Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia - Thomas Mitchell
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9TH FEBRUARY.--The leisure we enjoyed at this camp, enabled us to bestow
more attention on the vegetable and animal productions of these
remarkable plains, than had been given during my former journey. It
appeared that the saltwort plants, which were numerous, were not only
efficacious in keeping the cattle that fed on them in the best possible
condition; but as wholly preventing cattle and sheep from licking clay, a
vicious habit to which they are so prone, that grassy runs in the higher
country nearer Sydney are sometimes abandoned only on account of the
"licking holes" they contain. It is chiefly to take off that taste for
licking the saline clay, that rock-salt is in such request for sheep,
lumps of it being laid in their pens for this purpose. At all events, it
is certain that by this licking of clay both sheep and cattle are much
injured in health and condition, losing their appetite for grass, and
finally passing clay only, as may be seen near such places. In the salt
plants on these plains, nature has amply provided for this taste of these
large herbivora for salt. Our sheep nibbled at the mesembryanthemum, and
the cattle ate greedily of various bushes whereof the leaf was sensibly
salt to the taste. The colour of the leaves of such bushes is usually a
very light bluish green, and there are many species. That with the
largest leaves, called salt-bush by stockmen, and by Dr. Brown RHAGODIA
PARABOLICA, was very useful as a vegetable after extracting the salt
sufficiently from it. This we accidentally discovered from some
experiments made by Mr. Stephenson, for the purpose of ascertaining the
proportion of salt contained in the leaves. The leaves contained as much
as a twentieth part of salt, nearly two ounces having been obtained from
two pounds of the leaves.[*] We also found that after twice boiling the
leaves a few minutes in water to extract the salt, and then an hour in a
third water, the leaves formed a tender and palatable vegetable, somewhat
resembling spinach. As the superior excellence of these runs for
fattening cattle is admitted on all hands, as compared with others more
abundant in grass on the eastern side of the great range, would it not be
advisable for the colonists to cultivate this salt-supplying bush, and
thereby to produce a vegetable substitute for the rock salt, which is not
only expensive, but only a very imperfect remedy for the clay-licking
propensities of sheep and cattle on many runs? Thermometer at sunrise,
70 deg.; at noon, 94 deg.; at 4 P.M., 98 deg.; at 9, 86 deg.;--with wet bulb, 75 deg..
[* The process of Mr. Stephenson was as follows:--"Two pounds of the
green leaf were boiled in eight quarts of water for half an hour, then
strained and evaporated nearly to dryness. The mass was then submitted to
a red heat for half an hour. The residuum was next digested in one pint
of water, filtered, and again evaporated to six ounces. It was then
exposed to the sun's rays, which completed the desiccation; crystals of a
cubic shape having previously been formed."]
10TH FEBRUARY.--This morning the natives caught, in a hollow tree, an
animal apparently of the same genus as the DIPUS MITCHELLII, and which
seemed to live solely on vegetables. The barometer had fallen three
millimetres last evening, and by noon this day it had declined three
more. A fresh breeze blew from N. N. E., and at 2 P.M. a dark thunder
cloud came from the S. S. W. and passed over the camp. The thunder was
very loud, the lightning close and vivid; the wind for some time high,
and rain heavy. The sky was, however, clear by 4 P.M., except in the N.
