Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 2 / With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South Wales

by T. L. Mitchell

CHAPTER 3.12.

Parting of The Widow and her child.
We at length emerge on much firmer ground.
River Hopkins.
Mount Nicholson.
Cockajemmy salt lakes.
Natives ill disposed.
Singular weapon.
Treacherous concealment of a native.
Contents of a native's basket and store.
A tribe comes forward.
Fine country for colonisation.
Hollows in the downs.
Snakes numerous.
Native females.
Cattle tracks.
Ascend Mount Cole.
Enter on a granite country.
Many rivulets.
Mammeloid hills.
Lava, the surface rock.
Snakes eaten by the natives.
Ascend Mount Byng.
Rich grass.
Expedition pass.
Excursion towards Port Phillip.
Discover and cross the river Barnard.
Emus numerous and tame.
The river Campaspe.
Effects of a storm in the woods.
Ascend Mount Macedon.
Port Phillip dimly seen from it.
Return to the camp.
Continue our homeward journey.
Waterfall of Cobaw.
Singular country on the Barnard.
Cross the Campaspe.
An English razor found.
Ascend Mount Campbell.
Native beverage.
Valley of the Deegay.
Natives exchange baskets for axes.
They linger about our camp.
Effect of fireworks, etc.
Arrival at, and passage of, the Goulburn.
Fish caught.

PARTING OF THE WIDOW AND HER CHILD.

September 19.

When about to set out I observed that The Widow Turandurey, who was to remain with Mr. Stapylton's party and the carts, was marked with white round the eyes (the natives' fashion of mourning) and that the face of her child Ballandella was whitened also. This poor woman who had cheerfully carried the child on her back when we offered to carry both on the carts, and who was as careful and affectionate as any mother could be, had at length determined to entrust to me the care of this infant. I was gratified with such a proof of the mother's confidence in us, but I should have been less willing to take charge of her child had I not been aware of the wretched state of slavery to which the natives females are doomed. I felt additional interest in this poor child from the circumstance of her having suffered so much by the accident that befel her while with our party, and which had not prevented her from now preferring our mode of living so much that I believe the mother at length despaired of being ever able to initiate her thoroughly in the mysteries of killing and eating snakes, lizards, rats, and similar food. The widow had been long enough with us to be sensible how much more her sex was respected by civilised men than savages, and, as I conceived, it was with such sentiments that she committed her child to my charge, under the immediate care however of Piper's gin.

WE AT LENGTH EMERGE ON MUCH FIRMER GROUND.

For several miles we met with soft ground at the low connecting parts of hills, but we at length gained the woody ridge so likely, as I had hoped, to favour our progress. Its turnings were intricate but, by one or two rivulets falling to my left and then by others falling to the right, I learnt how to keep on the intermediate ground until at length, after a journey of nine miles, we emerged from the woods on a firm open surface and an extensive prospect was seen before us. Leaving the party to encamp I rode to a round forest hill some miles to the eastward and obtained a comprehensive view of the Grampians, and also of the country to the northward which now appeared to be chiefly open; and I had little doubt that we should find it more favourable for travelling upon. Eastward of the forest hill the ground sank into a deep valley which turned round to the south-east after receiving the drainage from some hollows in the open country north of it.

RIVER HOPKINS.

This ravine received also the waters from the woody ridge now south of us, where the numerous deep valleys were irrigated by streams arising in swamps; the whole probably forming the head of some more important stream flowing to the coast and which I here named the river Hopkins. This eminence, which I distinguished as Mount Stavely, consisted apparently of decomposed clay-stone or felspar, having a tendency to divide naturally into regular prisms. A very beautiful and singular-looking shrub appeared on the hills we crossed this day, and also on the open ground where indeed it was most abundant. It was a species of acacia, the leaves adhering edgeways to thorny branches; many of these shrubs were in blossom, the flowers being yellow and as large and round as marbles, and those growing very thickly, they gave to the branches the appearance of garlands or festoons, the effect altogether being extremely graceful and singular. We found also a beautiful new species of acacia looking like a broad-leaved variety of A. armata. The branches were singularly protected by short spiny forks which proved to be the hardened permanent stipules.*

(*Footnote. A. furcifera, Lindley manuscripts; stipulis spinescentibus persistentibus, phyllodiis obliquis ovato-oblongis mucronatis uninerviis hinc venosis glabris, ramis hirsutis, capitulis solitariis foliis brevioribus.)

