The station which we had reached was occupied by the cattle of Mr. Lee of Bathurst; the two stockmen, for such the white men proved to be, seemed to have enough to do to keep the natives in good humour as the only means of finding the cattle or securing their own safety among the savage tribes. With the latter object probably in view they seemed to have encouraged the expectation of soldiers on the part of the natives about them. Soldiers have been too seriously instrumental in the civilisation of the aborigines, wherever they have become civil, to be soon forgotten; and the warfare by which the Bathurst settlers were first established in security would be remembered, no doubt, with some apprehension of the consequences of this last act of barbarism. The stockmen informed me that I should meet with another cattle station which had been established by Mr. Pike where my route crossed Goobang creek. The fact that the stock of the settlers already extends over all available land within reach of the present limits of location is clearly exhibited by the speedy occupation of these two stations. They are placed on the only two good tracts of land crossed by our party before we reached the arid plains of the interior. Even my boat depot on the Namoi, the terra incognita made known only by my first despatch, was immediately after occupied as a cattle-run by the stock-keepers of Sir John Jamieson.
COOKOPIE PONDS.
The Bogan still coming from the south-east, we continued our journey in that direction for four miles beyond the cattle station and then halted. Near this camp two branches of the Bogan united, and the one which came from the eastward appeared to contain most water. I calculated that we were within eleven miles of Cookopie; a pond in our old track at which we had encamped on the 13th of April, and which bore south-east from this camp. Here we killed our last remaining sheep but one: and it was worthy of remark that, after travelling upwards of 1100 miles, it was found to be fatter and weigh more by two pounds than any of those which had been previously killed as we proceeded, although the best had been always selected for slaughter. It appears thus how well a wandering and migratory life agrees with sheep in this hemisphere, as of old in the other. Ours gave very little trouble, and at length became so tame that they followed the horses or cattle like dogs. The sheep were leanest on the Darling, and on their way back their improved appearance was remarkable.
September 10.
Accompanied by four natives and a boy we continued our journey, and as my reckoning since I deviated from our old route had been by time only, I allowed a black named Old-Fashioned and the boy to guide us to Cookopie. In going south-west we soon crossed the first creek, and for some way could not proceed on the bearing which led to the other as the natives pointed, and which had the best ponds in it. At length its course came more from the northward, and we travelled on good, open, forest-land, until our guides brought us directly to the very pond of water beside which we formerly encamped. We had travelled but nine miles, which was two miles less than I reckoned the distance to be, a pleasant discovery in our present case when even the proposed journey for the day, although short, had appeared too much for the very weak condition of our animals. I had indeed thought of going up the first creek in order to join our route at Coogoorduroy; but we had now been so fortunate as to gain, by a journey of nine miles, the point which, had we gone round by Coogoorduroy, must have been the end of our second day's journey. We had here the satisfaction of recognising the track of my courier's horse tracing our foot-marks homewards at a good fast pace. This pond was nearly dry, the little water remaining being thick and green. It was more however than I expected to find, and it was quite sufficient for our wants.
GOOBANG CREEK.
By resting here it was in my power to reach, by another day's travelling, Goobang creek, where the ponds were deep and clear and the grass good. This pond of Cookopie appeared to be near the head of a small run of water arising in hills behind Pagormungor, a trap hill distant only five or six miles along our route homeward.
September 11.
This morning Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at 23 degrees, and the pond was frozen three-quarters of an inch thick. There was however so little water left that only three of the bullocks could be supplied before starting. The natives who had promised to go on with us nevertheless remained behind; but we proceeded by our old route to Goobang creek, and encamped on its left bank nearly a mile above where we had crossed it formerly. Here the grass was superior to any we had seen lower down; numerous fresh tracks of cattle were visible on the ground, and the water lay deep and clear in ponds, surrounded by reeds. There were no reeds about the waterholes of the Bogan; and we had in fact this day left that river, and reached the sources of the Lachlan, to which stream the Goobang must sometimes be an important tributary. The ground separating these waters, which must travel towards the distant channels of such spacious basins as those of the Lachlan and Darling, consists here only of some low hills of trap-rock, connected with gently sloping ridges of mica schist. The country on the Goobang or Lachlan side appears to be the best; for the grass grows there much more abundantly, and the beds of the streams appear to be much more retentive.
CHARACTER OF THE RIVER BOGAN.