Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia - Thomas Mitchell
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3RD MAY.--Natives were heard near our camp during the night, and we
perceived the smoke of their fires, in the bushes, behind in the morning.
Yuranigh went up to them, accompanied by one of the party bearing a green
branch, and he prevailed on three of their tribe to come to our tents.
One stood amongst the carts and tents, apparently quite absorbed in
observation. Intense curiosity in these men had evidently overcome all
their fears of such strangers. They were entirely naked, and without any
kind of ornament or weapon, offensive or defensive. With steady fixed
looks, eyes wide open, and serious intelligent countenances, what passed
in their minds was not disguised, as is usual with savages. On the
contrary, there was a manly openness of countenance, and a look of good
sense about them, which would have gained my full confidence, could we
but have understood each other. They asked for nothing, nor did they show
any covetousness, although surrounded by articles, the smallest of which
might have been of use to them. There must be an original vein of mind in
these aboriginal men of the land. O that philosophy or philanthropy could
but find it out and work it! Yuranigh plied them with all my questions,
but to little purpose; for although he could understand their language,
he complained that they did not answer him in it, but repeated, like
parrots, whatever he said to them. In the same manner, they followed me
with a very exact repetition of English words. He, however, gathered from
them that the lake was called "Turanimga," this river "Cogoon," a hill to
the eastward "Toolumba," etc. They had never before seen white men, and
behaved as properly as it was possible for men in their situation to do.
At length we set out on our journey, and in mounting my horse, which
seemed very much to astonish them, I made signs that we were going to the
mountains.
Travelling by the river bank was easy, over grassy forest land. The deep
ponds were tolerably well filled, but the quantity of water was small, in
comparison with that in the Balonne; which the natives seemed to say we
had left to the right, and that this was "one of its brothers." Malga
scrub crowned the bergs of the river, where they bounded one of these
forest flats forming its margin, and the mere sight of that impervious
sort of scrub was sufficient to banish all thoughts of making straighter
cuts to the north-west. Our course, with the river, was, however, now
rather to the west of north-west; and that this was but a tributary to
the Balonne, was evident. That river line, as traced by us, pursued a
tolerably straight direction between the parallels of 29 deg. and 27 deg., coming
round from nearly north-east to about north. For these last three days we
had travelled with this minor channel, to the westward of north-west; in
which direction I had, therefore, good reason to expect that we should
soon find mountains.
As soon as we arrived at an eligible spot for the camp, I proceeded, with
Yuranigh, towards a height presenting a rocky face, which I saw through
the trees, and seemed distant about two miles. From that crest, I
perceived woody ridges on all sides, but all apparently sloping from the
south-west; and a misty valley beyond the nearest of them in the
northeast, like the line of the Balonne. But the most interesting sight
to me then, was that of blue pics at a great distance to the north-west,
the object of all my dreams of discovery for years. No white man had
before seen these. There we might hope to find the DIVISA AQUARUM, still
undiscovered; the pass to Carpentaria, still unexplored: I called this
hill Mount First View, and descended, delighted with what I had seen from
its rocky crest. The sides were covered with Malga scrub. The rock was
felspathic, apparently allied to those already seen in the Balonne. Lat.
27 deg. 2' 57" S. Thermometer, at sunrise, 45 deg.; at 4 P. M., 68 deg.; at 9 P. M.,
45 deg.;--with wet bulb, 43 deg..
