Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia

LUTO.- PASSAGE TO THE WESTWARD.- NAME OF THE WARREGASCERTAINED.- THE RIVER NIVE.- ITS COURSE TURNS SOUTHWARD.- CROSS A LOW RANGE.- PL

RETURN BY THE LEFT BANK.- TRIBUTARIES FROM THE SOUTH.- GOWEN RANGE.- ENTER OUTWARD TRACK.- PROVISIONS EXHAUSTED.- AS

rough sketches of scenery within a few miles of the camp. The whole of the grass had been assiduously burnt by the natives, and a young crop was coming up. This rendered the spot more eligible for our camp, both because the young grass was highly relished b

uld be forthcoming, as I intended to leave it at this dep?t camp. On the 8th, heavy clouds gathered over us, and a fine heavy shower fell, a circumstance most auspicious for our intended ride; but it was of brief duration; and, although the sky continued overcast even until the evening of the 9th, no rain fell,

ides; in which case, it was probable that, to the westward of such an angle in the range, I might find what had been so long the object of these researches, viz., a river flowing to the Gulf of Carpentaria. We reached Mount Pluto, at the distance given by my former observations as far as could be ascertained by the mode of measurement I employed then; which was by counting my horse's paces. On ascending the mountain on foot, I found a deep chasm still between me and the western summit, which was not only the highest, but the only part clear of bushes. A thick and very thorny scrub had already so impeded my ascent, that the best portion of the afternoon was gone, before I could return to the horses; and I resolved, therefore, to continue my ride, and to defer the ascent and observation

overed with brigalow and other still more impervious scrubs. On the crest, the rock consisted of clay ironstone. The centigrade thermometer stood, at noon, at 30° 5' equal to 87°, of Fahrenheit; the height above the sea we made 2032 feet. Beyond this crest, we encountered a scrub of matted vines, which hung down like ropes, and pulled some of us off our horses, when it happened that any of these ropes were not observed in time in riding through the thicket. A very dense forest of young Callitris trees next impeded us, and were more formidable than even the vines. The day was passed in forcing our way through these various scrubs, the ground declining by a gentle slope only. We next found firmer soil underfoot, that where the Callitris scrub grew having been sandy, and we saw at length, with a feeling of relief, that only brigalow scrub was before us; we ascended gravelly hills, came upon a dry water-course, and then on a chain of ponds. Near one of these ponds, sate an old woman, beside a fire, of course, although the weather was very warm; and a large net, used for taking emus, hung on a brigalow bush close by. The men were absent, looking for food, as we partly conjectured, for little coul

g covered outside wit

ded, and found upon it a "malga" scrub: the "malga" being a tree having hard spiky dry branches, which project like fixed bayonets, to receive the charge of ourselves, horses, and flour-bags; but all which formidable array we nevertheless successfully broke through, and arrived at the head of a rocky gully, falling N.W. Down this, however, we attempted in vain to pass, and in backing out we again faced the "malga," until, seeing a flat on the right, I entered it, and there fell in with the water-course again. It led us many miles, generally in a N.W. direction, and contained some fine ponds, and entered, at length, a little

flowers then springing up, especially where the natives had burnt the grass. Among them were MORGANIA GLABRA; EREMOPHILA MITCHELLII; a singular little POLYGONUM with the aspect of a TILLOEA; two very distinct little FRANKENIAS101, and a new scabrous HALORAGIS with pinnatifid leaves.102 The extensive burning by the natives, a work of considerable labour, and performed in dry warm weather, left tracts in the open forest, which had become green as an emerald with the young crop of grass. These plains were thickly impri

ibus solitariis pentameris, calycibus patentim pilosis. F. SERPYLLIFOLIA (Lindl. MS.); tomentosa hispida, fol

s alternis oppositisque linearibus acutis apice pinnatifidis, floribus dis

es, without seeing any water in its bed (which was broad, but every where choked with sand), we were obliged to encamp, and endure this privation after a very warm and laborious day.

