Xyris, Philydrum, a species of Xerotes, and an aromatic spreading herb, grew in great abundance round the water. I found a great quantity of the latter in the stomach of the emu. A species of Crotolaria, two or three feet high, with simple woolly oblong or oblongo-lanceolate leaves, and with a beautiful green blossom of the form and size of that of Kennedya rubicunda, grew in the bed of the river. Great numbers of large bright yellow hornets, with some black marks across the abdomen, visited the water. Flies were exceedingly troublesome: but the mosquitoes annoyed us very rarely, and only where water was very abundant. The nights have been very dewy, but not cold. The wind in the morning from the south-east, veering round to the northward during the day.
Sept. 9.--We travelled north-west by north, and for several miles, through a scrubby stringy-bark forest, when we came to steep sandstone ridges, composed of a hard flaggy horizontally stratified rock. Higher ranges were seen to the W.N.W. and west; and I found myself fairly caught between rocky hills when I least expected them, but hoped to enter upon a country corresponding in its character with the low coast marked down in the map, in this latitude. I turned to the northward, and found a practicable path between the hills, and came, after crossing a small sandy creek to a fine salt-water river, as broad as any we had seen. High hills were at its left bank; and, as we followed it up in a direction S. 60 degrees W., the right became more broken, and the vegetation richer. A very conspicuous foot-path led us through heaps of cockle shells to a fishing station of the natives, where they seemed to have a permanent camp; the huts being erected in a substantial manner with poles, and thatched with grass and the leaves of Pandanus; there were extensive fire places containing heaps of pebbles; and an abundance of fish bones. The weir was, as usual, formed with dry sticks, across a shallow part of the river. A spring of fresh water was below the camp at the edge of high water. As the tide was high, and an abundant supply of fresh water was found in a creek which joined the river a few hundred yards from the fishery, we encamped on the creek, in lat. 16 degrees 28 minutes 57 seconds, lon. 137 degrees 23 minutes. I consider this river to be the "Abel Tasman" of the Dutch navigators: and that it is probably joined by the Calvert. Its flats were well-grassed, and very openly timbered with bloodwood, stringy-bark, leguminous Ironbark, then in blossom, and a large tree with white smooth bark, spreading branches, and pinnate leaves. The salt water Hibiscus (Paritium) and Acacia (Inga moniliformis), were also in blossom.
Charley, Brown, and John, went to spear some fish, but the tide was out, the water shallow, and the fish were gone. Charley saw here, for the first time, the Torres Straits pigeon (Carpophaga luctuosa, GOULD.)
The little creek, at which we were encamped, had formed its channel through sandstone rock; and its narrow bed, containing a ferruginous water supplied by springs, was crowded with high reeds, and shaded with various trees of a dense green foliage. Frogs croaked, and crickets chirped, the whole night; and the call of goat-suckers, and the hooting of owls, were heard in every direction; large fish were splashing in the water; wallabies were bleating as they came down to the creek, and saw our horses; and mosquitoes by their loud humming prevented our sleeping. This noise of animal life during the night formed an agreeable contrast to the dead silence which we had observed at almost all our camps around the gulf, with the exception of the one occupied on the 1st September, and of that at the Marlow, where the flying-fox was the merry reveller of night.
Sept. 10.--We were again too late for low tide, to cross at the fishery of the natives, and consequently travelled about two miles and a half higher up, passing in our way three other fisheries; where we crossed the river, the bed was very wide, and covered with shrubs, shingle, and blocks of sandstone; but its rapid stream of fresh water was only about fifteen or twenty yards broad, and three feet deep. At the left side of the river, we saw four or five fine Cycas palms, from eight to ten feet high, and the stem from six to nine inches in diameter. High rocky sandstone ridges extended on the same side, in a direction parallel to the river, and at the distance of two or three miles. They were covered with scrub, open box, and stringy-bark forest; and the wallabi and kangaroo tracks going down to the river, were very numerous. The appearance of the Cypress pine, which formed groups within the stringy-bark forest, and particularly on the rises and sandy slopes, was of a most striking character. A new species of Grevillea, and also of Calythrix, were found in blossom. Beyond the ridges, the stringy-bark forest was obstructed by the leguminous shrub with broad stem (Bossiaea). Several Pandanus creeks went down to the north-east; and the second contained a little water. After travelling about twelve miles to the north-west by north, we encamped at a fine creek with large pools of water, in lat. 16 degrees 21 minutes. During the night, we heard the well-known note of what we called the "Glucking bird," when we first met with it, in the Cypress pine country, at the early part of our expedition. Its re-appearance with the Cypress pine corroborated my supposition, that the bird lived on the seeds of that tree.
Sept. 11.--We travelled about twelve miles north by west, over a country in which scrub, stringy-bark forest, and Cypress pine thickets alternated. We passed some patches of broad-leaved tea-tree forest. The raspberry-jam tree became again more frequent. About a mile from the camp, we crossed a small creek with water; and at seven miles further, another, but it was dry; and, at the end of the stage we came to a fine sandy creek with large pools. Seeing that the natives had encamped here frequently, and some very lately, by the heaps of broken Pandanus fruit, I did not hesitate to pitch our tents; but, on examining the water, I was greatly disappointed in finding it so brackish that the horses and cattle would not drink it. I, therefore, started with Charley in search of better, and, in the upper part of the creek, we found some large water-holes just dried up: but, on digging, they yielded an ample supply of good water. On this little excursion, we were fortunate enough, by the aid of Spring, to kill two emus; but the poor dog again received some deep scratches.
The camps of the natives were, as usual, distinguished by heaps of shells of Cytherea, oysters, fresh-water mussels, and fish bones. The fresh-water mussel was small, and of a yellowish colour.
We had some few drops of rain at about half-past 11 o'clock, A. M,
Sept. 12.--The horses, though hobbled, had strayed so far in search of water, that we had to wait for them until 1 o'clock. We started, however, but, after travelling a short distance, finding the day far advanced, and our chance of finding water very doubtful, I determined to return to the water-hole which we had dug yesterday; about two miles and a half west by south. The flats of the creek were well-grassed; large drooping tea-trees with groves of Pandanus grew on the hollows near the creek, and tea-tree thickets farther off.
I frequently tasted the fine-looking fruit of the Pandanus, but was every time severely punished with sore lips and a blistered tongue; and the first time that I ate it, I was attacked by a violent diarrhoea. I could not make out how the natives neutralized the noxious properties of the fruit; which, from the large heaps in their camps, seemed to form no small portion of their food. The fruit appeared either to have been soaked, or roasted and broken, to obtain the kernels; for which purpose we invariably found large flat stones and pebbles to pound them with. I supposed that they washed out the sweet mealy matter contained between the stringy fibres, and that they drank the liquid, as they do with the honey; and that their large koolimans which we had occasionally seen, were used for the purpose. I, consequently, gathered some very ripe fruit, scraped the soft part with a knife, and washed it until all the sweet substance was out, and then boiled it; by which process it lost almost all its sharpness, had a very pleasant taste, and, taken in moderate quantities, did not affect the bowels. The fruit should be so ripe as to be ready to drop from the tree.