4TH MAY.--An Australian morning is always charming,--amid these scenes of
primaeval nature it seemed exquisitely so. The BARITA? or GYMNORHINA, the
organ-magpie, was here represented by a much smaller bird, whose notes,
resembling the softest breathings of a flute, were the only sounds that
met the ear. What the stillness of even adds to such sounds in other
climes, is felt more intensely in the stillness of morning in this. "The
rapture of repose that's there" gratifies every sense; the perfume of the
shrubs, of those even that have recently been burnt, and the tints and
tones of the landscape, accord with the soft sounds. The light red tints
of the ANTHISTIRIA, the brilliant green of the MIMOSA, the white stems of
the EUCALYPTUS, and the deep grey shadows of early morning, still
slumbering about the woods, are blended and contrasted in the most
pleasing harmony. The forms in the soft landscape are equally fine, from
the wild fantastic tufting of the Eucalyptus, and its delicate willow-
like ever-drooping leaf, to the prostrate trunks of ancient trees, the
mighty ruins of the vegetable world. Instead of autumnal tints, there is
a perpetual blending of the richest hues of autumn with the most
brilliant verdure of spring; while the sun's welcome rays in a winter
morning, and the cool breath of the woods in a summer morning, are
equally grateful concomitants of such scenes. These attach even the
savage to his woods, and might well reclaim the man of crime from
thoughts likely to disturb the harmony of human existence.
Following up the little river with more confidence now, since I had seen
whence it came, I proceeded more directly north-west. Thus I found myself
on a small creek, or chain of ponds, from the west and southwest, so that
I crossed it and made for some open ground, between ridges clothed with
dense Malga scrub. We thus crossed a low ridge, and descended towards a
fine open country, on which pigeons were numerous, and traces of natives.
It was also sloping to the northward, and I had no doubt that we had
passed into a valley which I had observed yesterday from Mount First
View, and had supposed it contained a larger river. In the open ground, I
found a small rocky knoll which I named Mount Minute. From its summit, I
recognised Mount First-Sight, bearing 128 deg. 30'. We next passed through
some scrub, and came to a hollow full of Acacia pendula. Following this
down we arrived at a chain of ponds, and these led to an open grassy
valley, in which we found our old friend, the river, still pursuing,
steadily, a north-west course. Travelling along the bank, for a mile or
two, we found that these now consisted of fine open forest flats; and at
length encamped on the margin, after a journey of about twelve miles.
Near our camp, I saw natives on the opposite bank, first standing in mute
astonishment, then running away. I held up a green bough, but they seemed
very wild; and, although occasionally seen during the afternoon, none of
them would approach us. We found on the banks of this river, a purple-
flowered CALANDRINIA, previously unknown.[*] Lat. 26 deg. 57' 39" S.
Thermometer, at sunrise, 25 deg.; at 4 P. M., 70 deg.; at 9, 37 deg.;--with wet bulb,
34 deg..
[* C. BALONENSIS (Lindl. MS.); foliis angustis obovato-lanceolatis
alternis oppositisque, racemis secundis multifloris caulibus multo
longioribus, floribus (conspicuis) polyandris.]
5TH MAY.--The three last nights had been cold, each, in succession,
colder than the former. This morning the thermometer stood at 19 deg. E., yet
the water was not frozen, nor did our natives, sleeping in the open air,
seem to feel it. Hence, it was obvious that, in a dry atmosphere, extreme
cold can be more easily borne than in one that is moist. So, also, in the
opposite extreme of heat and drought, we had been so accustomed to a
higher temperature than 100 deg. F., that any degree under that felt
refreshing. Our journey this day by the side of the little river was
still very straight towards the N. W. We met with rocks at the westerly
bends; from which side it was also joined by a small tributary, with
ponds and hollows containing marks of flood, and beds of the POLYGONUM
ACRE. Still, however, the main channel could be distinguished from these,
and the open forest flats along its banks became more and more extensive
and open as we ascended this channel,--leading so directly where we
wished to go.
Hills were occasionally seen back from it, chiefly covered with scrub,
but some were grassy and seemed fit for sheep. Others were clothed with
callitris, and there the woods were open enough to be travelled through.