lay on clay in the shady recesses of brigalow scrubs, a beverage much more grateful to our taste than the common "crystal spring." Here, then, we watered our impatient horses, and enjoyed a wash and breakfast - the men (two old soldiers) being D'ACCORD in one sentiment of gratitude to a bountiful Providence for this water. Like "a giant refreshed with wine," we next set out for the gap to the north-west, and passed through an open brigalow scrub, ascending very gradually, during a ride of three miles, to where I at length could discover that the fall was in the other direction. At this point, I observed the barometer, which indicated our height above the sea to be 1812 feet. Fahrenheit's thermometer stood then (5 P.M.) at 86°. The dry channel of a water-course had afforded us an opening through the scrub, and had also guided us to the highest part of the ground. The fresh prints of the feet of three men in the smooth bare sand, told us that the same natives whose track Yuranigh had seen in the river we traced yesterday, were now going in the same direction as ourselves

ng cherished hopes, an interior river falling to the N. W. in the heart of an open country extending also in that direction. Ulloa's delight at the first view of the Pacific could not have surpassed mine on this occasion, nor could the fervour with which he was impressed at the moment have exceeded my sense of gratitude, for being allowed to make such a discovery. From that rock, the scene was so extensive as to leave no room for doubt as to the course of the river, which, thus and there revealed t

d of metal keene - All else to noble minds is

ODE, and I was not sorry to recognise amongst it, SALSOLOE, and the ACACIA PENDULA, amongst the shrubs. As we followed the river downwards, the open downs appeared on the W.N.W. horizon as if interminable. This river, unlike that I had called the Nive, had no sand in its bed, which consisted of firm clay, and contained deep hollows, and the beds of long reaches, then, however, all dry, while abundance of large UNIO shells lay upon the banks, and proved that the drought was not of common occurrence. The general course of the river I found to be about W.N.W. true. We continued to follow it through its windings all day, which I certainly

other side. A broad valley extended westward from between the farthest of these broken ranges, which range seemed to be an offshoot from one further eastward. On examining the river, below the supposed junction of a tributary from the east, I found its character altered, forming ponds amongst brigalow trees. Water was, however, scarce. We fortunately watered our horses about 3 P.M., at the only hole we had seen that day, a small muddy puddle. The ACACIA PENDULA formed a belt outside the brigalow, between the river and the open plains, and many birds and plants reminded us of the Darling; the rose cockatoo and crested-pigeon, amongst the former; SALS

as partly low and woody, and partly consisted of the downs we were upon. But where was the river? Yarra trees and other indications of one appeared nearest to us in an easterly direction, at the foot of some well-formed hollows on that side the downs. Towards that point I therefore shaped my course, and there found the river - no longer a chain of dry ponds in brigalow scrub, but a channel shaded by lofty yarra trees, with open grassy banks, and containing long reaches full of water. White cockatoos shrieked above us; ducks floated, or flew about, and columns of smoke began to ascend from the woods before us. This was now, indeed, a river, and I lost no time in following it downwards. The direction was west; then north-west, tolerably straight. Water was abundant in its bed; the breadth was considerable, and the channel was well-marked by bold lofty banks. I remarked the salt-bush of the Bogan plains, growing here, on sand-islands of this river. The grass surpassed any I had ever seen in the colony in quality and abundance. The slow flying pelican appeared over our heads, and we came to a long broad reach covered with ducks, where the channel had all the appearan

the boortrees comi

octed, much less, carried into effect; next night we hoped to sleep thirty miles of

nearly northward. The range to the southward of the river also turned off, extending nearly to the southward. These two limits of the vast valley, thus receding from the river so as to leave it ample room to turn and wind on either side, amidst its accompanying woods, through grassy downs of great extent, obliged me to explore its course with closer attention. From another clear hill on these downs, to which I next proceeded, I thought I perceived the line of another river coming from ranges in the N.E., and expecting it would join that whose course we had thus far explored, I proceeded in a

need both wings and feet, that he may venture across them. We travelled nearly west over plains; then through a brigalow scrub, two miles in breadth; emerging from which, on a perfectly level plain of very rich soil, we turned rather to the southward of west, to where the distant line of river-trees seemed most accessible. Bushes of ACACIA PENDULA skirted this plain; and, passing through them, we crossed a track of nearly half a mile wide of soft sand, evidently a concomitant feature of the river. We next traversed a belt of firm blue clay, on which a salsolaceous bush appeared to be the chief vegetation; and, between it and the river, was another belt of sand a mile broad, on which grew a scrub of rosewood acacia. The river there ran in four separate channels, amongst various trees; brigalow and yarra being both amongst them. I crossed these channels, and continued westward that I might ascend a hill on the downs beyond. From that eminence, no hill was visible on any part of the horizon, which everywhere presented only downs and woods. Far in the S.W. a hollow admitted of a very distant view, which terminated in downs beyond a woody va

