Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia - Thomas Mitchell
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[* HELICHRYSUM RAMOSISSIMUM (Hook. MSS.); suffruticosum valde ramosum
arachnoideo-tomentosum, foliis lineari-spathulatis subflaccidis acutis,
capitulis in racemis terminalibus parvis globosis flavis, involucri
squamis lineari-subulatis undulatis fimbriato-ciliatis.]
6TH MARCH.--The drays not having come up, in consequence of the excessive
length of yesterday's journey, and very hot weather--(161/2 miles by
latitude alone)--we were obliged to remain inactive here on a beautiful
cool morning. I found near the ponds, several huts made of fresh branches
of trees and the remains of fires, doubtless the deserted home of the
fugitives of yesterday. At these fires I found the roasted pods of the
acacia already mentioned (Munumula). The water was surrounded by fresh
herbage, and such was the simple fare of those aborigines, such the home
whence they fled. As I looked at it in the presence of my sable guides, I
could not but reflect that the white man's cattle would soon trample
these holes into a quagmire of mud, and destroy the surrounding verdure
and pleasant freshness for ever. I feared that my good-natured but acute
guides thought as much, and I blushed inwardly [*] for our pallid race.
[* The author of Waverley maintains that one may LAUGH inwardly--
conscience may, I suppose, make us also blush inwardly sometimes.]
All day we sat still in anxious suspense about the non-arrival of our
drays--the ground having been so good. With a country so interesting
before us, this delay was doubly irksome, and as the cattle could only be
watered by coming forward, why they did not come was the question; and
this was not solved until evening, when a messenger came forward to ask
if they might come, and to inform me that they were nearly exhausted. The
fatal alternative of endeavouring to make them work in the morning, after
passing a night without water, had been adopted, and as, on the day
before, they had been worked until dusk in expectation of reaching my
camp, they could not draw on the morning after; I instantly directed them
to be brought forward; but the consequence of this derangement was the
death of one, and much injury to many others. This contretemps arose
wholly from the guides not having been understood at the Barwan as to the
real distance, and this we had calculated too surely upon. Latitude 29 deg.
52' 26" south. Thermometer at sunrise, 68 deg.; at noon, 96 deg.; at 4 P. M.,
102 deg.; at 9, 83 deg.;--with wet bulb, 68 deg..
7TH MARCH, 1846.--The bullocks having been sent back after they had been
watered last evening, the drays came up about 9 A. M. I left them in Mr.
Kennedy's charge, and proceeded with the light carts followed by all the
bullocks yoked up. They had trodden into mud the little water that had
been left at that camp, and could not live much longer without more. The
guides assured us the Narran was not far off, although we had understood
when at the Barwan that the distance was twenty-five miles from these
springs. We passed over very good ground, and found the country to
improve as we advanced. We were conducted through the most open parts of
scrubs by our guides, who were made to comprehend clearly how desirable
that was for our "wheelbarrows;" and after travelling about seven miles,
they pointed to a line of trees as the "Narran," beyond an extensive open
country, which had a singular appearance from being higher than that we
were upon. We crossed one or two slight elevations wholly composed of
compact felspar in blocks--forming ridges resembling an outcrop of
strata, whereof the strike always pointed N. W. and S. E. Various curious
new plants and fruits appeared; amongst others a solanum, the berry of
which was a very pleasant-tasted fruit. The plant was a runner and spread
over several yards from one root. There was also a fruit shaped like an
elongated egg; it appeared to be some Asclepiad, and was called by the
natives "Doobah." They ate it, seeds and all, but said it was best
roasted. As we approached the elevated country between us and the distant
line of trees, we perceived that the vast level was covered with
POLYGONUM JUNCEUM in a verdant state. The colour was dark green, such as
I had never seen elsewhere in this "leafless bramble," as Sturt called
it, which looks ever quite dry and withered along the margins of the
Darling. We had good reason to love and admire its verdure now, when we
found amongst it pure water in great abundance, into which all our native
companions immediately plunged, and rolled about like porpoises. This,
they said, was the "Narran," but to the vast swampy plain they gave the
name of Keegur, a name quite useless for white men's memories or maps.