E. where the thunder continued. Thermometer at sunrise, 75 deg..
11TH FEBRUARY.--The real "Duck Creek" was still to the northeastward of
our camp, as Mr. Kennedy had ascertained when on the Macquarie. I hoped
to find in it water sufficient at least to serve the party halting on it
one night, on its way to the Macquarie, by which line alone I was now
convinced water enough might be obtained to supply the party until it
could arrive at the Darling; I therefore rode this day to examine it,
with the elder native. I followed the bearing of N. N. E. from our camp,
a direction in which it was likely to be met with, so as equally to
divide the journey of the drays to the Macquarie, into two days. I
crossed plains covered with luxuriant crops of very rich grass, and at
length obtained a sight of Mount Foster bearing east. I reached Duck
Creek (that of Sturt), or the "Marra" of the natives, ascertained by the
bearing of Mount Foster, the native name of which is Narrab. I examined
the bed of the Marra downwards for about two miles, without seeing
therein the least indication of water, and returned to the camp fully
resolved to proceed next day to the Macquarie, so as to reach it a little
way below Mount Foster, a distance in that direction rather too great for
the cattle to travel over in one day. Thermometer at sunrise, 59 deg.; at
noon, 73 deg.; at 4 P.M., 76 deg.; at 9, 61 deg.;--with wet bulb, 57 deg.. From an
average of twenty-five observations of the mercurial column, the height
of this station has been determined to be 566 English feet above the
level of the sea.
12TH FEBRUARY.--We broke up our encampment on Cannonba ponds, where we
had greatly recruited ourselves, both men and cattle, and crossing the
channel of the water-course near our camping ground, we travelled over
open grassy plains towards the river Macquarie. At thirteen miles we
reached the western branch of Duck Creek, or "Marra," a name by which it
is universally known to natives and stockmen. Of this we crossed several
branches, from which it would appear as if the name was derived from that
of the hand, which is the same, especially as natives sometimes hold up
the hand and extend the fingers, when they would express that a river has
various branches or sources. I went on with an advanced party towards the
Macquarie, and encamped on the bank of that river at 5 P. M. The thick
grass, low forests of yarra trees, and finally the majestic blue gum
trees along the river margin, reminded me of the northern rivers seen
during my journey of 1831. Still even the bed of this was dry, and I
found only two water holes on examining the channel for two miles. One of
these was, however, deep, and we encamped near it, surrounded by
excellent grass in great abundance. The Macquarie, like other Australian
rivers, has a peculiar character, and this was soon apparent in the reeds
and lofty yarra trees growing on reedy plats, and not, as usual in other
rivers, on the edge of water-worn banks. The channel was here deep and
dry. We found this day, in the scrubs by Marra Creek, the ACACIA
SALICINA, whereof the wood has a strong perfume resembling violets, also
a new small-leaved KOCHIA with intricate branches.[*] Thermometer at
sunrise, 47 deg.; at 4 P. M., 77 deg.; at 9, 57 deg.;--with wet bulb, 56 deg..
[* K. THYMIFOLIA (Lindl. MS.); fruticosa, ramosissima, ramulis intricatis
pubescentibus, foliis carnosis obtusis teretibus fructibusque glabris.]
13TH FEBRUARY.--I was again laid up with the MALADIE DU PAYS--sore eyes.
Mr. Stephenson took a ride for me to the summit of Mount Foster, and to
various cattle stations about its base, with some questions to which I
required answers, about the river and stations on it lower down. But no
one could tell what the western side of the marshes was like, as no
person had passed that way; the country being more open on the eastern
side, where only the stations were situated; Mr. Kinghorne's at Graway,
about five miles from our camp, being the lowest down on the west bank.
Mr. Stephenson returned early, having met two of the mounted police. To
my most important question--what water was to be found lower down in the
river--the reply was very satisfactory; namely, "plenty, and a FLOOD
COMING DOWN from the Turmountains." The two policemen said they had
travelled twenty miles with it, on the day previous, and that it would
still take some time to arrive near our camp. About noon the drays
arrived in good order, having been encamped where there was no water
about six miles short of our camp, the whole distance travelled, from
Cannonba to the Macquarie, having been about nineteen miles. In the
afternoon two of the men taking a walk up the river, reported on their
return, that the flood poured in upon them when in the river bed, so
suddenly, that they narrowly escaped it. Still the bed of the Macquarie
before our camp continued so dry and silent, that I could scarcely
believe the flood coming to be real, and so near to us, who had been put
to so many shifts for want of water. Towards evening, I stationed a man
with a gun a little way up the river, with orders to fire on the flood's
appearance, that I might have time to run to the part of the channel
nearest to our camp, and witness what I had so much wished to see, as
well from curiosity as urgent need. The shades of evening came, however,
but no flood, and the man on the look-out returned to the camp. Some
hours later, and after the moon had risen, a murmuring sound like that of
a distant waterfall, mingled with occasional cracks as of breaking
timber, drew our attention, and I hastened to the river bank. By very
slow degrees the sound grew louder, and at length, so audible as to draw
various persons besides from the camp to the river-side. Still no flood
appeared, although its approach was indicated by the occasional rending
of trees with a loud noise. Such a phenomenon in a most serene moonlight
night was quite new to us all. At length, the rushing sound of waters and
loud cracking of timber, announced that the flood was in the next bend.