With this occurred another species with hard stiff scymetar-shaped leaves and a profusion of balls of browner yellow flowers which had been previously observed (on June 22) in a more vigorous condition.* By observations from this hill I made the height of Mount William about 4,500 feet above the sea.

(*Footnote. This was most nearly related to A. hispidula, but the leaves were quite smooth and much smaller. A. acinacea, Lindley manuscripts; glaberrima; ramulis alato-angulatis rigidis, phyllodiis brevibus acinaciformibus mucronatis 1-nerviis et enerviis: margine superiore infra medium glanduloso, capitulis geminis axillaribus, pedunculis phyllodiorum longitudine.)

MOUNT WILLIAM FROM MOUNT STAVELY.
Foreground: Forest Hills. Middle Distance: Plains.

September 20.

Our wheels now rolled lightly over fine grassy downs and our faces were turned towards distant home. Before us arose a low, thinly-wooded hill, which at first bounded our view towards the north, and afterwards proved to be the feature connecting the low woody ridge near our last camp with the hills still further to the northward. On reaching the summit I perceived that a considerable extent of open country intervened, being watered in the lower parts by several lakes.

MOUNT NICHOLSON. COCKAJEMMY SALT LAKES.

Descending northward along an offset of the same hills which had led us in that direction and which I now named Mount Nicholson, I observed that the lakes occurred at intervals in a valley apparently falling from the westward in which no stream appeared, although it was shut in by well escarped rocky banks. We encamped after a journey of ten miles at a point where another valley from the north joined the above, and I was somewhat surprised to find after encamping that the water in the adjacent lakes was extremely salt. No connection existed by means of any channel between them although they formed together a chain of lagoons in the bed of a deep and well defined valley. On the contrary the soil was particularly solid and firm between them, and the margin of the most eastern of these lakes was separated by a high bank from the bed of another valley where a running stream of pure water flowed over a broad and swampy bed fifteen feet higher than the adjacent valley containing the stagnant salt lakes. The rock enclosing these singular valleys was basalt, and from these peculiarities, considered with reference to the ancient volcano and the dip of a mountain strata to the north-west, it was evident that some upheaving or subsidence had materially altered the levels of the original surface.

I could find no brine-springs in or about these lakes, and as it was evident that a stream had once washed the bed of the ravine now occupied by them, I may leave the solution of the problem to geologists.

(*Footnote. Having submitted specimens of the water from these and other salt lakes of the interior to my friend Professor Faraday, I have been favoured with the following particulars respecting their contents: "All of them are solutions of common salt much surpassing the ocean or even the Mediterranean in the quantity of salt dissolved. Besides the common salt there are present (in comparatively small quantity) portions of sulphates and muriates of lime and magnesia: the waters are neutral and except in strength very much resemble those of the ocean. That labelled Greenhill Lake 24th July had a specific gravity of 1049.4 and three measured ounces gave on evaporation 97 grains of dry salts. That labelled Mitre Lake 24th July had a specific gravity of 1038.6, and three measured ounces of it yielded 77 grains of dry saline matter. The water labelled Cockajemmy Lake Camp 20th September had a specific gravity of 1055.3 and the amount of dry salts from three measured ounces was 113 grains.")

NATIVES ILL DISPOSED.

As we proceeded over the open ground before we reached the spot where we finally encamped several natives appeared at a great distance in a valley eastward of Mount Nicholson, and Piper went towards them supported by Brown whom I sent after him on horseback. They proved to be three or four gins only, but Piper continued to pursue them to the top of a hill, when a number of men armed with spears suddenly started from behind trees and were running furiously towards Piper when Brown rode up. On presenting his pistol they came to a full stop, thereby showing that they had some idea of firearms, although they refused to answer Piper's questions or to remain longer. In the evening, four of them approaching our camp, Piper went forward with Burnett to meet them. They advanced to the tents apparently without fear, and I obtained from them the names of various localities. On being questioned respecting Cadong, they told us that all these waters ran into it, and pointed to the south-east, saying that I should by-and-bye see it. When I found we could obtain no more information I presented the most intelligent of them with a tomahawk, on which they went slowly away, repeatedly turning round towards us and saying something which, according to Piper, had reference to their tribe coming again and dancing a corrobory, a proposal these savage tribes often make and which the traveller who knows them well will think it better to discourage.

