher ground, the spring seemed more advanced there than elsewhere, and our hard wrought cattle well deserved to be the first to browse on that verdant plain. The stream in its course downwards vanished amongst gra.s.sy hills to water a country apparently of the most interesting and valuable character.

September 28.

The steep banks beyond the river consisted of clay-slate having under it a conglomerate containing fragments of quartz cemented by compact haemat.i.te.

SNAKES EATEN BY THE NATIVES.

The day was hot and we killed several large snakes of the species eaten by the natives. I observed that our guides looked at the colour of the belly when in any doubt about the sort they preferred; these were white-bellied, whereas the belly of a very fierce one with a large head, of which Piper and the others seemed much afraid, was yellow. On cutting this snake open two young quails were found within: one of them not being quite dead. The country we crossed during the early part of the day was at least as fine as that we had left. We pa.s.sed alternately through strips of forest and over open flats well watered, the streams flowing southward; and at nine miles we crossed a large stream also flowing in that direction: all these being evidently tributaries to that on which we had been encamped. Beyond the greater stream, where we last crossed it, the country presented more of the mountain character, but good strong gra.s.s grew among the trees, which consisted of box and lofty bluegum.

After making out upwards of eleven miles, we encamped in a valley where water lodged in holes and where we found also abundance of gra.s.s. We were fast approaching those summits which had guided me in my route from Mount Cole, then more than fifty miles behind us. Like that mountain these heights also belonged to a lofty range, and like it were beside a very low part of it, through which I hoped to effect a pa.s.sage. Leaving the party to encamp I proceeded forward in search of the hill I had so long seen before me, and I found that the hills immediately beyond our camp were part of the dividing range and broken into deep ravines on the eastern side. Pursuing the connection between them and the still higher summits on the north-east, I came at length upon an open valley enclosed by hills very lightly wooded. This change was evidently owing to a difference in the rock which was a fine-grained granite, whereas the hills we had recently crossed belonged chiefly to the volcanic cla.s.s of rocks, with the exception of the range I had traversed that evening in my way from the camp, which consisted of ferruginous sandstone. With the change of rock a difference was also obvious in the shape of the hills, the quant.i.ty and quality of the water, and the character of the trees.

The hills presented a bold sweeping outline and were no longer broken by sharp-edged strata but crowned with large round ma.s.ses of rock. Running water was gushing from every hollow in much greater abundance than elsewhere; and lastly the timber, which on the other ranges consisted chiefly of ironbark and stringybark, now presented the shining bark of the bluegum or yarra and the grey hue of the box. The Anthisteria australis, a gra.s.s which seems to delight in a granitic soil, also appeared in great abundance, and we also found the aromatic tea, Tasmania aromatica, which represents in New Holland the winter's bark of the southern extremity of South America. The leaves and bark of this tree have a hot biting cinnamon-like taste on which account it is vulgarly called the pepper-tree.

ASCEND MOUNT BYNG.

I could ride with ease to the summit of the friendly hill that I had seen from afar, and found it but thinly wooded so that I could take my angles around the horizon without difficulty. Again reminded by the similar aspect this region presented of the lower Pyrenees and the pa.s.s of Orbaicetta, I named the summit Mount Byng.

RICH GRa.s.s.

A country fully as promising as the fine region we had left was embraced in my view from that point. I perceived long patches of open plain interspersed with forest hills and low woody ranges, among which I could trace out a good line of route for another fifty miles homewards. The highest of the mountains lay to the south and evidently belonged to the coast range, if it might be so called; and on that side a lofty ma.s.s arose above the rest and promised a view towards the sea, that height being distant from the hill on which I stood about thirty miles. A broad chain of woody hills connected the coast range with Mount Byng, and I could trace the general course of several important streams through the country to the east of it. Northward I saw a little of the interior plains and the points where the various ranges terminated upon them. The sun was setting when I left Mount Byng but I depended on one of our natives, Tommy Came-last, who was then with me, for finding our way to the camp; and who on such occasions could trace my steps backwards with wonderful facility by day or night.

EXPEDITION Pa.s.s.

September 29.