I rode to the summit of one and recognized two of the points seen from
Mount First Sight. At one sharp turn of the river rugged rocks had to be
removed to make a way for the carts, but this was soon done. Beyond,
there was a noble reach of water in a rocky bed, traversed by a dyke of
felspathic rock, which exhibited a tendency to break into irregular
polygons, some of the faces of which were curved; its strike was E. and
W. We encamped on open forest land in lat. 26 deg. 54' 16" S. It was only
during the last two days that I could perceive in the barometer, any
indication that we were rising to any higher level above the sea than
that of the great basin, in which we had journeyed so long, and the
difference was still but trifling, as indicated by not more than six or
seven millimetres of the Syphon barometer; our actual height above the
sea being 737 feet. Thermometer, at sunrise, 19 deg.; at 4 P. M., 67 deg..
6TH MAY.--The banks of the Cogoon became more open, and the slopes less
abrupt as we advanced. They frequently consisted of a mixture of sand, at
a height of twenty feet above its bed; where it occupied a section of
considerable width, as much, perhaps, as 100 yards between bank and bank.
On these rounded off banks or bergs of forest land, Youranigh drew my
attention to large, old, waterworn, trunks of trees, which he showed me
had been deposited there by floods. As they were of a growth and size
quite disproportioned to other trees there, I was convinced that they
were the debris of floods; and, consequently, that a vast body of water
sometimes came down this channel. This native was taciturn and observant
of such natural circumstances, to a degree that made his opinion of value
in doubtful cases. Such, for instance, as which of two channels, that
might come both in our way, might be the main one; thus my last resource,
when almost "in a fix," was to "tomar el parecer," as they say in Spain,
of this aboriginal, and he was seldom wrong. At length, the cheering
expanse of an open country appeared before us, and a finely shaped hill,
half-covered only, with bushes. On reaching an elevated clear part, I saw
extensive downs before me. The river turned amongst woods to the
eastward, and I continued on our route to the north, sure of meeting with
it again, as some fine forest ridges hemmed in the valley to the
eastward. Besides the hill already mentioned (which I named Mount
Inviting), there was a curious red cone some miles to the westward,
crowned with a bit of rock, on which I longed to plant my theodolite.
After crossing the plain, we entered an open scrub of Acacia pendula
which gradually changed to an open forest, within which I met with a
chain of ponds, and encamped in lat. 26 deg. 46' S. I immediately set out,
with a man carrying my theodolite, for Mount Red Cap, distant from our
camp about six miles. This little red cone had a very singular
appearance, as we approached it from the east. A dark tinted scrub of
flat-topped trees enveloped its base, on the outside of which the light
and graceful Acacia pendula also grew on the grassy plain. I found the
red rock to be the common one of the country, in a state of
decomposition. It was hollowed out by some burrowing animal, whose tracks
had opened ways through the thick thorny scrub, enabling us to lead our
horses to near the top. From the apex, I obtained an extensive view of
the country then before us, in many parts clear of wood to the verge of
the horizon, and finely studded with isolated hills of picturesque form,
and patches of wood. Looking backward, or in the direction whence we had
come, our valley appeared hemmed in by more continuous ridges; and,
towards the extremity of them, I could just recognise Mount First View,
this being one of the distant cones I had seen from it. I took as many
angles as the descending sun permitted, and then retraced our horses'
tracks to the camp. Thermometer, at sunrise, 20 deg.; at 9 P. M., 47 deg.. Height
above the sea, 747 feet.
7TH MAY.--Pursuing a N. W. course, we crossed a fine tract of open
forest, then a plain, beyond which we entered a scrub of Acacia pendula,
in which pigeons and quail were very numerous. Turning northward, now
anxious again to see the river, on approaching this open country, we
found what we considered the highest branch of it, in a chain of ponds
skirting the wood bounding the plains. Halting the party, I continued my
ride a mile and a half further northward, to the summit of a clear ridge.