SINGULAR WEAPON.

These men carried a singular kind of malga, of a construction different from any Piper had ever seen. The malga is a weapon usually made in the form of Figure 2, but that with which these natives were provided somewhat resembled a pick-axe with one half broken off, and was of the form of Figure 1, being made so as to be thickest at the angle. The blow of such a formidable weapon could not be easily parried from the uncertainty whether it would be aimed with the thick heavy corner or the sharp point. All the weapons of this singular race are peculiar and this one was not the least remarkable.

WEAPONS OF THE NATIVES.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

TREACHEROUS CONCEALMENT OF A NATIVE.

At dusk while Woods was looking after the cattle near the camp he surprised a native concealed behind a small bush, who did not make his escape until Woods was within two yards of him.

CONTENTS OF A NATIVE'S BASKET AND STORE.

How many more had been about we could not ascertain, but next morning we found near the spot one of the bags usually carried by gins and containing the following samples of their daily food: three snakes; three rats; about 2 pounds of small fish, like white bait; crayfish; and a quantity of the small root of the cichoraceous plant tao, usually found growing on the plains with a bright yellow flower. There were also in the bag various bodkins and colouring stones, and two mogos or stone hatchets (Figure 5). It seemed that our civility had as usual inspired these savages with a desire to beat our brains out while asleep, and we were thankful that in effecting their cowardly designs they had been once more unsuccessful.

A TRIBE COMES FORWARD.

September 21.

Early in the morning a tribe of about forty were seen advancing toward our camp preceded by the four men who had been previously there. Having determined that they should not approach us again, I made Piper advance to them and inquire what they wanted last night behind the bush, pointing at the same time to the spot. They returned no answer to this question, but continued to come forward until I ordered a burning bush to be waved at them and, when they came to a stand without answering Piper's question, I ordered a party of our men to charge them, whereupon they all scampered off. We saw them upon our encamping ground after we had proceeded about two miles, but they did not attempt to follow us. Whether they would find a letter which I had buried there for Mr. Stapylton or not, we could only hope to discover after that gentleman's return to the colony. It was understood between us that, where a cross was cut in the turf where my tent had stood, he would find a note under the centre of the cross. This I buried by merely pushing a stick into the earth and dropping into the hole thus made the note twisted up like a cigar. The letter was written chiefly to caution him about these natives. Basalt appeared in the sides of the ravine which contained the salt lakes and in equal abundance and of the same quality in that which enclosed the living stream where it lay in blocks forming small cliffs. Finding at length a favourable place for crossing this stream, we traversed the ravine and resumed our direct course towards the southern extremity of a distant range named Mammala by the natives, the bluff head previously seen from Mount Abrupt (see above).

FINE COUNTRY FOR COLONISATION.

We now travelled over a country quite open, slightly undulating, and well covered with grass. To the westward the noble outline of the Grampians terminated a view extending over vast plains fringed with forests and embellished with lakes. To the northward appeared other more accessible-looking hills, some being slightly wooded, some green and quite clear to their summits, long grassy vales and ridges intervening: while to the eastward the open plain extended as far as the eye could reach. Our way lay between distant ranges which in that direction mingled with the clouds. Thus I had both the low country, which was without timber, and the well wooded hills within reach, and might choose either for our route, according to the state of the ground, weather, etc. Certainly a land more favourable for colonisation could not be found. Flocks might be turned out upon its hills, or the plough at once set to work in the plains. No primeval forests required to be first rooted out, although there was enough of wood for all purposes of utility and as much also for embellishment as even a painter could wish.

HOLLOWS IN THE DOWNS.