The range before us was certainly rather formidable for the pa.s.sage of carts, but home lay beyond it, while delay and famine were synonymous terms with us at that time. By following up the valley in which we had encamped I found early on this morning an easy way through which the carts might gain the lowest part of the range. Having conducted them to this point without any other inconvenience besides the overturning of one cart (from bad driving) we descended along the hollow of a ravine after making it pa.s.sable by throwing some rocks into the narrow part near its head. The ravine at length opened, as I had expected, into a gra.s.sy valley with a fine rivulet flowing through it, and from this valley we debouched into the still more open granitic country at the foot of Mount Byng. The pa.s.s thus auspiciously discovered and opened, over a neck apparently the very lowest of the whole range, I named Expedition-pa.s.s, confident that such a line of communication between the southern coast and Sydney must, in the course of time, become a very considerable thoroughfare. The change of soil however introduced us to the old difficulty from which we had been happily relieved for some time, for we came once more upon rotten and boggy ground. We met with this unexpected impediment in an open-looking flat near a rivulet I was about to cross, when I found the surface so extremely soft and yielding that from the extreme resistance a bolt of the boat-carriage gave way, a circ.u.mstance which obliged us immediately to encamp although we had travelled only four miles.

EXCURSION TOWARDS PORT PHILLIP.

September 30.

Compelled thus to await the repair of the boat-carriage I determined to make an excursion to the lofty mountain ma.s.s which appeared about thirty miles to the southward, in order that I might connect my survey with Port Phillip, which I hoped to see thence. The horses were not found as soon as they were required, but when we at last got upon their backs we were therefore less disposed to spare them.

DISCOVER AND CROSS THE RIVER BARNARD.

We crossed some soft hollows during the first few miles, and then arrived on the banks of a small and deep river with reeds on its borders, and containing many broad and deep reaches. It was full and flowed, but not rapidly, towards the north-east, and it was not until we had continued along the left bank of this stream for a considerable way upwards that we found a rapid where we could cross without swimming. The left bank was of bold acclivity but gra.s.sy and clear of timber, being very level on the summit; and I found it consisted of trap-rock of the same vesicular character which I had observed in so many other parts of this southern region. Beyond the river (which I then named the Barnard) we first encountered a hilly country from which we emerged rather unexpectedly; for after crossing a small rivulet flowing in a deep and gra.s.sy dell where trap-rock again appeared, and ascending the opposite slope, we found that the summit consisted of an open level country of the finest description. It was covered with the best kind of gra.s.s and the immediate object of our ride, the mountain, was now visible beyond these rich plains. Some fine forest-hills arose in various directions to the right and left, and indeed I never saw a more pleasing or promising portion of territory. The rich open ground across which we rode was not without slight undulations; and when we had traversed about four miles of it we came quite unawares to a full and flowing stream, nearly on a level with its gra.s.sy banks; the bottom being so sound that we forded it without the least difficulty.

EMUS NUMEROUS AND TAME.

Emus were very numerous on the downs and their curiosity brought them to stare at our horses, apparently unconscious of the presence of the biped on their backs whom both birds and beasts seem instinctively to avoid. In one flock I counted twenty-nine emus, and so near did they come to us that, having no rifle with me, I was tempted to discharge even my pistol at one, although without effect. Kangaroos were equally numerous. Having proceeded three miles beyond the stream we came to another flowing to the westward between some very deep ponds, and it was probably a tributary to the first.

THE RIVER CAMPASPE.

At twenty-two miles from the camp, on descending from some finely undulating open ground, we arrived at a stream flowing westward, which I judged to be also a branch of that we had first crossed. Its bed consisted of granitic rocks and on the left bank I found trap. We had this stream afterwards in sight on our left until, at two miles further, we again crossed it and entered a wood of eucalyptus, being then only five miles distant from the mountain, and we subsequently found that this wood extended to its base.

EFFECTS OF A STORM IN THE WOODS.

The effects of some violent hurricane from the north were visible under every tree, the earth being covered with broken branches, some of which were more than a foot in diameter; the withering leaves remained upon them, and I remarked that no whole trees had been blown down, although almost all had lost their princ.i.p.al limbs and not a few had been reduced to bare poles. The havoc which the storm had made gave an unusual aspect to the whole of the forest land, so universally was it covered with withering branches. Whether this region is subject to frequent visitations of a like nature I could not of course then ascertain; but I perceived that many of the trees had lost some of their top limbs at a much earlier period in a similar manner. Neither had this been but a partial tempest, for to the very base of the mountain the same effects were visible. The trees on its side were of a much grander character than those in the forest, and consisted princ.i.p.ally of black-b.u.t.t and bluegum eucalypti measuring from six to eight feet in diameter. The rock was syenite, so weathered as to resemble sandstone.

ASCEND MOUNT MACEDON.