Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia. Ludwig Leichhardt

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СКАЧАТЬ Mr. Roper, to find the two unfortunate people, whose absence gave me the greatest anxiety. Mr. Roper and Mr. Gilbert had brought one pigeon and one duck, as a day's sport; which, with the kangaroo, gave us a good and desirable supper of animal food. During the evening and the night, a short bellowing noise was heard, made probably by kangaroos, of which Mr. Gilbert stated he had seen specimens standing nine feet high. Brown brought a carpet snake, and a brown snake with yellow belly. The flies become very numerous, but the mosquitoes are very rare.

      On a botanical excursion I found a new Loranthus, with flat linear leaves, on Casuarina, a new species of Scaevola, Buttneria, and three species of Solanum. Mr. Hodgson brought a shrubby Goodenia; another species with linear leaves, and with very small yellow blossoms, growing on moist places in the forest; two shrubby Compositae; three different species of Dodonaea, entering into fruit; and a Stenochilus, R. Br. with red blossoms, the most common little shrub of the forest.

      Mr. Gilbert brought me a piece of coal from the crossing place of the creek of the 10th October. It belongs probably to the same layer which is found at Flagstone Creek, on Mr. Leslie's station, on Darling Downs. We find coal at the eastern side of the Coast Range, from Illawarra up to Wide Bay, with sandstone; and it seems that it likewise extends to the westward of the Coast Range, being found, to my knowledge, at Liverpool Plains, at Darling Downs, and at Charley's Creek, of the 10th Oct. It is here, as well as at the east side, connected with sandstone. Flint pebbles, of a red colour, were very abundant at Charley's Creek, and in the scrub, which I called the Flourspill, as it had made such a heavy inroad into our flour-bags. The flat on which we encamp, is composed of a mild clay, which rapidly absorbs the rain and changes into mud; a layer of stiff clay is about one foot below the surface. The grasses are at present in full ear, and often four feet high; but the tufts are distant, very different from the dense sward at the other side of the Range. As we left the Myal country of the Condamine, we left also its herbage, abounding in composite, leguminous, and chenopodiaceous plants, with a great variety of grasses.

      Oct. 20.--This morning, at half-past nine o'clock, Messrs. Roper, Hodgson, and Charley, returned with John Murphy and Caleb. They had strayed about twelve miles from the camp, and had fairly lost themselves. Their trackers had to ride over seventy miles, before they came up to them, and they would certainly have perished, had not Charley been able to track them: it was indeed a providential circumstance that he had not left us. According to their statement, the country is very open, with a fine large creek, which flows down to the Condamine; this is the creek which we passed on the 10th Oct., and which I called "Charley's Creek." The creek first seen by Mr. Hodgson joins this, and we are consequently still on westerly waters.

      Thermometer, at sunrise, 54 degrees (in the water 64 degrees); at eight o'clock 64 degrees. Strong easterly and northerly winds during the last two nights. It becomes calm at a quarter past three, with the rise of Venus.

      Mr. Calvert brought an edible mushroom out of Flourspill Scrub.

      The Loranthus of the Myal grows also on other Acacias with glaucous leaves. A bright yellow everlasting is very fine and frequent.

      Oct. 22.--I left Kent's lagoon yesterday. In order to skirt the scrub, I had to keep to the north-east, which direction brought me, after about three miles travelling through open forest, to Mr. Hodgson's creek, at which John Murphy and Caleb had been lost. The creek here consists of a close chain of fine rocky water-holes; the rock is principally clay, resembling very much a decomposed igneous rock, but full of nodules and veins of iron-stone. I now turned to the northward, and encamped at the upper part of the creek. To-day I took my old course to the north-west, and passed a scrubby Ironbark forest, and flat openly-timbered forest land. I came again, however, to a Bricklow scrub, which I skirted, and after having crossed a very dense scrubby Ironbark forest, came to a chain of rushy water-holes, with the fall of the waters to the north-east. The whole drainage of a north-easterly basin, seems to have its outlet, through Charley's Creek, into the Condamine.