One feature peculiar to that country appeared on these open downs: it consisted of hollows which, being usually surrounded by a line of yarra gumtrees or whitebark eucalyptus, seemed at a distance to contain lakes, but instead of water I found only blocks of vesicular trap, consisting apparently of granular felspar, and hornblende rock also appeared in the banks enclosing them. Some of these hollows were of a winding character, as if they were the remains of ancient watercourses; but if ever currents flowed there the surface must have undergone considerable alteration since, for the downs where these hollows appeared were elevated at least 900 feet above the sea and surrounded on all sides by lower ground. There was an appearance of moisture among the rocks in some of these depressions; and whether by digging a few feet permanent wells might be made may be a question worth attention when colonisation extends to that country. We found on other parts of this open ground large blocks composed of irregular concretions of ironstone, covered with a thin coating of compact brown haematite. The purple-ringed Anguillaria dioica, first seen on Pyramid Hill, again appeared here; and in many places the ground was quite yellow with the flowers of the cichoraceous plant tao whose root, small as it is, constitutes the food of the native women and children. The cattle are very fond of the leaves of this plant and seemed to thrive upon it. We also found a new bulbine with a delicate yellow flower being perfectly distinct from both the species described by Brown.*

(*Footnote. This has been planted with the others in the Horticultural Gardens at Chiswick and was the first to flower there, a head having been sent to me on the 8th May last by Dr. Lindley who describes it thus: Bulbine suavis; radice fasciculata, foliis longissimis attenuatis semiteretibus basi canaliculatis glaucis, racemo erecto multifloro, petalis oblongis subundulatis sepalis duplo latioribus, staminibus ascendentibus, filamentis apice stuposis petalinis patentibus sepalinis erectis apice incurvis brevioribus.)

SNAKES NUMEROUS.

The genial warmth of spring had begun to show its influence on these plants and also brought the snakes from their holes, for on this day in particular it was ascertained that twenty-two had been killed by the party. These were all of that species not venomous I believe which the natives eat. We encamped near a small clump of trees for the sake of firewood.

September 22.

This day's journey lay chiefly across open downs with wooded hills occasionally to the left. On the southward these downs extended to the horizon: and several isolated hills at great distances, apparently of trap, presented an outline like the volcanic Mount Napier. All the various small rivulets we traversed in our line of route seemed to flow in that direction. Having crossed three of these we encamped on the right bank of the fourth. The hills on our left were of granite and as different as possible in appearance from the mountains to the westward which were all of red sandstone. In the afternoon there was a thunderstorm but the sky became again perfectly serene in the evening.

September 23.

This morning a thick fog hung over us; but having well reconnoitred the country beyond I knew that I might travel in a straight line over open ground for several miles. When the fog arose some finely wooded hills appeared on our right; but after advancing seven miles on good firm earth we again came upon very soft ground which obliged us to turn and wind and pick our way wherever the surface seemed most likely to bear us.

NATIVE FEMALES.

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

CATTLE TRACKS.

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

ASCEND MOUNT COLE.

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

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

ENTER ON A GRANITE COUNTRY.

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

MANY RIVULETS.

September 24.

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

September 25.

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

September 26.

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

MAMMELOID HILLS.

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

LAVA, THE SURFACE ROCK.

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

(*Footnote. This has been ascertained to be a new species of the genus Campylanthera of Hooker, or Pronaya of Baron Hugel, of which two species were found by the latter botanist and the late Mr. Frazer at Swan River. Campylanthera ericoides, Lindley manuscripts; erecta, fruticosa, glabra, foliis oblongo-cuneatis mucronatis margine revolutis, floribus solitariis terminalibus erectis, antheris subrotundis.)

HILLS OF LAVA, OR MAMMELOID HILLS, FROM MOUNT GREENOCK.
Horizon: Mount Byng Pass.

ABORIGINAL IMITATIONS.

September 27.

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

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

September 28.

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

SNAKES EATEN BY THE NATIVES.