ke the so

bed. There my men had a feast, with the exception of Yuranigh; who, although unable to eat our salt bacon, religiously abstained from eating emu flesh, although he skinned the bird and cut it up, SECUNDUM

w scrub; next, we entered a rosewood scrub, redolent with blossom; then an open forest, in which we found the deep well-formed channel of a river coming from the eastward. The bottom was rocky, and bore marks of a recent current. This river also spread into branches: we crossed three, and then again entered upon open downs. Next we crossed a well-defined line of deep ponds, with

h separating from it, ran about westward. I found an open plain between these, across which I travelled; until, again meeting the southern branch, we crossed it where it seemed to turn more to the northward. The day was warm, and I halted two hours under the shade of some trees, where I laid down our journey on paper, and found we were making great progress towards Carpentaria, across a very open country. We were no longer in doubt about finding water, although in the heart of Australia, surrounded by an unbroke

ture, the wide open plains, continued along its banks, and I set out on this, as we had indeed on all other mornings since we made the discovery, intensely interested in the direction of its course. We had not prolonged our journey very far across the plains, keeping the trees of the river we had left visible on our right, when another line of river trees appeared over the downs on our left. Thus it seemed we were between two rivers, with their junction before us, for the ground declined in that direction. And so we found it. At about seven miles from where we had slept, we arrived at the broad channel of the first river we had traced down, whose impetuous floods had left the trees half bent to the earth, and clogged with drift matter; not on any narrow space, but across a deep section of 400 yards. The rocks in the channel were washed quite bare, and crystal water lay in ponds amongst these rocks. A high gravelly bank, crowned with brigalow, formed the western margin, but no brigalow could withstand the impetuous currents, that evidently, at some seasons, swept down there. It was quite refreshing to see all clear and green, over so broad a water-worn space. T

is, panicula pilosa angusta interrupta ramulis inferioribus demum refractis, spicu

eless, he could cut out their honey from hollow trees, and thus occasionally procure for us a pleasant lunch, of a waxy compound, found with

ed ponds only. I finally alighted beside one of these ponds, which was so large, indeed, that the colonists would have called it a lagoon; this one being high above the

s day completed half the month, but I was determined to follow the course of this interesting river at least four days longer. The back of one of our pack horses had become so sore, that he would no longer endure a load; we threw away the pack saddle, and divided his load, so as to distribute it in portions, on some of the saddle horses and the other pack animal. The course of the river towards the west, and our limited time, obliged me to stride over as much of the general direction as possible. I crossed the river, and travelled across open do

ising ground of this kind; and meeting with another small river, with a stoney bed and water in it, I bivouacqued, for the day was very hot; the thermometer, at 3 P.M., 90° in the shade. The pond here was much frequented by pigeons, and a new sort of elegant form and p

it has been named G

e place to open ground. I turned now to the S.W., and became anxious to see the river again. At length we came upon a creek, which I followed down, first to the S.W. and next south

hind a bush in the direction in which I was advancing. On my halting, they stole away, and, when a little further on, I perceived an old white-haired woman before me, on seeing whom I turned slightly to one side, that we might not frighten her or provoke the tribe. The whole party seemed to have been amusing themselves in the water during the noon-day heat, which was excessive; and the cool shades around the lagoon looked most luxuriant. Our position, on the contrary, was anything but enviable. With jaded horses scarcely able to lift a leg, amongst so many natives, whose language was incomprehensible, even to Yuranigh. I asked him whether we might not come to a parley with them, and see if they could understand him. His answer was brief; and, without turning even his head once to look at them:-"You go on!" which advice, quite according with my own notions, founded on experience, I willingly went on. Even there, in the heart of the interior, on a river utterly unheard of by white men, an iron tomahawk glittered on high in the hand of a chief, having a very long handle to it. The anxious care of the females to carry off their children seemed the most agreeable feature in the scene, and they had a mode of carrying them on the haunch, which was different from anything I had seen. Some had been digging in the mud for worms, others searching for freshwater muscles; and if the whole could have been witnessed unperceived, such a scene of domestic life amongst the aborigines had been worth a little more risk. The strong men assumed a strange attitude, which seemed very expressive of surprise; having the right knee bent, the left leg forward, the right arm dropping, but grasping clubs; the left arm raised, and the fingers spread out. "Aya, aya, minyà!" they continually shouted; and well might they ask what we wanted! Hoping they would believe us to be Centaurs, and include the two old pack-horses in counti