From thence I saw an open country to the northward, with some little
wood. On my right, or to the eastward, a double topped hill sate in the
centre of this fine open country, and from the abundance of good
pasturage around it, I named it Mount Abundance. We continued still to
follow the now attenuated channel upwards, and found it to come from the
west, and even south-west, leaving the extreme corner of the open downs,
and leading us into a scrub. There, it formed two branches, in neither of
which could we find any water, and had consequently to return to the last
of its ponds, situated exactly at the close of the open country towards
the S. W. There, we encamped in latitude 26 deg. 42' 27" S., thankful that we
had been enabled by its means to advance thus far, and to discover so
fine a tract of country as that watered by it. Thermometer, at sunrise,
48 deg.; at 4 P. M., 68 deg.; at 9, 30 deg..
8TH MAY.--This morning Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at 21 deg. in my tent,
a degree of cold I should never have expected to have seen indicated from
my own sensations, or from the state of the pond, which was not frozen,
neither was there any hoar frost. The sun rose in splendour; pigeons
cooed, and birds were as merry as usual in the woods. The business of the
day was most exciting; I was to ride over the fine open country to the
westward of Mount Abundance, and there look still for a higher branch of
the river, or A river; confident that so fine a region could not be
deficient in water, but more confident from what I had seen of the range
to which we had approached so near. Riding to the N. N. E. in about two
hours we came upon the identical river we had so long followed up. It was
accompanied, as usual, by the Acacia pendula; had its rounded bergs;
reedy water holes; and an open strip along the left bank. Crossing it I
rode over towards an elevated part of the open downs, in hopes to obtain
a sight of what the country was beyond, but I found that to be
impossible, as it seemed boundless. So, turning, I ascended an elevated
north-eastern extremity of Mount Abundance, and from it beheld the finest
country I had ever seen in a primaeval state. A champaign region, spotted
with wood, stretching as far as human vision, or even the telescope,
could reach. It was intersected by river lines from the north,
distinguishable by columns of smoke. A noble mountain mass arose in the
midst of that fine country, and was so elongated in a S. W. and N. E.
direction, as to deserve the name of a range.
A three-topped hill appeared far to the north of the above, and to the S.
E. of the first described, another mass, also isolated, overlooking that
variegated land of wood and plain. To the S. E. of all these, the peaks
of a very distant range were just visible. I determined to name the whole
country Fitzroy Downs, and to identify it, I gave the name of the Grafton
Range to the fine mass in the midst of it. In hopes of obtaining an
elevated view over the country to the westward, I endeavoured to ascend
the northern summit of Mount Abundance, but although the surface to near
the top was tolerably smooth, and the bush open, I was met there by
rugged rocks, and a scrub of thorny bushes so formidable as to tear
leathern overalls, and even my nose. After various attempts, I found I
was working round a rocky hollow, somewhat resembling a crater, although
the rock did not appear to be volcanic. The trees and bushes there were
different from others in the immediate vicinity, and, to me, seemed
chiefly new. It is, indeed, rather a curious circumstance, but by no
means uncommon, that the vegetation on such isolated summits in
Australia, is peculiar and different from that of the country around
them. Trees of a very droll form chiefly drew my attention here. The
trunk bulged out in the middle like a barrel, to nearly twice the
diameter at the ground, or of that at the first springing of the branches
above. These were small in proportion to their great girth, and the whole
tree looked very odd. These trees were all so alike in general form that
I was convinced this was their character, and not a LUSUS NATUROE. [A
still more remarkable specimen of this tree was found by Mr. Kennedy in
the apex of a basaltic peak, in the kind of gap of the range through
which we passed on the 15th of May, and of which he made the accompanying
drawing.]
These trees grew here only in that almost inaccessible, crater-like
hollow, which had impeded me in my attempt to reach the summit.[*]
Leaving the horses, however, I scrambled through the briars and up the
rocks to the summit, but found it, after all this trouble, too thickly
covered with scrub to afford me the desired view to the westward, even
after I had ascended a tree on the edge of the broad and level plateau,
so thickly covered with bushes. On returning and descending eastward
towards the open country, I found a much more practicable way down than
that by which I had ascended. Returning to the valley of the Cogoon, I
passed between the two summits, and found a good open passage to the
westward between the brigalow. Thermometer, at sunrise, 20 deg.; at noon,
70 deg.; at 4 P. M., 68 deg.; at 9, 30 deg.. Height above the sea 1043 feet.