The day was hot and we killed several large snakes of the species eaten by the natives. I observed that our guides looked at the colour of the belly when in any doubt about the sort they preferred; these were white-bellied, whereas the belly of a very fierce one with a large head, of which Piper and the others seemed much afraid, was yellow. On cutting this snake open two young quails were found within: one of them not being quite dead. The country we crossed during the early part of the day was at least as fine as that we had left. We passed alternately through strips of forest and over open flats well watered, the streams flowing southward; and at nine miles we crossed a large stream also flowing in that direction: all these being evidently tributaries to that on which we had been encamped. Beyond the greater stream, where we last crossed it, the country presented more of the mountain character, but good strong grass grew among the trees, which consisted of box and lofty bluegum. After making out upwards of eleven miles, we encamped in a valley where water lodged in holes and where we found also abundance of grass. We were fast approaching those summits which had guided me in my route from Mount Cole, then more than fifty miles behind us. Like that mountain these heights also belonged to a lofty range, and like it were beside a very low part of it, through which I hoped to effect a passage. Leaving the party to encamp I proceeded forward in search of the hill I had so long seen before me, and I found that the hills immediately beyond our camp were part of the dividing range and broken into deep ravines on the eastern side. Pursuing the connection between them and the still higher summits on the north-east, I came at length upon an open valley enclosed by hills very lightly wooded. This change was evidently owing to a difference in the rock which was a fine-grained granite, whereas the hills we had recently crossed belonged chiefly to the volcanic class of rocks, with the exception of the range I had traversed that evening in my way from the camp, which consisted of ferruginous sandstone. With the change of rock a difference was also obvious in the shape of the hills, the quantity and quality of the water, and the character of the trees. The hills presented a bold sweeping outline and were no longer broken by sharp-edged strata but crowned with large round masses of rock. Running water was gushing from every hollow in much greater abundance than elsewhere; and lastly the timber, which on the other ranges consisted chiefly of ironbark and stringybark, now presented the shining bark of the bluegum or yarra and the grey hue of the box. The Anthisteria australis, a grass which seems to delight in a granitic soil, also appeared in great abundance, and we also found the aromatic tea, Tasmania aromatica, which represents in New Holland the winter's bark of the southern extremity of South America. The leaves and bark of this tree have a hot biting cinnamon-like taste on which account it is vulgarly called the pepper-tree.

ASCEND MOUNT BYNG.

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

RICH GRASS.

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

EXPEDITION PASS.

September 29.

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

EXCURSION TOWARDS PORT PHILLIP.

September 30.

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

DISCOVER AND CROSS THE RIVER BARNARD.

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

EMUS NUMEROUS AND TAME.

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

THE RIVER CAMPASPE.

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

EFFECTS OF A STORM IN THE WOODS.

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

ASCEND MOUNT MACEDON.

I ascended without having been obliged to alight from my horse, and I found that the summit was very spacious, being covered towards the south with tree-ferns, and the musk-plant grew in great luxuriance. I saw also many other plants found at the Illawarra, on the eastern coast of the colony of New South Wales. The summit was full of wombat holes and, unlike that side by which I had ascended, it was covered with the dead trunks of enormous trees in all stages of decay.

PORT PHILLIP DIMLY SEEN FROM IT.

I had two important objects in view in ascending this hill; one being to determine its position trigonometrically as a point likely to be seen from the country to which I was going, where it might be useful to me in fixing other points; the other being to obtain a view of Port Phillip, and thus to connect my survey with that harbour. But the tree-fern, musk-plant, brush, and lofty timber together shut us up for a long time from any prospect of the low country to the southward, and it was not until I had nearly exhausted a fine sunny afternoon in wandering round the broad summit that I could distinguish and recognise some of the hills to the westward; and when I at length obtained a glimpse of the country towards the coast the features of the earth could scarcely be distinguished from the sky or sea, although one dark point looked more like a cape than a cloud and seemed to remain steady. With my glass I perceived that water lay inside of that cape and that low plains extended northward from the water. I next discovered a hilly point outside of the cape or towards the sea; and on descending the hill to where the trees grew less thickly I obtained an uninterrupted view of the whole piece of water. As the sun went down the distant horizon became clearer towards the coast and I intersected at length the two capes; also one at the head of the bay and several detached hills. I perceived distinctly the course of the Exe and Arundell rivers and a line of mangrove trees along the low shore. In short I at length recognised Port Phillip and the intervening country around it at a distance afterwards ascertained to be upwards of fifty miles from Indented Head, which proved to be the first cape I had seen; that outside (at A) being Point Nepean on the east side of the entrance to this bay. At that vast distance I could trace no signs of life about this harbour. No stockyards, cattle, nor even smoke, although at the highest northern point of the bay I saw a mass of white objects which might have been either tents or vessels. I perceived a white speck, which I took for breakers or white sand, on the projecting point of the north-eastern shore. (B.) On that day nine years exactly I first beheld the heads of Port Jackson, a rather singular coincidence. Thus the mountain on which I stood became an important point in my survey, and I gave it the name of Mount Macedon, with reference to that of Port Phillip.* It had been long dark before I reached the base of the mountain and picked out a dry bit of turf on which to lie down for the night.

