Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia. Charles Sturt

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СКАЧАТЬ It appeared to me that the river flats were getting smaller on both sides of it, the river still continuing to rise. It was now pouring down a vast body of water into the Murray. There was, however, an abundance of luxuriant pasture along its banks. Late in the afternoon the lubras (wives) of the natives, at our camp, made their appearance on the opposite side of the river, and Nadbuck, who was a perfect gallant, wanted to invite them over; but I told him that I would cut off the head of the first who came over with my long knife--my sword. The old gentleman went off to Mr. Browne, to whom he made a long complaint, asking him if he really thought I should execute my threat. Mr. Browne assured him that he was quite certain I should not only cut off the lubra's head, but his too. On this Nadbuck expressed his indignation; but however much he might have ventured to risk the lubra's necks, he had no idea of risking his own.

      One of the natives who visited us at this place was very old, with hair as white as snow. To this man I gave a blanket, feeling assured it would be well bestowed; although a circumstance occurred that had well night prevented my behaving with my usual liberality to the natives who were here with us. The butcher had been killing a sheep, and carelessly left the steel, an implement we could ill spare, under the tree in which he had slung the animal: and it was instantly taken by the natives. On hearing this, I sent for Nadbuck and Toonda, and told them that I should not stir until the steel was brought back, or make any more presents on the river. On this there was a grand consultation between the two. Toonda at length went to the natives, who had retired to some little distance, and, after some earnest remonstrances, he walked to the tree near which the sheep had been killed, and, after looking at the ground for a moment, began to root up the ground with his toes, when he soon discovered the stolen article, and brought it to me. The thief was subsequently brought forward, and we made him thoroughly ashamed of himself; although I have no doubt the whole tribe would have applauded his dexterity if he had succeeded.

      The day was exceedingly cold, as the two or three previous ones had been, but still the temperature was delightful. We travelled, on this day, across the river flats, which again opened out to a distance of two or three miles; the ground, however, was of a most distressing character, and we had to cross several sandy points projecting into them, so that the poor animals were much jaded. This, however, was only the beginning of their troubles, for we were, in like manner, obliged to travel for several successive days over the same kind of ground--land on which floods have gradually subsided, and which has been blistered and cracked by solar heat. Travelling on this kind of ground was, indeed, more distressing to the cattle than even the hard pull over sand; for it was impossible for the bullock-drivers to steer clear of the many fissures and holes on these flats, and the shock, when the drays fell into any of them, was so great, that it shook the poor brutes almost to pieces.

      From this period to the 9th there was a sameness in our progress up the Darling. On the 3rd we crossed a small creek, into which the waters of the river were flowing fast; and which both Nadbuck and Toonda informed us joined Yertello Lake, and that the Ana-branch was on the other side of the lake. This explanation accounted to us for a statement made by Toonda, shortly after he first joined us, that the Ana-branch hereabouts formed a great lake. On the 4th a little rain fell, but not in such quantity as to interfere with our travelling. On the 5th we passed a tribe of natives, in number about thirty-four. We were again led by Nadbuck across the country, to avoid the more circuitous route along the river. We passed through a more pleasing country than usual, and one that was better timbered and better grassed than it had been at any distance from the river.

      I have mentioned that Toonda was attended by a young lad, his nephew, who, with another young lad, joined us at Lake Victoria. These two young lads used to keep in front with myself or Mr. Poole, or Mr. Browne, and were quite an amusement to us. This day both of them disappeared, not very long after we passed the last tribe. On making inquiries I ascertained, to my surprise, that they had been forcibly taken back by three men from the last tribe, and that both cried most bitterly at leaving the party. The loss of his nephew greatly afflicted poor Toonda, who sobbed over it for a long time. We could not understand why the natives had thus detained the boys; but, I believe, they were members of that tribe, between which and a tribe higher up the river some ground of quarrel existed. After the departure of these boys we had only three natives with us, who had been with the party from Lake Victoria, i.e. Nadbuck, Toonda, and Munducki, a young man who had attached himself to Kirby, who cooked for the men. The latter turned out to be a son of old Boocolo, a chief of the Williorara tribe, whom I shall, ere long, have occasion to introduce to the reader. Mr. Browne, with the assistance of Nadbuck, gathered a good deal of information from the natives then with us, as to the inhospitable character of the country to the north-west of the Williorara, or Laidley's Ponds, that agreed very little with the accounts we had previously heard. They stated that we should not be able to cross the ranges, as they were covered with sharp pointed stones and great rocks, that would fall on and crush us to death; but that if we did get across them to the low country on the other side, the heat would kill us all. That we should find neither water or grass, or wood to light a fire with. That the native wells were very deep, and that the cattle would be unable to drink out of them; and, finally, that the water was salt, and that the natives let down bundles of rushes to soak it up.

      Such was the account the natives gave of the region into which we were going. We were of course aware that a great deal was fiction, but I was fully prepared to find it bad enough. From the opinion I had formed of the distant interior, and from my knowledge of the country, both to the eastward and westward of me, I had no hope of finding it good within any reasonable distance.

      Prepared, however, as I was for a bad country, I was not prepared for such as the natives described.

      It was somewhat strange, that as we neared the supposed scene of the slaughter of the overlanders, we should fail in obtaining intelligence regarding it; neither were the natives, who must have participated in it, so high up the river as we now were, afraid of approaching us, as they undoubtedly would have been if they had been parties to it. I began, therefore, to suspect that it was one of those reports which the natives are, unaccountably, so fond of spreading without any apparent object in view.

      As we approached Williorara the course of the river upwards was somewhat to the westward of north. The country had an improved appearance as we ascended it, and grass seemed to be more generally distributed over the flats. We passed several large lagoons, which had already been filled from the river, and were much pleased with the picturesque scenery round them.

      On the 7th Jones broke the pole of his dray, and Morgan again broke his shaft, but we managed to repair both without the loss of much time--and made about ten miles of northing during the day.

      We hereabouts shot several new birds; and the dogs killed a very fine specimen of the Dipus of Mitchell, but, unfortunately, in the scuffle, they mangled it so much that we could not preserve it.

      On the 8th the weather was oppressively hot, but we managed to get on some fifteen miles before we halted.

      Our journey up the Darling had been of greater length than I had anticipated, and it appeared to me that I could not do better than reduce the ration of flour at this early stage of the expedition to provide the more certainly for the future. I accordingly reduced it to eight pounds a week, still continuing to the men their full allowance of meat and other things.

      Nadbuck had assured me on the 9th that if the bullocks did not put out their tongues we should get to Laidley's Ponds that day, but I hardly anticipated it myself, although I was aware we could not be many miles from them.

      We had a great many natives in the neighbourhood at our encampment of the 8th, but they did not approach the tents. Their families generally were on the opposite side of the river, but one man had his lubra and two children on our side of it. My attention was drawn to him, from his perseverance in cutting a bark canoe, at which he laboured for more than an hour without success. Mr. Browne walked with me to the tree at which he was working, and I found that his only tool was a stone tomahawk, and that with such an СКАЧАТЬ