They seemed to say it was wholly an emanation from the Narran, and
pointed to the nearest part of the trees beyond, saying the river Narran
was there. I still endeavoured to proceed, as they wished, towards the
nearest trees beyond, until a winding narrow pond of water, in very soft
mud, precluded all hopes of crossing with our drays, without some sort of
bridge; I therefore immediately counter-marched the party with me, now
far advanced in that sea of dark green polygonum, and conducted it into a
position on open stony ground to the westward of our route, with the
intention to await there the arrival of the drays, and to prepare
materials for a bridge to be laid across the muddy pond, as I had seen a
small clump of pines (Callitris) at no great distance back. My guides did
not encourage a hope I entertained, that this swamp might be turned by
the westward, in which direction the open country extended to the
horizon. The man who travels with bullocks must expect to be impeded by
wet ground, as well as by the scarcity of water, in many situations where
horses could pass without difficulty. I directed the bullocks, that had
been driven forward with me, to be allowed to graze beside the water
until sunset, and then to be taken slowly back by moonlight to Mr.
Kennedy. Five had dropped down on the way, and had not come forward to
the water. Those sent back were also ordered to be allowed to feed all
the next day at Mr. Kennedy's camp, and only to start with the drays
there next evening, to come on by moonlight, thus avoiding the intense
heat, so oppressive under extreme thirst. The thermometer during the day,
rose to 103 deg. in the shade. Latitude of the camp on Narran swamp, 29 deg. 45'
51" S. Thermometer at sunrise, 47 deg.; at noon, 97 deg.; at 4 P. M., 97 deg.; at 9,
69 deg.; ditto with wet bulb, 57 deg.. The height of this camp above the sea, the
average of five registered observations, is 442 feet.
8TH MARCH.--The view northward from our present camp was most extensive.