so devoid of mould as to resemble a newly Macadamized road,- the fragments being much of that size, and in general of a reddish colour, consisting, for the most part, of a red siliceous compound. In a ride of twenty-six miles, we saw no country much better, and I was obliged to conclude that the left bank was by no means so good as the c

the way homewards, our old bivouac of the 21st inst., being about due east from us, and distant not quite fifteen miles; th

hipt by the nurse: savage children are not subject to that sort of restraint. Whether school discipline may have any thing to do with the difference so remarkable between the animal spirits of children of civilised parents and those of savages, I shall make no remark; but that the buoyancy of spirit and cheerfulness of the youth amongst the savages of Australia, seem to render them agreeable companions to the men on their hunting excursions, almost as soon as they can run about. If the naturalist looks a savage in the mouth, he finds ivory teeth, a clean tongue, and sweet breath; but in the mouth of a white specimen of similar, or indeed less, age, it is ten to one but he would discover only impurity and decay, however clean the shoes and stockings worn, or however fine the flour of which his or her food had consisted. What, then, is civilization in the economy of the human animal? one is led to inquire. A little reflection affo

nd in itself Can make a heave

er, at 6

en scrubs, meeting no impediment from brigalow. We crossed the various branches of a considerable tributary coming from E.S.E., the only water seen this day, besides the great river; which we m

y feature, Mount Gray; the lofty central mass, the Gowen Range, and a bold summit forming the eastern portion, Mount Koenig. I had now obtained data sufficient to enable me to determine the extent of the low

owns well covered with grass, and redolent with the rich perfume of lilies and strange flowers, which grew all over them amongst the grass. We arrived at the spot I sought, and there encamped. Our provisions were nearly out; the sun having reduced the men's sugar, and melted the bacon, which had been boiled before we set

o our horses. We crossed open downs chiefly, passed through a narrow belt of brigalow (about a mile wide), and twice crossed a tributary to the river, which tributary we thus discovered. The water-course on which we had again encamped, arose in open downs of fine firm clay, and it was pleasant to see a great river thus supplied by the waters collected only amongst the swellin

ch appeared so remarkable a feature to us on first advancing into that region, from the eastward. We again reached the river this day, after traversing the wide plains. Its woods still resounded with the plaintive cooing of a dove, which I had not seen elsewhere. At a distance, the sound resembled the distant cooy of female natives, and we at first took it for their vo

evotion, zeal, and loyalty, that I therefore gave to this river the name of my gracious sovereign, Queen Victoria. There seemed to be much novelty in the plants along its banks. The shells of the fresh-water mussle (UNIO), which lay about the old fires of the natives, exceeded in size any we had seen elsewhere. I measured one, and found it six inches long, and three and a half broad. On the plains near this spot, grew a beautiful little ACACIA, resembling A. PENDULA, but a distinct species, according to Mr. Bentham.105 We crossed the open downs and our former route, hastening to make the tributary river before night. We reached the channel by sunset; the moon was nearly full, and we continued to search in the bed for water, until we again fell in with

ubfalcatis obtusis basi angustatis crassis enervibus, glandula prope basin immersa, pedun

hen, guided us to the spot, where he had found a small pond containing enough for all our wants. For the men, having no more tea or sugar, a good drink was all that was required; the poor fellows prepared my tea not the less assiduously, although I could have had but little comfort in drinking it under such circumstances, withou

heless, escaped. He then chased a female followed by about a dozen young ones, towards us, when we caught three. It had occurred to me this morning, to mark and number the bivouacs we had occupied thus far, for the purpose of future reference, when any other party might proceed, or be sent again, into this country. I had, therefo

