Chapter IV.
ADVANCE WITH A LIGHT PARTY—LEAVING THE REMAINDER WITH THE BULLOCKS AND DRAYS TO REST THREE WEEKS AT ST. GEORGE'S BRIDGE.—DISCOVER A RIVER JOINING THE BALONNE FROM THE NORTH-WEST.—CROSS IT, AND STILL TRACE THE BALONNE UPWARDS.—FINE RIVER SCENERY.—VAST PLAINS EXTENDING TO THE EASTERN HORIZON DISCOVERED FROM A TREE.—TRIBUTARY FROM THE NORTH-WEST—AND RICH PLAINS.—TRACE THIS SMALL RIVER UPWARDS.—EXCELLENT COUNTRY FOR GRAZING PURPOSES.—MOUNTAINS, SEEN AT LENGTH, TO THE NORTHWARD.—NATIVES AT OUR CAMP.—ASCEND MOUNT FIRST VIEW.—MOUNT INVITING.—ASCEND MOUNT RED CAP.—RIDE TO THE BORDERS OF FITZROY DOWNS, AND ASCEND MOUNT ABUNDANCE.—THE BOTTLE TREE.—ASCEND MOUNT BINDÀNGO.—DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER "AMBY."—DANGEROUS FOLLOWERS OF A CAMP.—RECONNOISSANCE TO THE NORTH-WEST.—ASCEND A TRAPITIC RANGE.—A GAP OR GOOD OPENING THROUGH IT FOUND FOR THE CARTS.—SMALL RIVER DISCOVERED BEYOND, CONTAINING ONE POND OF WATER.—THE CHANNEL DISAPPEARS ON OPEN FLATS.—DISCOVER THE RIVER MARAN.—SELECT A POSITION FOR A DEPÔT.—RIDE OF RECONNOISSANCE TO THE NORTHWARD.—RIDE INTO THE WESTERN INTERIOR.—ASCEND MOUNT LONSDALE.—EXTENSIVE VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.—WATER NOT VERY PLENTIFUL.—RETURN TO THE CAMP.—ASCEND A HIGH POINT TO THE EASTWARD.—VIEW THENCE OF THE SUMMITS OF A RANGE TO THE NORTHWARD.—CAMP VISITED BY HOSTILE NATIVES DURING MY ABSENCE.—ARRIVAL OF MR. KENNEDY WITH THE MAIN BODY OF THE PARTY.—HIS ACCOUNT OF THE HOSTILITY OF THE CHIEF AND TRIBE AT "TAGANDO."—VARIOUS PREPARATIONS MADE FOR AGAIN ADVANCING WITH A LIGHT PARTY.—DEPÔT CAMP ESTABLISHED ON THE MARAN.
23RD APRIL.—Our little party started at noon. I took with me eight men, two native boys, twelve horses, besides my own two, and three light carts with provisions for ten weeks—determined, if possible, to penetrate northward, into the interior country, and ascertain where the division of the waters was likely to be found. I intended, with this view, to trace upwards the course of the Balonne, until I found mountains to the north-westward of it; then, to endeavour to turn them by the west, and thus acquire some knowledge on that most interesting point, the watershed towards the Gulf. I left instructions with Mr. Kennedy to follow my track with the drays and main body of the party, and to set out on Monday, the 4th of May, when the cattle would have had three weeks' rest.
The first few miles of this day's journey were along a clayey flat or hollow, which enabled me to avoid scrubby and sandy ground on each side. I believed its direction (N. E.), to be about parallel to the river. Leaving it at length to make the river, I met with rather a thick scrub; but came upon the river where the banks were very rocky and picturesque. Its course seemed to be from N. E.; but, following another flat of firm clay, I got again into scrub so thick that I turned eastward towards the river, and travelled along its bank until I encamped in lat. 27° 56' 12" S. There was but little water in the bed of the river there; but long islands of sand, water-worn banks, with sloping grassy bergs behind. The bed, in most places, consisted of rock, the same ferruginous conglomerate, or clay ironstone, seen in the same river lower down. Grass was excellent and abundant on the bergs and near the river, but thick scrub crowned these bergs on our side. It was too late to admit of my examining the other. On our way through the scrub this day, we saw the ENOCARPUS SPARTEA of Brown, a leaf-like wing-branched shrub; and the beautiful parasite, LORANTHUS AURANTIACUS, occupied the branches of Eucalyptus. Thermometer, at sunrise, 49°; at 9 p.m., 47°;—with wet bulb, 41°. [* The dates on the map show my camps; the Roman numerals those afterwards taken up by Mr. Kennedy, in following my track with the main body.]
