Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia. Charles Sturt

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СКАЧАТЬ the day before that of which I am now speaking, and again this day fell in with another, which we evidently took by surprise. All the men had their spears, but on seeing us approach they quietly deposited them under a tree. Amongst these people there was another native who recognised me as an old acquaintance of fourteen years' standing; but I began to doubt these patriarchs, to whom I generally made a present for old acquaintance sake. This tribe numbered forty-eight. All of them were handsome and well-made men, though short in stature, and their lower extremities bore some proportion to their busts.

      For the first time this day we observed a ferruginous sandstone in the bed of the Darling, and saw it cropping out from under the sand hills on the western extremity of the flats.

      Shortly after leaving the natives we arrived at a small plain, where they could only just have killed a kangaroo that was lying on the ground partly prepared for cooking. On seeing it I ordered the dogs to be tied up, and left it untouched. Indeed if I had been fortunate enough to kill a kangaroo at this place, I would have given it to these poor people. Three of them, who afterwards came to our camp, mentioned the circumstance, and seemed to be sensible of our feelings towards them. There can be no doubt but that the Australian aboriginal is strongly susceptible of kindness, as has been abundantly proved to me, and to the influence of such feeling I doubtlessly owe my life; for if I had treated the natives harshly, and had thrown myself into their power afterwards, as under a kind but firm system I have ever done without the slightest apprehension, they would most assuredly have slain me; and when I assure the reader that I have traversed the country in every direction, meeting numerous tribes of natives, with two men only, and with horses so jaded that it would have been impossible to have escaped, he will believe that I speak my real sentiments. Equally so the old native, (to whom the net we discovered in the hollow of a tree where we first struck the Darling belonged), evinced the greatest astonishment and gratification, when he found that his treasure had been untouched by us.

      The flats of the Darling are certainly of great extent, but their verdure reached no farther than the immediate precincts of the river at this part of its course. Beyond its immediate neighbourhood they are perfectly bare, but lightly wooded, having low and useless box-trees (the Gobero of Sir Thomas Mitchell), growing on them. Their soil is a tenacious clay, blistered and rotten. These flats extend to uncertain distances from the river, and vary in breadth from a quarter of a mile to two miles or more. Beyond them the country is sandy, desolate, and scrubby. Pine ridges, generally lying parallel to the stream, render travelling almost impracticable where they exist, whilst the deep fissures and holes on the flats, into which it is impossible to prevent the drays from falling, give but little room for selection. Our animals were fairly worn out by hard pulling on the one, and being shaken to pieces on the other.

      Some days prior to the 29th, Mr. Browne and I, on examining the waters of the river, thought that we observed a more than usual current in it; grass and bark were floating on its surface, and it appeared as if the water was pushed forward by some back impulse. On the 28th it was still as low as ever; but on the morning of the 29th, when we got up it was wholly changed. In a few hours it had been converted into a noble river, and had risen more than five feet above its recent level. It was now pouring along its muddy waters with foaming impetuosity, and carrying away everything before it. Whence, it may be asked, come these floods? and was it from the same cause that the Murray, as Tenbury stated, rose so suddenly? Such were the questions that occurred to me. From the natives I could gather nothing satisfactory. We were at this time between three and four hundred miles from the sources of the Darling, and I could hardly think that this fresh had come from such a distance. I was the more disposed to believe, perhaps, because I hoped such would be the case, that it was caused by heavy rains in the hills to the north-west of Laidley's Ponds, and that it was pouring into the river through that rivulet.

      The natives who had accompanied us from the last tribe left at sunset, as is their custom, after having received two blankets and some knives. Being anxious to get to Laidley's Ponds, I started early, with the intention of making a long journey, but circumstances obliged me to halt at six miles. We crossed extensive and rich flats the whole of the way, and found as usual an abundance of feed for our cattle. It would perhaps be hazardous to give an opinion as to the probable availability of the flats of the Darling: those next the stream had numerous herbs, as spinach, indigoferae, clover, etc., all indicative of a better soil; but the out flats were bare of vegetation, although there was no apparent difference in their soil. One peculiarity is observable in the Darling, that neither are there any reeds growing in its channel or on the flats.

      Our journey on the last day of September terminated at noon, as we arrived at a point from which it was evident the river takes a great sweep to the eastward; and Nadbuck informed me that by going direct to the opposite point, where, after coming up again, it turned to the north, we should cut off many miles, but that it would take a whole day to perform the journey. I determined therefore to follow his advice, and to commence our journey across the bight at an early hour the following morning, the 1st of October. I availed myself of the remainder of the day to examine the country for some miles to the westward, but there was no perceptible change in it. The same barren plains, covered sparingly with salsolae and atriplex, characterised this distant part of the interior; and sandy ridges covered with stunted cypress trees, acaciae, hakeae, and other similar shrubs, proved to me that the productions of it were as unchanged as the soil.

      As we had arranged, we broke up our camp earlier than usual on the 1st of October, for, from what Nadbuck had stated, I imagined that we had a long journey before us; but after going fifteen miles, we gained the river, and found that it was again trending to the north. It had now risen more than bank high, and some of its flats were partly covered with water. We had kept a N.N.W. course the whole day, and crossed hard plains without any impediment; but, although we kept at a great distance from the stream, we did not observe any improvement in the aspect of the country.

      Our specimens, both of natural history and botany, were as yet very scanty; but we found a new and beautiful shrub in blossom, on some of the plains as we crossed the bight; and Mr. Browne discovered three nests of a peculiar rat, that have been partially described by Sir Thomas Mitchell.

      Mr. Browne was fortunate enough to secure one of these animals, which is here figured. The nests they construct are made of sticks, varying in length from three inches to three feet, and in thickness from the size of a quill to the size of the thumb. They were arranged in a most systematic manner, so as to form a compact cone like a bee-hive, four feet in diameter at the base, and three feet high. This fabric is so firmly built, as to be pulled to pieces with difficulty. One of these nests had five holes or entrances from the bottom, nearly equi-distant from each other, with passages leading to a hole in the ground, beneath which I am led to conclude they had their store. There were two nests of grass in the centre of the pyramid, and passages running up to them diagonally from the bottom. The sticks, which served for the foundations of the nests, were not more than two or three inches long, and so disposed as to form a compact flooring, whilst the roofs were arched. The nests were close together, but in separate compartments, with passages communicating from the one to the other.

      In a pyramid that we subsequently opened, there was a nest nearly at the top; so that it would appear that these singular structures are common to many families, and that the animals live in communities. The heap of sticks, thus piled up, would fill four large-sized wheel-barrows, and must require infinite labour. This ingenious little animal measures six inches from the tip of the nose to the tail, which is six inches long. The length of the head is two and a half inches, of the ears one and a quarter, and one inch in breadth. Its fur is of a light brown colour, and of exceedingly fine texture. It differs very little in appearance from the common rat, if I except the length of its ears, and an apparent disproportion in the size of the hind feet, which were large. The one figured is a male, which I obtained from one of the natives who followed us to the camp.

      At this period of our journey the weather was exceedingly cold, and the winds high. We were about 45 miles from Laidley's Ponds; but could not, from the most elevated point, catch a glimpse of the ranges in its neighbourhood. СКАЧАТЬ