of the Nivelle and Nive; near where we had passed the night of the 12th September. This day we again saw the CALLITRIS; a tree so c

despatched. This snake was of a brown colour, red spotted on the belly, about six feet long, and five inches in circumference. I had never before known any Australian snake to attack a party, but we had certainly brought the attack on ourselves. We made a good cut on our former circuitous route when tracing down the river Nive, and arrived at our former bivouac at an early hour. This was fortunate, as all the ponds, formerly full of good water, had, in the interim, dried up; and I proceeded to cross the scrubby range, by pursuing a straight direction towards Mount Pluto. But some magnetic influence so deranged my compass, that, on reaching the crest of the range, I found that mountain bore nearly east instead of N. E. N. I saw three of my fixed points, however, by which, with my pocket sextant, I could ascertain our true position, which proved to be very wide of my intended course. It was, like many

rney was long, and it included an ascent of Mount Pluto, from which I had still to observe some important angles. I marked this bivouac, with 70 cut on a

he air on the mountains much cooler than that of the interior plains. There was much Callitris in the woods passed through this day; and the soil, although well covered with grass, was sandy. I ascended Mount Pluto by the N. W. side, where the loose fragments of trap, on a very steep slope, obstruct the growth of a thorny scrub, covering other parts of the mountain sides. The view from the summit was very favourable for my purpose, and I passed an hour and a half in taking angles on all distant points. Mount Owen and Mount Kilsyth were both visible; Buckland's Table-land in the East, and some of the recently discovered ranges in the west, were just visible across the trap-rock ra

insects, and some curious plants. My man Brown had contrived to eke out the provisions so as to have enough to take us back to Mr. Kennedy. The grass looked green and luxuriant about the camp, and the spot proved a most refreshing home both to us and to our jaded horses, on whose backs we had almost constantly been for nearly a month. The party had collected specimens of XEROTES LEUCOCEPHALA; BOSSIOEA CARINALIS; the purple INDIGOFERA AUSTRALIS; XEROTES MULTIFLORA; the DODONOEA HIRTELLA of Miquel, a hairy shrub with pinnated leaves; EVOLVULUS LINIFOLI

as seen on the sandstone, forming a shrub seven or eight feet high; and there also grew the pretty ZIERIA FRAZERI106; the DODONOEA MOLLIS was a small shrub six feet high, whereof the fruit was now ripe; the LEUCOPOGON CUSPIDATUS, also small. A PIMELEA near P. LINIF

liolis lanceolatis acutis marginibus leviter revolutis subtus pallidis pubescenti-sericeis, pedunculis

s; and small specimens of the beautiful LINSCHOTENIA DISCOLOR, which we had also observed, in a finer state, near Mount Pluto. The LABICHEA DIGITATA was abundant in sheltered ravines amongst the rocks; and, also, the DODONOEA ACEROSA, loaded with its four-winged reddish fruit, formed a shrub there four feet high. On the flats at the base of these ranges, grew the stiff, hard leaved, glutinous TRIODIA PUNGENS, with fine erect panicles of purple and green flowers (the first occasion this, on which I had seen this plant in flower). The BRUNONIA SERICEA continued to appear; also a minute species of ALTERNANTHERA. The DIANELLA STRUMOSA formed a coarse, sedgy her

blongis utrinque acutis uncinato-mucronatis minute 1-2 - glandulosis, racemis polycephalis phyllodio paullo longioribus, capitulis multifloris tomentosis.-

dato-acuminatis sessilibus 3-5-nerviis, racemis corymbosis axillaribus termin

datis, panicula laxa, ramis longis polycephalis, capitulis aggregatis, involucris ovatis.- A widely distinct speci

atis semiteretibus acutis glabris marginibus revolutis, racemis ovatis multifloris, pedicellis perianthiisque ser

a nervisque glandulosis.- In this the styles are connected at the apex, free below. The capsule is deeply 5-lobed.

escentibus glabrisve, foliis oblongis mucronatis, racemis corymbosi

ll shrubby species of LABICHEA114; an inconspicuous shrub, two feet high, was a new species of MICRANTHEUM, allied to M. ERICOIDES, Desf.115; a downy DODONOEA, very near D. PEDUNCULARIS, but with thinner truncated le