Far in the northeast a yellow slope presented the unusual appearance
there, of a cultivated country. It was doubtless ripe grass, yet still
the earth there had not even been imprinted with any hoof. Between that
slope and our camp, lay the element, in abundance, which had been so
scarce on the other side of the Darling. To the northward, at no great
distance, was the river, where, as our guides informed us, we should no
longer be ill off for water in pursuing our journey along its banks. I
set the carpenter to cut sleepers and slabbing to enable us to bridge the
muddy creek, for I had examined it early in the morning, and had crossed
it with my horse; although I found several watercourses almost as soft,
beyond. The natives maintained that the water in this extensive swamp
came neither from the east nor west, but from the river directly before
us, which came from the northward. Just behind our camp, to the
southward, was a gentle elevation, almost a hill, consisting of the usual
rock, felspar; and it seemed to me that this stony ground alone impeded
the further progress of the water towards the Barwan. The ridge trended
north-west, as most others did in this extensive basin; and this
direction being nearly parallel to that of the coast ranges further
northward, seemed to afford additional reason for expecting to find
anticlinal and synclinal lines, and, consequently, rivers, much in the
same direction. D'Urban's group, distant 150 miles lower down the
Darling, consisted of a quartzose rock, exactly similar to this,
exhibiting a tendency, like it, to break into irregular polygons, some of
the faces being curved. This rock is most extensively distributed in the
interior of New South Wales. It was not until the evening of this day
that the approach of the drays was announced, and then prematurely, the
teams only having been brought forward to the water without them. So weak
were the unfortunate animals, that not even by night, nor by doubling the
numbers, could they be made to draw the drays forward, for the short
distance of eight miles; a distance which we had been given to understand
was so much greater. Forward, all was most promising, and it may be
imagined how bitterly I regretted the alteration of my original plan of
equipment, which had reference to horses and light carts alone. A new
species of ANTHISTIRIA occurred here, perfectly distinct from the
kangaroo grass of the colony, very like APLUDA MUTICA, and remarkable for
the smooth shining appearance of the thin involucral leaves.[*] The
TRICHINIUM ALOPECUROIDEUM, in great abundance, was conspicuous, with its
long silky ears of green flowers. On the stony ground occurred a very
curious new woolly KOCHIA [**], also a species of CYPERUS; the TRICHINIUM
LANATUM in great perfection; a grass resembling the close reed
(CALAMAGROSTIS of England), and which proved to be the little-known
TRIRAPHIS MOLLIS. On the margin of the morass the DACTYLOCTENIUM
RADULANS, spreading over the interstices, reminded the traveller of the
grasses of Egypt; and, in stony ground near the morass, we observed the
JUSTICIA MEDIA of Brown. Thermometer at sunrise, 66 deg.; at noon, 98 deg.; at 4
P. M. 102 deg.; at 9, 81 deg.; ditto with wet bulb, 74 deg..
[* A. MEMBRANACEA (Lindl. MSS); involucris carinatis margine membranaceis
foliis vaginisque glaberrimis, floribus verticillatis pedicellatis
(masculis?), glumis omnibus scabris, arista glaberrima gluma 3plo
longiore.]
[** K. LANOSA (Lindl. MSS); ramis strictis foliisque linearibus acutis
cinereis tomentosis, fructibus lanatis, calycis laciniis elongatis.]
9TH MARCH.--My native guides, tired of the delay, were anxious to return,
and as the assistance they could afford me was likely to be extremely
useful, and the arrival of the drays was most uncertain, I went forward
this morning with one of them, two men, and Youranigh, our interpreter,
all mounted. Amongst the trees, beyond the swamp, fine reaches of water
appeared in a river channel, apparently continuous to the northward, but
which, in the other direction, or towards the swamp, abruptly terminated
like a cul-de-sac. On my asking the natives where it went to, they
pointed to the various narrow water courses and the swamp as the final
depositories of the water. Admirable distribution of the contents of a
river in a country where water is so scarce, and the climate so hot and
dry! We proceeded along the margin of the "Narran," which led us nearly
due north, until we forded it, at the desire of our guides, on a good
gravelly bottom, the water reaching to our saddle-flaps. Crossing a
slight elevation where the soil was gravelly, and in which grew the
shrubs of the ordinary scrubs with several interesting novelties, we
again came upon an angle of the Narran, and continued along its banks for
about thirty miles, until near sunset, when we tethered our horses, and
lay down for the night. The Narran was full of water every where, and
with this abundance of water there was also plenty of most excellent
grass. The PANICUM LOEVINODE of Dr. Lindley seemed to predominate, a
grass whereof the seed ("Cooly") is made by the natives into a kind of
paste or bread. Dry heaps of this grass, that had been pulled expressly
for the purpose of gathering the seed, lay along our path for many miles.
I counted nine miles along the river, in which we rode through this grass
only, reaching to our saddle-girths, and the same grass seemed to grow
back from the river, at least as far as the eye could reach through a
very open forest. I had never seen such rich natural pasturage in any
other part of New South Wales. Still it was what supplied the bread of
the natives; and these children of the soil were doing every thing in
their power to assist me, whose wheel tracks would probably bring the
white man's cattle into it. We had followed well-beaten paths of natives
during the whole of this day's ride, and most anxious were my guides and
I to see them; but they avoided us. Our guide was of that country, and
not at all unwilling or timid; but evidently very desirous to introduce
us to the inhabitants, and procure amongst them other guides to lead us
further. The night was very hot, and flies and mosquitos did their utmost
to prevent us from sleeping. Thermometer at sunrise, 75 deg.; at noon, 99 deg.;
at 4 P. M., 105 deg.; at 9, 83 deg.; ditto with wet bulb, 75 deg..