24TH APRIL.—Set off early, travelling along the bank. The direction was N. N. W. and N. W. For the first few miles, the scenery was wild and very fine. Masses of rock, lofty trees, shining sands and patches of water, in wild confusion, afforded evidence of the powerful current that sometimes moved there and overwhelmed all. At this time, the outlines were wild, the tints sublimely beautiful. Mighty trees of Casuarinae, still inclined as they had been made to bend before the waters, contrasted finely with erect Mimosae, with prostrate masses of driftwood, and with perpendicular rocks. Then the hues of the Anthistiria grass, of a redbrown, contrasted most harmoniously with the light green bushes, grey driftwood, blue water, and verdure by its margin; all these again —grass, verdure, driftwood, and water—were so opposed to the dark hues of the Casuarinae, Mimosae, and rifted rocks, that a Ruysdael, or a Gains-borough, might there have found an inexhaustible stock of subjects for their pencil. It was, indeed, one continuous Ruysdael.
"That artist lov'd the sternly savage air,
And scarce a human image plac'd he there."
May the object of our journey be successful, thought I then; and we may also hope that these beauties of nature may no longer "waste their sweetness in the desert air;" and that more of her graces may thus be brought within the reach of art. Noble reaches next extended in fine perspective before us; each for several miles, presenting open grassy margins along which we could travel on firm ground unimpeded by scrub. At length I perceived before me a junction of rivers, and could see along each of them nearly a mile. I had no alternative but to follow up that nearest to me, and found upon its bank many recent encampments of natives; at one of which the fires were still burning. The country was grassy, and so open, as almost to deserve the colonial name of "plain." This channel took me a long way northward, and to the N. N. E.; but finally turned west, and at last south. Its bed was full of sand; and at length we found it quite dry, so that, when I would have encamped, I could find no water. Yet it bore all the character of a large river; marks of high floods, Mimosae, sand, and river driftwood, like the other. It might, and probably did, finally come out of the main channel; but this seemed too remote a contingency for our wants then, and I crossed it, to look for the other. In riding eastward, I found a wide plain bounded by trees that looked like those along the river. No time could be spared for further reconnoissance: I took the party across, and made for the nearest part. My course was first N. E., then East, finally South, in following the various slopes; and it was only after travelling fifteen miles beyond the point where I met with this river, that I reached the bank of the other, at a spot distant only FOUR miles from where I had quitted it. This was only accomplished at forty minutes after 4 p.m., when we had travelled twenty-six miles. As our circuitous route was likely, if followed by Mr. Kennedy with the heavy drays, to cause delay and inconvenience, I resolved to halt next day, and write to him on the subject, explaining how he could most readily fall into my track by crossing the other channel, quitting first the other track, at a spot to be marked by Graham, who took the letter. Nevertheless, it had been imperative on me to follow it up as I had done; because, whether as a separate tributary or an ana-branch only, the right bank was likely to suit us best, provided only that water could have been found in its bed. Near the new river, the INDIGOFERA HIRSUTA of Linnaeus, with its spikes of reflexed hairy pods, was common; and also the MOSCHOSMA POLYSTACHYUM. Lat. 27° 47' 57'' S. Thermometer, at sunrise, 38°; at 9 p.m., 59°;—with wet bulb, 56°.
25TH APRIL.—
"The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers,
And heavily in clouds brings on the day."
A grateful change in the weather promised rain; but suggested to me a contingency for which I had not provided in my letter to Mr. Kennedy, and Graham was gone. A flood coming down, might fill the channel of the other, and prevent Mr. Kennedy's party from crossing to fall into my track; or, if that should finally prove only an ana-branch, shut me up in an island. On this point I again, therefore, wrote to Mr. Kennedy, and buried my letter at the spot marked by Graham, and according to marks on trees, as I had previously arranged with him. I then instructed him to examine the dry channel far enough upwards (halting his party for the day) to ascertain whether it was a separate river, or an ana-branch; and, in the latter case, to keep along its banks, and so avoid the possible difficulty of crossing it during rainy weather. Thermometer, at sunrise, 65°; at noon, 70°; at 4 p.m., 66°; at 9, 64°;—with wet bulb, 63°. Mean height above the sea, 586 feet.