[* This remarkable plant constitutes a new and very curious genus of
Sterculiads. It agrees with STERCULIA in the position of the radicle with
respect to the hilum, but it is, otherwise, a BRACHYCHITON, with which it
more especially corresponds in the singular condition of the seeds. These
are placed, six together, in the interior of long-stalked, ovate,
mucronate, smooth, deep brown follicles, of a tough papery texture, and
lined with a thin fur of stellate hairs. The seeds themselves are also
closely covered with starry hairs, which are so entangled that they hold
the seeds together firmly; these hairs, however, are absent from the
upper half of the seed, whose thin brittle vascular primine is shining,
smooth, and marked with a brown nipple, the remains of the foramen.
Within the primine lies the bony crustaceous secundine, which is quite
loose, and seems as if it were independent of the primine. Eventually the
end of the thin brittle primine breaks like an eggshell and the secundine
falls out. The seeds themselves, remaining attached to each other and to
the follicle, resemble six deep cells, or may be rather compared to half
a dozen brown eggshells, placed on the broad end, from which the young
have escaped through the point.
Sir Thomas Mitchell has named the genus after Sir Henry T. De la Beche,
as president of a Society which has greatly encouraged him in his
Australian researches; and in honour of a science which has occasionally
thrown some light on his dark and difficult path. It may be
scientifically described as follows:--
DELABECHEA.
CHAR. GEN. CALYX 5-fidus, valvatus. ANTHEROE congestae. STYLI. ...
STIGMATA. ... FOLLICULI coriaceo-papyracei, 6-spermi, longe stipitati,
intus stellato-pubescentes. SEMINA albuminosa, albumine bipartibili
cotyledonibus foliaceis parum adhaerente, pube stellari basi vestita,
inter se et fundo folliculi cohaerentia; PRIMINA laxa, tenui, fragili,
apice foramine incrassato notata, SECUNDINA crustacea, demum libera
chalaza magna circulari notata. EMBRYONIS radicula hilo contraria.
DELABECHEA RUPESTRIS.
ARBOR grandis, trunco in dolii speciem tumescente. LIGNUM album, laxum,
mucilagine repletum, vasis porosis (bothrenchymate) maximis faciem
internam cujusque zonae occupantibus, radiis medullaribus tenuibus
equidistantibus. FOLIA lineari-oblonga, acuminata, integerrima, in
petiolum filiformem ipsis duplbreviorem insidentia, subtus pallida et
quasi vernice quadam cinerea obducta. INFLORESCENTIA axillaris,
trichotoma, tomentosa, foliis brevior. CALYX valvatus, utrinque
tomentosus.
The wood of the tree has a remarkably loose texture: it is soft, and
brittle, owing to the presence of an enormous quantity of very large
tubes of pitted tissue, some of which measure a line and half across;
they form the whole inner face of each woody zone. When boiling water is
poured over shavings of this wood a clear jelly, resembling tragacanth,
is formed and becomes a thick viscid mass; iodine stains it brown, but
not a trace of starch is indicated in it. No doubt the nutritious quality
of the tree is owing to the mucilage, which is apparently of the same
nature as that of the nearly allied Tragacanth tree of Sierra Leone
(STERCULIA TRAGACANTHA).
It is not a little remarkable that the barrel-like form of the trunk
should be almost exactly paralleled by another Sterculiad, the CHORISIA
VENTRICOSA of Nees, called by the Brazilian Portuguese PAO BARRIGUDO. It
seems, however, that a tendency to a short lumpish mode of growth is
common among the order, as is indicated by the Baobab of Senegal, which
is almost as broad as it is long, and the great buttress trees, or Silk-
Cottons of tropical America.--J. L.]