10TH MARCH.--Anxious for an interview with some of the natives, I
continued the pursuit of the Narran's course about five miles higher, but
with no better success. I then turned, after obtaining from our guide,
through Youranigh, what information could be gathered thus, as to the
river's further course, the best bank for the passage of our drays, etc.
We were still, he said, a long way from the "Culgoa." There was no
perceptible change in the aspect of the "Narran" as far as we had
examined it, except that where we turned, there were flood-marks, and the
dead logs and river wreck, deposited on the upper side of trees and
banks, showing a current and high floods. The last of these, our guide
said, had occurred about five moons before. In riding back to the camp we
kept the castern bank, that the track might be available for our drays.
This ride along a river where we could, when we pleased, either water our
horses, or take a drink ourselves, was quite new and delightful to us,
under a temperature of 105 deg. in the shade. Our guide, aged apparently
about fifty, walked frequently into the river, while in a state of
perspiration; dipped quite under water, or drank a little with his lip on
the level of its surface, and then walked on again. He was at last very
tired, however, and pointed to the large muscles of the RECTUS FEMORIS as
if they pained him. We found at the camp, on our return, five of the
drays that had come up, the other three being still behind, and requiring
double teams of exhausted cattle to bring them forward. In the vicinity
of our camp we found the TRICHINIUM ALOPECUROIDEUM, with heads of flowers
nearly five inches long; an eucalyptus near E. PULVERULENTA, but having
more slender peduncles; a sort of Iron-bark. We found also a tall
glaucous new HALORAGIS [*], and a curious new shaggy KOCHIA was
intermingled with the grass.[**] Thermometer at sunrise, 77 deg.; at noon,
102 deg.; at 4, 107 deg.; at 9, 76 deg.;--with wet bulb, 71 deg..
[* H. GLAUCA (Lindl. MSS.); annua, stricta, glaberrima, glauca, foliis
oppositis lineari-oblongis obtusis petiolatis grosse serratis, racemis
apice aphyllis, fructu globoso tuberculato laevi.]
[** K. VILLOSA (Lindl. MSS.); ramis erectis foliisque linearibus
villosissimis, fructibus glabris.]
11TH MARCH.--All the drays came in early. I gave to the two natives, the
tomahawks, tobacco, and pipes, as promised; also a note to the stockman
on the Barwan, who had provided me with them, saying that they had been
very useful. I this morning examined the country to the westward of the
swamp, and found a narrow place at which we could pass, and so avoid much
soft heavy ground. The ramifications of the watery Narran penetrated into
the hollows of the stony ridge, presenting there little hollows full of
rich verdure and pools of water, a sight so unwonted amongst rocks
characteristic of D'Urban's arid group. In one little hollow, to the
westward of our camp, it seemed possible for two men with a pickaxe and
shovel to have continued it through, and so to have opened a new channel
for the passage of the waters of the Narran swamp, into the dry country
between it and the Barwan. Thermometer at sunrise, 55 deg.; at noon, 105 deg.; at
4 P. M., 102 deg.; at 9, 75 deg.;--with wet bulb, 59 deg..
12TH MARCH.--I found it necessary to sit still here and refresh the jaded
bullocks; thus days and months passed away, in which with horses I might
have continued the journey. The very extensive country before us, which
appeared to absorb these waters, was quite clear of timber, and irrigated
by little canals winding amongst POLYGONUM JUNCEUM. This open country
appeared to extend north-eastward about eight miles, thence to turn
eastward, as if these waters found some outlet that way to the Barwan. I
regretted that this swamp led too far out of our way, to admit of our
tracing its limits to the eastward.
This day I received letters from Commissioner Mitchell, in which he
strongly recommended to my attention the rivers Biree, Bokhara, and
Narran, as waters emanating from, and leading to, the Balonne, a river
which he said might supply our party with water, in this very dry season,
almost to the tropic. I was able to inform him in reply, that I was
already on the Narran, and that I had already availed myself of his
account of the rivers formerly sent me, on which I must have been obliged
to depend, even if the party had passed by Fort Bourke.