It rushed into our sight, glittering in the moonbeams, a moving cataract,
tossing before it ancient trees, and snapping them against its banks. It
was preceded by a point of meandering water, picking its way, like a
thing of life, through the deepest parts of the dark, dry, and shady bed,
of what thus again became a flowing river. By my party, situated as we
were at that time, beating about the country, and impeded in our journey,
solely by the almost total absence of water--suffering excessively from
thirst and extreme heat,--I am convinced the scene never can be
forgotten. Here came at once abundance, the product of storms in the far
off mountains, that overlooked our homes. My first impulse was to have
welcomed this flood on our knees, for the scene was sublime in itself,
while the subject--an abundance of water sent to us in a desert--greatly
heightened the effect to our eyes. Suffice it to say, I had witnessed
nothing of such interest in all my Australian travels. Even the heavens
presented something new, at least uncommon, and therefore in harmony with
this scene; the variable star ARGUS had increased to the first magnitude,
just above the beautiful constellation of the southern cross, which
slightly inclined over the river, in the only portion of sky seen through
the trees. That very red star, thus rapidly increasing in magnitude,
might, as characteristic of her rivers, be recognized as the star of
Australia, when Europeans cross the Line. The river gradually filled up
the channel nearly bank high, while the living cataract travelled onward,
much slower than I had expected to see it; so slowly, indeed, that more
than an hour after its first arrival, the sweet music of the head of the
flood was distinctly audible from my tent, as the murmur of waters, and
the diapason crash of logs, travelled slowly through the tortuous
windings of the river bed. I was finally lulled to sleep by that melody
of living waters, so grateful to my ear, and evidently so unwonted in the
dry bed of the thirsty Macquarie. Thermometer, at sunrise, 47 deg.; at noon,
79 deg.; at 4 P. M., 88 deg.; at 9, 63 deg.;--with wet bulb, 57 deg..
14TH FEBRUARY.--The river had risen to within six feet of the top of the
banks, and poured its turbid waters along in fulness and strength, but no
longer with noise. All night that body of water had been in motion
downwards, and seemed to me enough to deluge the whole country to the
Darling, and correct at least any saltness in its waters, if stagnant; a
probability which had greatly reconciled me to the necessity for changing
the line of my intended route, as the waters above the junction of the
Castlereagh had never been known to become salt. We proceeded, falling
soon into a cart track which led us to Graway, Mr. Kinghorne's
cattlestation, and we encamped about five miles beyond it, near a bend of
the river. We were already in the midst of reeds, but these had been so
generally burnt, that we had little difficulty in crossing those parts of
the marshes. The IMPERATA ARUNDINACEA, with its long head of white silky
flowers, was common, and a straggling naked branched species of dock, on
the parts unburnt. Thermometer at sunrise, 54 deg.; at noon, 91 deg.; at 4 P. M.,
82 deg.; at 9, 72 deg.;--with wet bulb, 60 deg.. Height above the level of the sea,
475 feet.
15TH FEBRUARY.--Mr. Kinghorne obligingly accompanied me this day, and
guided us across arms of the marshy ground. I was very glad to have his
assistance, for I saw no line of trees as on other rivers, nor other
objects by which I could pursue its course or keep near its waters; trees
of the aquatic sort and reeds grew together. At one time nothing was
visible to the eastward but a vast sea of reeds extending to the horizon.