(*Footnote. Geboor is the native name of this hill, as since ascertained by my friend Captain King, and it is a much better one, having fewer letters and being aboriginal.)

PORT PHILLIP, 50 MILES DISTANT, AS SEEN THROUGH A GLASS FROM MOUNT MACEDON.
Left to right: B, River, Indented Head, A, Woody Hill.

October 1.

The morning was cloudy with drizzling rain, a circumstance which prevented me from re-ascending a naked rock on the north-eastern summit to extend my observations over the country we were about to traverse. I found decomposed gneiss at the base of this hill.

RETURN TO THE CAMP.

While returning to the camp we saw great numbers of kangaroos but could not add to our stock of provisions, having neither dogs nor a rifle with us. I found on my arrival at the camp that the boat-carriage having been made once more serviceable, the party was quite ready to move forward in the morning.

October 2.

The day being Sunday and the weather unfavourable, as it rained heavily, the barometer having also fallen more than half an inch, I made it a day of rest for the benefit of our jaded horses, notwithstanding our own short rations. I was also very desirous to complete some work on the map.

CONTINUE OUR HOMEWARD JOURNEY.

October 3.

A clear morning: I buried another letter for Mr. Stapylton, informing him how he might best avoid the mud; and then we proceeded along the highest points of the ground, thus keeping clear of that which was boggy, and we found the surface to improve much in this respect as we receded from the base of the higher range. We crossed some fine valleys, each watered by a running stream; and all the hills consisted of granite. The various rivulets we crossed fell southwards into one we had seen in a valley on our right which continued from the base of the mountain, and this rivulet at length entered a still deeper valley in which there was very little wood, the hills on the opposite side being uncommonly level at the top. In this valley a fine stream ran northward, being undoubtedly the Barnard, or first river crossed by us on our way to Mount Macedon. We succeeded in finding a ford, but although it was deep a greater difficulty to be overcome was the descent of our carts to it, so abrupt and steep-sided was the ravine in which the Barnard flowed.

WATERFALL OF COBAW.

When we had effected at length a descent and a passage across, having also established our camp beyond this stream, I rode up the bank towards a noise of falling water, and thus came to a very fine cascade of upwards of sixty feet. The river indeed fell more than double that height, but in the lower part the water escaped unseen, flowing amongst large blocks of granite. I had visited several waterfalls in Scotland, but this was certainly the most picturesque I had witnessed; although the effect was not so much in the body of water falling, or the loud noise, as in the bold character of the rocks over and amongst which it fell. Their colour and shape were harmonized into a more complete scene than nature usually presents, resembling the finished subject of an artist, foreground and all. The prevailing hues were light red and purple-grey, the rocks being finely interlaced with a small-leaved creeper of the brightest green. A dark-coloured moss, which presents a warm green in the sun, covered the lower masses and relieved and supported the brighter hues, while a brilliant iris shone steadily in the spray, and blended into perfect harmony the lighter hues of the higher rocks and the whiteness of the torrent rushing over them. The banks of this stream were of so bold a character that in all probability other picturesque scenery, perhaps finer than this, may yet be found upon it.

PLATE 37: COBAW WATERFALL, WITH NATIVES FISHING.
All granite.
Major T.L. Mitchell del. G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
Published by T. and W. Boone, London.

SINGULAR COUNTRY ON THE BARNARD.

The geological character of the adjacent country was sufficiently striking--the left bank consisted of undulating hills and bold rocks of granite; the right of trap-rock in the higher part, and presented a remarkable contrast to the other, from the perfectly level character of the summits of adjacent hills, as if the whole had been once in a fluid state. Some of these table hills were separated by dry grassy vales of excellent soil. Further back the rugged crests of a wooded range of a different formation rendered the level character of this ancient lava or vesicular trap more obvious. The hills behind consisted in the higher parts of a felspathic conglomerate and clay-slate dipping to the eastward.

The country looked fine to the south and also northward, or down the stream. By keeping along a winding valley we ascended without inconvenience between these curiously scarped trap hills.

October 5.