This evening, by moonlight, I conducted a dray, carrying two platforms,
to the place where the narrow channel, feeding the swamp, could be passed
without our meeting beyond any other impediment to the drays. The
sleepers used for this purpose were made of pine (CALLITRIS PYRAMIDALIS),
found half a mile back from our camp. They were fourteen feet long, two
feet wide, being composed of cross-pieces, two feet long, fixed at each
end between two sleepers, so that they somewhat resembled a wooden
railway. These, when laid at the proper distance apart to carry both
wheels, were bedded on the soft earth, and the interval between was
filled to a level with them, by layers of polygonum and long grass,
alternate with earth, forming together a mass of sufficient resistance to
support the feet of the draught oxen. The whole formed a compact bridge
or gangway. Thermometer at sunrise, 51 deg.; at noon, 95 deg.; at 4 P. M., 107 deg.;
at 9, 70 deg.;--with wet bulb, 61 deg..
13TH MARCH.--The party once more moved onward, and the drays trundled
across the swampy arm by means of our bridge, which, even in the event of
an accession of water there, might have proved serviceable on our return.
Three miles beyond it we had to ford the Narran, passing over a gravelly
bottom to the eastern bank, and encamping there. The drays were slow in
arriving at this ford and camp, as the ground was soft and hollow, but by
sunset all had crossed, and our camp established on the Narran.
Thermometer at sunrise, 71 deg.; at noon, 100 deg.; at 4 P. M., 100 deg.; at 9,
71 deg.;--with wet bulb, 65 deg.. The height of this camp above the sea,
according to ten registered observations, is 487 feet.
14TH MARCH.--We now had before us water and grass in abundance, to a
distance as unlimited and indefinite, as our hopes of discovery. I
intended to set out early each morning, and travel only four or five
miles, that the jaded animals, exhausted by want of water and hard work,
might have time to feed and refresh. One old cause of delay, however,
again occurred to impede us,--three bullocks were reported missing. Now
it was nearly full moon, and two men had been on watch all night. It
really seemed that delay and disappointment must attend all who depend on
bullocks and bullock-drivers. The stray cattle were not brought up until
9 A. M., when we proceeded, and encamped on an angle of the Narran, after
travelling about five miles. In the scrubs passed through, we found the
fragrant JASMINUM LINEARE in fruit, the flowers being nearly past; a bulb
which proved to be the ANTHERICUM BULBOSUM of Brown; a shrub ten feet
high, in fruit, the CANTHIUM OLEIFOLIUM of Sir William Hooker; a fine new
CHENOPODIUM, with long naked spikes of woolly yellow flowers [*]; and a
hoary variety of ACACIA LEPTOCLADA, or perhaps a distinct species, having
a good deal of the aspect of A. DEALBATA, but the leaves and glands
nearer those of A. LEPTOCLADA, according to Mr. Bentham. Thermometer at
sunrise, 70 deg.; at noon, 103 deg.; at 4 P. M., 102 deg.; at 9, 81 deg.;--with wet bulb,
75 deg..
[* C. AURICOMUM (Lindl. MSS.); totum glaucum farinosum, caule stricto,
foliis petiolatis oblongis subhastatis lobisque posticis obtusis supremis
lanceolatis, spicis compositis nudis aphyllis glomeratis multifloris
tomentosis.]