9TH MAY.--The thermometer stood at 19 deg. in my tent this morning, yet no
ice appeared on the adjacent pool; for this reason, we named that branch
of the river Frosty Creek. In order to leave a more direct track for Mr.
Kennedy to follow with the drays, I made the carts return about two miles
to the spot where we first made these ponds. There I had a trench cut
across the track to the camp we had quitted, and also buried a letter for
Mr. Kennedy, in which I instructed him to avoid that detour which might
have otherwise led him into scrubs. We then prolonged our track from the
south, northward across the open downs. I travelled in the direction of
the meridian, and most of our route, this morning, marked a due north
line. We came, at length, upon a watercourse which I took for our river,
as the banks were finely rounded, the ponds full of water, and the woods
quite open. The scenery was parklike and most inviting. The watercourse,
soon, however, dwindled into a mere chain of ponds, and these at last
were found to contain no water, when we had completed our day's journey.
Open downs surrounded us, and fortunately I could still distinguish my
rocky position of yesterday, where I had noted that the general direction
of the river channel we had now again left, bore N. W. We were still much
to the southward of the line so observed, apprehending, as I did think
then, that some tempting plains might take us too far along some western
tributary. Riding in search of water, I perceived a column of smoke to
the northward; and, taking the party in that direction, we found, in the
first valley we fell in with, a chain of ponds, and in one of these water
enough for our use, whereupon I gladly encamped. This day we discovered a
new EUCALYPTUS which casts its bark in small angular pieces.[*] Latitude,
26 deg. 33' 34" S. Thermometer, at 4 P. M., 74 deg.; at sunset, 63 deg.. Height above
the sea, 1299 feet.
[* E. VIMINALIS (Hook. MS.); foliis alternis glaucis lineari-lanceolatis
breviter tenuiter petiolatis subfalcatis utrinque acuminatis
reticulatovenosis, nervis lateralibus marginem prope, racemis paucifloris
axillaribus, calyce turbinato in pedicellum brevem attenuato.]
10TH MAY.--Continued nearly northwards, over fine open forest land. The
sprinkling of mountains of peculiar forms here and there, and the open
country, which showed a bluey distance, were new features in the scenery,
and most pleasing to us, so long accustomed to travel through a level
woody country. The visible possibility of overlooking the country from
any eminence, is refreshing at all times, but to an explorer it is every
thing; besides he is not half so much in danger of wanting water, when in
the neighbourhood of mountains: with these sentiments I went forward this
morning, even although rather despairing of seeing more of our friendly
river. We crossed two chains of dry ponds, apparently some of its highest
sources. Still I travelled steadily towards a fine mountain before us,
over open downs, but with scrubs on either side. Reaching a dry bushy
hill S. E. of the mountains, about the time we should have encamped, I
perceived that the country sloped most to the eastern side of it, which
was rather out of my course; for the sake of finding water more readily I
got into a water-course falling that way, and followed it down. This,
opening soon into grassy flats, enabled us to avoid the scrubs. The
welcome white-trunked Eucalyptus next over-hung the holes of the water-
course, and the valleys spread into beautiful open plains, gracefully
fringed with Acacia pendula. Still, the ponds were dry. I crossed a bare
grassy eminence, and, where several channels met, I saw luxuriant white
trunks; heard and saw many cockatoos of the same colour (PSITTACUS
GALERITUS); and found there an abundant pond of water, beside which we
encamped. On some of the Eucalyptus trees grew a beautiful Loranthus,
which was new to us; it proved to be one formerly discovered by the
indefatigable Allan Cunningham, but only now described by Sir William
Hooker.[*] Thermometer, at sunrise, 28 deg.; at 4 P. M., 76 deg.; at 9, 38 deg.;--
with wet bulb, 34 deg..