The black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus Banksii) has been much more frequently observed of late.
We used the last of our salt at the last camp; and what we should do without it, was a question of considerable interest. As I had never taken salt with me in my reconnoitring expeditions, and had never felt the want of it with dried beef, either grilled or raw, I recommended my companions to eat their meat in the same state; and, in fact, good dry beef, without any farther preparation, was much relished by all of us: for, when grilled, it became ashy and burnt, particularly when without fat; and, if stewed, although it yielded a good broth, it became tough and tasteless. The meat of the last bullock was very hard and juiceless, and something was to be done to soften it, and make it palatable: as we had no fat, we frequently steamed it with water, but this rendered it tough, without facilitating in the least the mastication; and its fibres, entering between our teeth, rendered them exceedingly tender, and caused us much pain. After a week's trial, and several experiments, we returned to our former practice of stewing it, and in a very short time relished it as much without salt, as we had formerly done with it.
CHAPTER IX
THE STARRY HEAVENS
SUBSTITUTE FOR COFFEE
SAWFISH
TWO-STORIED GUNYAS OF THE NATIVES
THE MITCHELL
MURPHY'S PONY POISONED
GREEN TREE-ANT
NEW BEVERAGE
CROCODILE
AUDACITY OF KITES
NATIVES NOT FRIENDLY
THE CAMP ATTACKED AT NIGHT BY THEM
MESSRS. ROPER AND CALVERT WOUNDED, AND MR. GILBERT KILLED.
June 1.--Mr. Gilbert and Charley made an excursion down the river last night, to look for water, but, as they did not return in the morning, and as water had been found, after they left, about four miles lower down, we started to meet them. Observing a swarm of white cranes circling in the air, and taking their flight down the river, I concluded that we should meet with a good supply of water lower down, and, therefore, passed the nearest water-hole; but, the country and the bed of the river being exceedingly rocky, our progress was very slow. After proceeding about eight miles, we came to the junction of a river from the south-west with the Lynd; and encamped at some small pools of water in latitude 17 degrees 45 minutes 40 seconds: having travelled, during the last two stages, in a west-north-west direction.
June 2.--When we left our camp this morning, Mr. Gilbert and Charley returned from their ride; they had come on our tracks last night, but, surrounded as they were by rocky hills and gullies, had been compelled to encamp. We travelled about seven miles and a half, and crossed three good sized creeks, joining the Lynd from the north east. The river divided several times into anabranches, flowing round, and insulating rocky hills and ridges. It was much better supplied with water, and contained several large reedy lagoons. An elegant Acacia, about thirty or thirty-five feet high, grew on its small flats: it had large drooping glaucous bipinnate leaves, long broad pods, and oval seeds, half black, and half bright red.
June 3.--We continued our journey down the river, about seven or eight miles. The first three miles were very tolerable, over limited box-flats near the river. As we approached the ranges again, the supply of water increased; and we passed one large poel, in particular, with many ducks and spoonbills on it. But the ranges approached the banks of the river on both sides, and formed either precipitous walls, or flats so exceedingly rocky, that it was out of the question to follow it. We, therefore, ascended the hills and mountains, and with our foot-sore cattle passed over beds of sharp shingles of porphyry. We crept like snails over these rocky hills, and through their gullies filled with boulders and shingles, until I found it necessary to halt, and allow my poor beasts to recover. During the afternoon, I examined the country in advance, and found that the mountains extended five miles farther, and were as rocky as those we had already passed. But, after that, they receded from the river, and the country became comparatively level. To this place I brought forward my party on the 4th June, and again descended into the valley of the river, and encamped near a fine pool of water in its sandy bed, in latitude 17 degrees 34 minutes 17 seconds. Here, last night, I met a family of natives who had just commenced their supper; but, seeing us, they ran away and left their things, without even making an attempt to frighten us. Upon examining their camp, I found their koolimans, (vessels to keep water) full of bee bread, of which I partook, leaving for payment some spare nose rings of our bullocks. In their dillies I found the fleshy roots of a bean, which grows in a sandy soil, and has solitary yellow blossoms; the tuber of a vine, which has palmate leaves; a bitter potato, probably belonging to a water-plant; a fine specimen of rock-crystal; and a large cymbium (a sea shell), besides other trifles common to almost all the natives we had seen. Their koolimans were very large, almost like small boats, and were made of the inner layer of the bark of the stringy-bark tree. There was no animal food in the camp.
The whole extent of the mountainous country passed in our two last stages, was of porphyry, with crystals of quartz and felspar in a grey paste; on both sides of it, the rock was granite and pegmatite; and, at the north-west side of the gorge, I observed talc-schist in the bed of the river.
The vegetation of the forest, and along the river, did not vary; but, on the mountains, the silver-leaved Ironbark prevailed.