Where the long reeds remained unburnt, they presented a most formidable
impediment, especially to men on foot and sheep, and twenty of these got
astray as the party passed through. We encamped on a bank of rather firm
ground, in lat. 30 deg. 53' 55" S. The grass was very rich on some parts of
open plains near the marshes, and the best was the PANICUM LOEVINODE of
Dr. Lindley, mentioned in my former journals[*] as having been found
pulled, and laid up in heaps for some purpose we could not then discover.
Mr. Kinghorne now informed me that it was called by the natives "coolly,"
and that the gins gather it in great quantities, and pound the seeds
between stones with water, forming a kind of paste or bread; thus was
clearly explained the object of those heaps of this grass which we had
formerly seen on the banks of the Darling. There they had formed the
native's harvest field. There also I observed a brome grass, probably not
distinct from the BROODS AUSTRALIS of Brown; it called to mind the
squarrose brome grass of Europe. Thermometer at sunrise, 59 deg.; at noon,
87 deg.; at 4, 89 deg.; at 9, 73 deg.;--with wet bulb, 66 deg..
[* Vol. i. p. 237.]
16TH FEBRUARY.--Mr. Kinghorne set out with a man of our party to examine
Duck Creek, a native boy having told him that water was to be found in it
lower down. I sent back early this morning, our native, with the store-
keeper, some of the men, and the shepherd, to look for the lost sheep in
the reeds, and Yuranigh fortunately found them out, still not very far
from the spot where they had been separated from the rest of the flock.
Our greatest difficulty in these marshes was the watering of the cattle.
We had still the Macquarie at hand--deep, muddy, and stagnant--not above
thirty feet wide, the banks so very soft that men could scarcely approach
the water without sinking to the knees. We could water the horses with
buckets, but not the bullocks. The great labour of filling one of the
half-boats, and giving the cattle water by that means, was inevitable,
and this operation took up three hours of the morning; a wheel required
repair, the box having been broken yesterday. I for these reasons found
it advisable to halt this day, which I did very reluctantly. At sunset,
Mr. Kinghorne returned, having found no water in the "Marra," (Duck
Creek).
Among the grasses growing among the reeds, we perceived the ANDROPOGON
SERICEUS and an ERIANTHUS, which appeared to differ from E. FULVUS in
having no hair upon the knees. The smooth variety of the European LYTHRUM
SALICARIA, raised its crimson spikes of flowers among the reeds of the
Macquarie, as it does in England on the banks of the Thames. We saw also
MORGANIA FLORIBUNDA, SENECIO BRACHYLOENUS (D. C.), a variety with toothed
leaves, also a BRACHYCOME resembling B. HETERODONTA, only the leaves were
entire. A new species of LOTUS appeared among the reeds, very near the
narrow-leaved form of L. AUSTRALIS on the one hand, and the South
European narrow-leaved form of L. CORNICULATUS on the other; the flowers
were pink, and smaller than in L. AUSTRALIS.[*] Also an ETHULIA [**],
which may, on further examination, constitute a new genus; it was found
by Allan Cunningham on the Lachlan. Thermometer at sunrise, 54 deg.; at noon,
86 deg.; at 4 P.M., 84 deg.; at 9, 61 deg.;--with wet bulb, 54 deg..
[* L. LAEVIGATUS (Benth. MS.); subglaber glaucescens, foliolis linearibus
v. lineari-cuneatis vix acutatis, pedunculis folio longioribus 3--6-
floris, calycis subsessilis appresse pubescentis dentibus setaceo-
acuminatis tubo suo paullo longioribus, legumine recto tereti glabro.]
[** ETHULIA CUNNINGHAMI (Hooker MS.); glaberrima, caule dichotomo, foliis
oblongis sessilibus dentato-serratis, capitulis paucis corymbosis
globosis, involucri squamis oblongis imbricatis viridibus, pappo e setis
paucis brevibus.]