15TH MARCH.--The sand amongst the scrubs was so soft and yielding, that
the draught animals could not draw the drays through it without great
difficulty; indeed, it was only possible by double-backing, as the
drivers termed their practice of alternately assisting one another, a
process to which all had had recourse with one exception. It was not
until 1 A. M. of this morning, therefore, that the last dray was brought
to the camp. Another bullock died on the way, and thus I felt, when the
field of discovery lay open before me, that my means of conveyance were
unsuited to the task. Overloading at Boree, unskilful driving, excessive
heat, and want of water, had contributed to render the bullocks
unserviceable, and I already contemplated the organization of a lighter
party and fewer men, with which I might go forward at a better rate,
leaving the heavy articles of equipment and tired cattle in a depot, on
some good grassy spot. The latitude of this camp was 29 deg. 38' 21" south.
Thermometer at sunrise, 73 deg.; at noon, 84 deg.; at 4 P. M., 86 deg.; at 9, 65 deg.;--
with wet bulb, 60 deg..
16TH MARCH.--I proceeded six miles, and chose a camp beside a bend of the
Narran, full of deep water, and in the midst of most luxuriant grass. The
drays arrived by 11 A. M. in such good order, that I was induced to try
whether, by early starting, good feeding, and short journeys, the party
could not be got forward to the Balonne, where I could leave the whole in
one depot, to rest and refresh, while I took my intended ride forward.
Latitude, 29 deg. 34' 11" S. Thermometer at sunrise, 43 deg.; at noon, 86 deg.; at 4
P. M., 87 deg.; at 9, 62 deg.;--with wet bulb, 55 deg..
17TH MARCH.--I proceeded seven miles, and the drays came forward as well
as they did yesterday, so that I again entertained hopes of the progress
of the united party, which was very desirable, as these plains were
evidently sometimes so saturated with water as to be rendered wholly
impassable for wheel-carriages or even horses. Latitude, 29 deg. 29' 11" S.
Thermometer at sunrise, 47 deg.; at noon, 87 deg.; at 4 P. M., 91 deg.; at 9, 62 deg.;--
with wet bulb, 52 deg..
18TH MARCH.--Again we made out a short journey over rather soft ground;
all the drays coming in, although slowly. I rode to a gently rising
ground, a great novelty, which appeared bearing E. N. E. from our camp,
at a distance of 21/2 miles. I found it consisted of gravel of the usual
conglomerate decomposed--of rounded fragments of about a cubic inch in
bulk. The grass was good there, and I perceived that the same gravelly
ridge extended back from the river in a north and south direction.
Graceful groups of trees grew about this stony ground, which looked, upon
the whole, better than the red sandy soil of the scrubs and callitris
forest. This seemed the dividing ridge between the Narran and Barwan.
From this elevation, I saw that the course of the former ran still in a
good direction for us, to a great distance northward. On that stony
ground I found a new PITTOSPORUM five feet high, with long narrow leaves,
in the way of P. ROEANUM and ANGUSTIFOLIUM, but distinct from both in the
form of its fruit.[*] Latitude of camp 29 deg. 25' 21". Thermometer at
sunrise, 53 deg.; at noon, 90 deg.; at 4 P. M., 96 deg.; at 9, 69 deg.;--with wet bulb,
61 deg..
[* P. SALICINUM (Lindl. MS.); foliis lineari-lanceolatis coriaccis
acutissimis aveniis, pedunculis unifloris aggregatis axillaribus,
fructibus subglobosis vix compressis.]
19TH MARCH.--Pursuing the Narran, keeping its eastern or left bank, our
course this day was more to the northward. I encamped after travelling
six miles, not only because the ground was soft and heavy for the drays,
but because I saw that the Narran turned much to the eastward, and I
contemplated the passage across it, intending to look for it again, by
travelling northward. Accordingly, as soon as our ground had been marked
out, I crossed to reconnoitre the country in that direction. I found a
fine, open, grassy country, but no signs of the river at the end of five
miles, nor even until I had ridden as far eastward. There, recrossing it,
I returned to the camp through some fine open forest country. Latitude
observed, 29 deg. 21' 51", S. Thermometer at sunrise, 57 deg.; at 4 P. M., 96 deg.;
at 9, 71 deg.;--with wet bulb, 62 deg..