      On the banks of Hodgson's Creek, grows a species of Dampiera, with many blue flowers, which deserves the name of "D. floribunda;" here also were Leptospermum; Persoonia with lanceolate pubescent leaf; Jacksonia (Dogwood); the cypress-pine with a light amber-coloured resin (Charley brought me fine claret-coloured resin, and I should not be surprised to find that it belongs to a different species of Callitris); an Acacia with glaucous lanceolate one-inch-long phyllodia; and a Daviesia; another Acacia with glaucous bipinnate leaves; a white Scaevola, Anthericum, and a little Sida, with very showy blossoms. Spotted-gum and Ironbark formed the forest; farther on, flooded-gum.

      Pigeons, mutton-birds (Struthidia), are frequent, and provided us with several messes; iguanas are considered great delicacies; several black kangaroos were scen to day.

      The weather very fine, but hot; the wind westerly; thermometer at sunset 74 degrees (84 degrees in the water.)

      Oct. 23.--At the commencement of last night, westerly winds, the sky clear; at the setting of the moon (about 3 o'clock a.m.), the wind changed to the north-east; scuddy clouds passing rapidly from that quarter; at sunrise it clears a little, but the whole morning cloudy, and fine travelling weather.

      We travelled in a north-westerly direction, through a Casuarina thicket, but soon entered again into fine open Ironbark forest, with occasionally closer underwood; leaving a Bricklow scrub to our right, we came to a dry creek with a deep channel; which I called "Acacia Creek," from the abundance of several species of Acacia. Not a mile farther we came on a second creek, with running water, which, from the number of Dogwood shrubs (Jacksonia), in the full glory of their golden blossoms. I called "Dogwood Creek." The creek came from north and north-east and flowed to the south-west, to join the Condamine. The rock of Dogwood Creek is a fine grained porous Psammite (clayey sandstone), with veins and nodules of iron, like that of Hodgson's creek. A new gum-tree, with a rusty-coloured scaly bark, the texture of which, as well as the seed-vessel and the leaf, resembled bloodwood, but specifically different; the apple-tree (Angophora lanceolata); the flooded-gum; a Hakea with red blossoms; Zierea; Dodonaea; a crassulaceous plant with handsome pink flowers; a new myrtaceous tree of irregular stunted growth, about 30 feet high, with linear leaves, similar to those of the rosemary; a stiff grass, peculiar to sandstone regions; and a fine Brunonia, with its chaste blue blossoms, adorn the flats of the creek as well as the forest land. The country is at present well provided with water and grass, though the scattered tufts of Anthistiria, and the first appearance of the small grass-tree (Xanthorrhaea), render its constancy very doubtful. The winding narrow-leaved Kennedyas, Gnaphaliums in abundance; Aotus in low bushes.

      No game, except a kangaroo rat, pigeons, ducks, and mutton-birds. Mr. Phillips brought a crawfish from the creek: it had just thrown off its old shell. Fresh-water muscles plentiful, though not of the size of those of the Condamine. A small rat was caught this morning amongst our flour bags; it had no white tip at the tail, nor is the tail so bushy as that of the rabbit-rat: probably it was a young animal.

      Oct. 24.--The creek being boggy, we had to follow it down for several miles to find a crossing place. Even here, one of the horses which carried the tea, fell back into the water, whilst endeavouring to scramble up the opposite bank, and drenched its valuable load. We now travelled through a country full of lagoons, and chains of water-holes, and passed through several patches of cypress-pine, until we came to another creek with rocky water-holes, with the fall to the eastward, probably joining Dogwood Creek, from which we were not four miles distant. Fine grassy flats accompanied the creek on its left, whilst a cypress-pine forest grew on its right bank. The latitude of our yesterday's camp was 26 degrees 26 minutes 30 seconds and, to-day, we are only four miles more to the westward. The country is still so flat and so completely wooded--sometimes with scrubs, thickets, Acacia, and Vitex groves, sometimes with open Ironbark forest intermingled with spotted gum--that no view of distant objects can be obtained. Several Epacridaceous shrubs and species of Bossiaea and Daviesia reminded me of the flora of the more southern districts.

      Oct. 25.--We travelled about twelve miles СКАЧАТЬ