17TH FEBRUARY.--The party moved off early, and Mr. Kinghorne having shown
me a few miles more of the best ground between the scrubs and reeds, went
towards a cattle station beyond the Macquarie, where a belt of open
forest separated the reeds and enabled him to pass. He prevailed on a
native whom he met with there to come with him to me, and to guide me to
water until I reached the Barwan. This native at first seemed rather
afraid of our numerous party, but our own native, Yuranigh, endeavoured
by every means to make him at ease, and to induce him to remain with us.
He guided us this day by fine open ground westward of the marshes, to a
part of the Macquarie where the banks were solid enough to admit of the
cattle drinking. The name was Bilgawangara; I reached the spot early, but
at sunset no drays had come up. At length I was informed that such was
the softness of the soil, that the drays had sank frequently, that two
were fast in one place, four in another, and that two of the bullocks
were astray. The marshes were said to be just then occupied by some angry
tribes, of whom Mr. Kinghorne had warned me to be on my guard. The
patience necessary to any traveller depending on bullocks and bullock
drivers, I then thought ought to exceed that of Job. Our native guide was
very shy, and Yuranigh feared he meant to "bolt." We depended on him for
finding water--on our own native for finding bullocks; but it would not
have done then to have sent him away. The weather might change, and these
marshes become impassable; indeed, we were as much at the mercy of
Providence in this respect as the Israelites were in the bed of the Red
Sea. It depended on the weather whether we should deserve to be
considered Jews or Egyptians. The teams came in about midnight, after the
moon had risen, by which the drivers were enabled to see my track. Lat.
30 deg. 45' 55" S. Thermometer at sunrise, 48 deg.; at noon, 85 deg.; at 4 P.M., 88 deg.;
at 9, 60 deg.;--with wet bulb, 54 deg..
18TH FEBRUARY.--Two bullocks were still astray some miles behind, and the
iron axle of one of the drays having got bent, required repair. The
cattle, I was told, were so jaded, as to be unable to make a day's
journey without more rest, and I was again obliged to halt. One only of
the two lost bullocks was found, and for this one we were indebted to
little Dicky, a native only ten years of age, whom the big fool who had
lost them was at some trouble to coax to go and assist him in the search,
as Yuranigh could not be spared from the more important duty of
entertaining our less civilised guide, and preventing him from making his
escape. It must, indeed, appear strange to these people of the soil, that
the white man who brought such large animals as oxen with them into the
country, should be unable to find them without the assistance of a mere
child of their own race. Dicky had soon found both, but one of them being
young and wild, escaped again amongst the tall reeds.
In the rich soil near the river bed, we saw the yellowish flowers of the
native tobacco, NICOTIANA SUAVEOLEUS, the MINURIA HETEROPHYLLA (D.C.),
found by Allan Cunningham near the Lachlan, and a FUGOSIA near F.
DIGITATA of Senegambia. In the scrub we found a fine new silvery ATRIPLEX
with broad rounded leaves and strings of circular toothed fruits.[*]
Thermometer at sunrise, 53 deg.; at noon, 93 deg.; at 4 P.M., 96 deg.; at 9, 67 deg.;--
with wet bulb 59 deg..
[* A. NUMMULARIA (Lindl. MS.); caule suffruticoso glabro ramoso, foliis
alternis ovato-subrotundis integerrimis petiolatis basi cuneatis utrinque
argenteis, floribus monoicis, spicis longis pendulis, bracteis
subrotundis dentatis basi connatis.]