We found the trees on the low range much broken like those near Mount Macedon, and the ground strewed here also with withering boughs, the result apparently of the same storm, the destructive effects of which we had noticed on the trees there.

CROSS THE CAMPASPE.

Beyond the clay-stone range we entered on another open and grassy tract where trap-rock again appeared; and at four miles and a half we descended into a grassy ravine in which we found another river flowing northward; this being apparently the second river crossed in my ride to Mount Macedon and which I now named the Campaspe. It was difficult to find in this stream any fordable place where the banks could be approached by the carts, one side or the other always proving too steep; but at length we succeeded. Strata of clay-slate inclined almost perpendicularly to the horizon projected at parts of the left bank, and over this clay-slate I found trap-rock. Beyond the Campaspe we crossed plains and much open land. At length on descending a little from a sort of table the trap was no longer to be seen, and we entered a wood where sandstone seemed to predominate, the strata dipping to the south-west. Fine grassy slopes extended through this forest, which was also so open that we could see each way for several miles. A rich variety of yellow flowers adorned the verdure among which the Caladenia and Diuris aurea, and also a large white Anguillaria, were very abundant.

AN ENGLISH RAZOR FOUND.

Piper found at an old native encampment a razor, and I had the satisfaction of reading on the blade the words "Old English" in this wild region, still so remote from civilised man's dominion! In the afternoon a remarkable change took place in the weather, for we had rain with an easterly wind, the thermometer being at 68 degrees. We encamped on a chain of deep ponds falling to the northward; reeds grew in them and we endeavoured to catch cod-perch but without success, probably because the natives of the country were too expert fishers to leave any in such holes.

ASCEND MOUNT CAMPBELL.

October 6.

At two miles on we reached the summit of the range near Mount Campbell which had partly bounded my view eastward from Mount Byng. A slight scrub grew on this range but not so thickly as to be impervious to carts; and after crossing it, as well as a succession of lower ridges, a good valley at length appeared on the left, while another which was very wide and green lay before us. At the further side of this and under another range ran a deep mountain stream which was joined a little lower down by one from the valley on the left: thus by following this stream I might have turned the range, but it was not too steep to be crossed, and I required some angles with the surrounding hills and the country before us. We ascended it therefore and comparatively with ease; and from amongst the trees on a hill I saw and intersected more points than I expected to see; even Mount Macedon was visible and, to the eastward, summits which I was almost certain lay beyond the river Goulburn. The descent from this ridge to the eastward was rather steep; but we immediately after entered an open forest in a valley which led very nearly in the direction of my intended route.

NATIVE BEVERAGE.

The adjacent forest consisted of large trees of ironbark, the first of that species of eucalyptus that we had seen for a considerable time. This tree was then in flower, and we found in a large canoe at an old native encampment a considerable quantity of the blossoms, which had not been long cut. Piper explained the purpose for which these flowers had been gathered by informing me that, by steeping them a night in water, the natives make a sweet beverage named bool.

VALLEY OF THE DEEGAY.

October 7.

The whole of this day's journey (fourteen miles) was along the same valley that we had entered yesterday. The deep bed of a stream, then containing a chain of ponds only, pursued a meandering course through it. We saw in this valley a pair of cockatoos with the scarlet and yellow top-knot. (Plate 23.) We had not been long encamped when intelligence was brought me by Piper that a party of natives were following our track, and soon after, Burnett and he having gone out to encourage them to come up, seven, including an old man and two boys, approached and I hastened out to meet them that they might not sit down too close to our camp. They told us the creek watering this long valley was named Deegay.

NATIVES EXCHANGE BASKETS FOR AXES.

Three of them carried very neatly-wrought baskets, and I gave two tomahawks in exchange for two of the baskets, and then making signs that it was time to sleep I returned to my tent, hoping that they would go to their tribe.

THEY LINGER ABOUT OUR CAMP.

On looking out however some time after, I found that two had walked boldly up to our fires, while the others continued to cower over a few embers at the spot where I left them; the evening being very cold and stormy. Piper, who at first seemed much disposed to make friends of these people, had found that his endeavours to conciliate strange natives were as usual in vain, and was now going about sword in hand, while three of the strangers seemed desirous to assuage his anger by telling him a long yarn. The other, who was the old man, was casting a covetous eye on all things around the camp. When I went out they retired to the group, but long after it had become quite dark there they still sat, having scarcely any fire and evidently bent on mischief.