19TH FEBRUARY.--We set off early, guided by our native friend. He was a
very perfect specimen of the GENUS HOMO, and such as never is to be seen,
except in the precincts of savage life, undegraded by any scale of
graduated classes, and the countless bars these present to the free
enjoyment of existence. His motions in walking were more graceful than
can be imagined by any who have only seen those of the draped and shod
animal. The deeply set yet flexible spine; the taper form of the limbs;
the fulness yet perfect elasticity of the GLUTEI muscles. The hollowness
of the back, and symmetrical balance of the upper part of the torso,
ornamented as it was, like a piece of fine carving, with raised
scarifications most tastefully placed; such were some of the
characteristics of this perfect "piece of work." Compared with it, the
civilised animal, when considered merely in the light of a specimen in
natural history, how inferior! In vain might we look amongst thousands of
that class, for such teeth; such digestive powers; for such organs of
sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling; for such powers of running,
climbing, or walking; for such full enjoyment of the limpid water, and of
all that nature provides for her children of the woods. Such health and
exemption from disease; such intensity of existence, in short, must be
far beyond the enjoyments of civilised men, with all that art can do for
them; and the proof of this is to be found in the failure of all attempts
to persuade these free denizens of uncultivated earth to forsake it for
the tilled ground. They prefer the land unbroken and free from the
earliest curse pronounced against the first banished and first created
man. The only kindness we could do for them, would be to let them and
their wide range of territory alone; to act otherwise and profess good-
will is but hypocrisy. We cannot occupy the land without producing a
change, fully as great to the aborigines, as that which took place on
man's fall and expulsion from Eden. They have hitherto lived utterly
ignorant of the necessity for wearing fig leaves, or the utility of
ploughs; and in this blissful state of ignorance they would, no doubt,
prefer to remain. We bring upon them the punishments due to original sin,
even before they know the shame of nakedness. Such were the reflections
suggested to my mind by the young savage as he tripped on lightly before
me by the side of his two half-civilised brethren of our party, who,
muffled up in clothes, presented a contrast by no means in favour of our
pretensions to improve and benefit their race. Yet our faithful Yuranigh
was all that could be wished. He was assiduously making to the stranger
such explanations of our wants and purposes, as induced him to conduct us
in the direction these required. He led us, thus admonished, over those
parts of the country most favourable for the passage of wheels. The
rosewood acacia was abundant, but many parts were covered with most
luxuriant grass. We encamped on the edge of a salt-bush plain, where
there was a small pond of water left by the last rains on a clay surface.
There was certainly enough for ourselves and horses, but it appeared that
our guide had greatly underrated the capacity for water, of our hundred
bullocks. For these, however, there was superb grass to the westward, and
a little dew fell on it during the night. Thermometer at sunrise, 59 deg.; at
noon, 102 deg.; at 4 P. M., 104 deg.; at 9, 77 deg.;--with wet bulb, 65 deg..
20TH FEBRUARY.--From the necessity for obtaining water as soon as
possible for the bullocks, we travelled over ground which was rather
soft, otherwise our guide would have pursued a course more to the
westward, and over a firmer surface. We, at length, crossed two narrow
belts of reeds not more than twenty feet across, and had the great
satisfaction to learn from him that these were the last of the reeds. A
shallow creek appeared soon thereafter on our right, in which our guide
had expected to find water, but was disappointed; cattle having recently
drank up there, what had been a large pond when he was there formerly. He
showed us the recent prints of numerous cloven feet, and thus we were
made to feel, in common with the aborigines, those privations to which
they are exposed by the white man's access to their country. On
proceeding some miles further, our guide following down the channel, he
at length appeared at a distance making the motions of stooping to bathe,
on which Yuranigh immediately said "He has found plenty of water;" and
there, in fact, our guide had found two large ponds. They were still in
the attenuated channel of the Macquarie, here called by them Wammerawa,
the course of which river is continuous throughout the marshes; and
marked by some high reeds greener than the rest, even when the reeds may
have been generally burnt. These reeds are distinctly different from the
"balyan," growing on the marshy parts of the rivers Lachlan,
Murrumbidgee, and Millewa; the former being a cane or bamboo, the latter
a bulrush, affording, in its root, much nutritious gluten. We found good
grass for the cattle on both sides of the water-course, which was fringed
with a few tall reeds, near which the pretty little KOCHIA BREVIFOLIA
observed at Muda on the Bogan, again occurred. The native name of the
spot was "Warranb." The soft earth had again impeded the drays; the teams
of two came in at twilight, an axle of one dray having been damaged; the
six others were brought up in the course of the evening. Thermometer at
sunrise, 60 deg.; at 4 P. M., 103 deg.; at 9, 78 deg.;--with wet bulb, 68 deg..