EFFECT OF FIREWORKS, ETC.

I really was not sorry then to find that they still continued, for I had made arrangements for having a little amusement in that case, although their object in lingering there was nothing less than to kill us when asleep. Accordingly at a given signal Burnett suddenly sallied forth wearing a gilt mask and holding in his hand a blue light with which he fired a rocket.* Two men concealed behind the boat-carriage bellowed hideously through speaking trumpets, while all the others shouted and discharged their carabines in the air. Burnett marched solemnly towards the astonished natives who were seen through the gloom but for an instant as they made their escape and disappeared forever; leaving behind them however rough-shaped heavy clubs which they had made there in the dark with the new tomahawks we had given them, and which clubs were doubtless made for the sole purpose of beating out our brains as soon as we fell asleep. Thus their savage thirst for our blood only afforded us some hearty laughing. Such an instance of ingratitude was to me however a subject of painful reflection. The clubs made in the dark, during a very cold night, with the tomahawks I had given them, enabled me to understand better what the intentions of the natives had been in other similar cases; and I was at length convinced that no kindness had the slightest effect in altering the disposition and savage desire of these wild men to kill white strangers on their first coming among them. That Australia can never be explored with safety except by very powerful parties will probably be proved by the treacherous murder of many brave white men.**

(*Footnote. The use of these masks, which I on several occasions displayed with success, was first suggested to me by Sir John Jamison.)

(**Footnote. A distressing instance of this hostility towards the whites on the part of the aborigines has since occurred not far from the very spot where I wrote the above portion of my journal. Our line of route soon became the high road from Sydney to Port Phillip, and it appears by the Sydney newspapers (see Appendix 2.3) that the natives attacked a party of fifteen men proceeding with cattle into these recently explored regions. Although the whites had firearms the blacks killed seven of them, leaving another so severely wounded that his recovery was deemed hopeless. The winding swamp where this sudden attack by aboriginal natives took place is marked Swampy River on the map, and from the assembling of such a number at that point, exactly midway between the Murrumbidgee and Port Phillip, therefore the most remote from settled parts, and especially from the SUDDENNESS of that attack, the reader may imagine the perilous situation of my party on the Darling and the lower part of the Murray where, had any such attack but commenced successfully, it is extremely improbable that any white man would have returned to the settled districts.)

October 8.

The windings of the creek were this day more in our way as we proceeded along the valley and, when in doubt whether it would be best for our purpose to cross this channel or one joining it there from the south, I perceived a small hill at no great distance beyond, upon which I halted the party and ascended, when I saw that several ranges previously observed were at no great distance before us. In these ranges a gap to the south-east seemed to be the bed of the river which I knew we were approaching, and which I therefore concluded we should find in the low intervening country. Westward of the gap or ravine stood a large mass which I thought might be the Mount Disappointment of Mr. Hume.

ARRIVAL AT, AND PASSAGE OF, THE GOULBURN.

On returning to the party we crossed the channel of the Deegay; but at less than a mile further we were obliged to pass again to the right bank at a point where its course tended northward. Soon after recrossing it we met with a broad dry channel or lagoon, with lofty gum trees of the yarra species on its borders, a proof that the river was at hand; and on advancing three-quarters of a mile further we made the bank of the Goulburn or Hovell, a fine river somewhat larger than the Murrumbidgee.* Its banks and bed were firm; the breadth 60 yards; the mean depth as ascertained by soundings being somewhat more there than two fathoms. The velocity was at the rate of 100 yards in three minutes, or one mile and 240 yards per hour; the temperature of the water 54 degrees Fahrenheit. After having ascertained that this river was nowhere fordable at that time I sought an eligible place for swimming the cattle and horses across and immediately launched the boat. All the animals reached the opposite bank in safety; and by the evening every part of our equipment except the boat-carriage was also across.

(*Footnote. This river has been unfortunate in obtaining a variety of names and therefore less objection can be made to my preference of the aboriginal which I ascertained through Piper to be Bayunga. We already have a river Goulburn in New South Wales.)

FISH CAUGHT.

In this river we caught one or two very fine cod-perch, our old friends Gristes peelii.