Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia Part 17

[* S. (ABUTILON) TUBULOSA (All. Cunn. MS.); tota velutino-p.u.b.escens, foliis cordato-ovatis (sinu profundo angusto) sublonge ac.u.minatis dentatoserratis, stipulis subulatis flaccidis, pedunculis axillaribus solitariis unifloris folio brevioribus, calyce elongato tubuloso 5-fido laciniis ac.u.minatis, petalis (flavis) vix duplo brevioribus.--W. J. H.]

[** E. Ac.u.mINATA (Hook. MS.); foliis alternis petiolatis lanceolatis longe ac.u.minatis subaristatis penninerviis glaucis reticulatis nervis lateralibus a margine remotiusculis, floribus umbellatis (4-6-floris), umbellis pedunculatis, calycis tubo hemisphaerico in pedicellum gracilem attenuato, calyptra conico-ac.u.minato calycis tub.u.m superante.]

Just as we sat down here, rain came on; the wind changed to S. W. and the sky looked more portentous of rainy weather than we had ever seen it on this journey. Now this was the first country in which we had any reason to dread wet weather, since we crossed the Culgoa about the beginning of April. Here rain would render the ground impa.s.sable, and inundate the country. The mercury in the barometer was falling, and so was the rain.

Thermometer, at sunrise, 61; at noon, 62; at 4 P.M., 57; at 9, 53;-- with wet bulb, 53.

21ST NOVEMBER.--The wind had s.h.i.+fted from E. to S. W., and the rain had set in,--to proceed was quite impossible. The coolness of a cloudy day rendered the tent much more agreeable and convenient for finis.h.i.+ng maps in, than one under the extremely hot suns.h.i.+ne which mine had been recently exposed to so long at St. George's Bridge. I had now, therefore, a good opportunity of completing the maps. The great heat which had prevailed during so many successive days there, portended some such change as this; and we were thus likely to be caught in that very region so subject to inundation, which I was formerly so careful to avoid, that I endeavoured to travel so as to be within reach of a hilly country. For that reason chiefly I had proceeded into the interior, by the circuitous route of Fort Bourke.

21ST NOVEMBER TO 7TH DECEMBER.--The sky resembled that in Poussin's picture of the Deluge; and to one who had contended a whole year with scarcity of water, in regions where this coming supply had so long been due, the reflection would often occur, that this rain, if it had fallen a year sooner, might have expedited that journey very much indeed; whereas it was now very likely to r.e.t.a.r.d the return of the party. This was the only spot where such a rain could have seriously impeded our progress; the waters of the great rivers were sure to come down, and we had still to traverse extensive low tracts, where, in 1831, I had seen the marks of floods on trees, which had left an impression still remaining on my mind, that I thought it very desirable then, to get my party safe out of these flats as soon as possible.

On the 28th November, or eight days after the rains set in, the Mooni waters came down, at first slowly, but gradually filling up the channel, until they rose to such a height, as to oblige me to move three of the drays. During the night, the rising inundation began to spread over the lower parts of the surface back from the river; while the current came down with such rapidity, and, judging from marks of former inundations on the trunks of box-trees ("GOBORRA"), it appeared probable the water might reach our camp. I therefore determined to move it by daylight to a sand- hill, about a quarter of a mile back from the river. This was effected in good time, and only in time. Between the camp beside the Mooni, and that we afterwards established on the sand-hill, there was a hollow by which the rising floods would pa.s.s to an extensive tract of low ground almost surrounding our camp on the sand-hill, and which would, probably, render our pa.s.sage out of that position difficult, even after the waters had subsided. I therefore employed the men in throwing up a dam across this hollow, between our hill-camp and the river, so as to prevent the inundation from pa.s.sing that way. We had no better material than sand to oppose to this water; yet, by throwing up enough, we succeeded in arresting the waters there, although they rose to the height of two feet four inches on the upper side of our dam, and gave, to the country above it, the appearance of a vast lake, covering our old encampment; so that the figures 86 cut on a tree, were the only traces of it that remained above water. Our camp on the sand-hill was elevated above the sea 641 feet, or about 80 feet higher than the river. The waters continued to rise until the 2d of December, when they became stationary; and next day they began slowly to subside. By the evening of the 5th, they had receded from the dam; and the sky, which had been lowering until the 1st, began to present clouds of less ominous form. Still the return of clear weather was slow, and accompanied by thunder-showers. Plants put forth their blossoms as soon as the sun re-appeared; amongst others, the DIDISCUS PILOSUS Benth.; a pretty little umbelliferous plant. BOERHAAVIA was again seen here; CARISSA OVATA, a shrub three feet high, with spiny branches, and very sweet white flowers; the NEPTUNIA GRACILIS also, with the appearance of a sensitive plant, was seen in the open flats. It was only on the 7th that a crust had been formed on the earth, sufficiently firm for the cattle to travel upon; and we embraced the earliest opportunity of quitting that camp, where the superabundance of water had detained us seventeen days. Musquitoes now tormented us exceedingly, and had obliged us to tether the horses at night, to prevent them from straying. We this day pa.s.sed over the soil without finding the wheels to sink much, until we arrived at Johnston's station, five miles from our camp, and where I had been told the ground was firm. There, on the contrary, we encountered the only two swamps at all difficult. Even the drays got through them, however, and I gladly quitted the banks of the Mooni, taking a straight direction towards the Barwan, and encamped ten miles from the former.

That central ground between the Mooni and the Barwan, had brigalow growing upon it, was firm, and in some hollows we found water. A heavy thunder-shower fell at sunset, but we were on such firm soil, that I was under no apprehension that it would have the effect of r.e.t.a.r.ding our journey.

8TH DECEMBER.--Thermometer, at 6 A.M., 69. Height above the sea, 782 feet. Having determined our position on the map, I now chose such a direction for our homeward route, as would form the most eligible general line of communication between Sydney and the Marana. It seemed desirable that this should cross the Barwan (the Karaula of my journey of 1831), some miles above the point where I had formerly reached that river; and thus avoid the soft low ground upon the Nammoy, falling into my old track about Snodgra.s.s lagoon, or when in sight of Mount Riddell. With this view, our lat.i.tude being 28 57' 20" S., longitude 149 11' E., I chose the bearing of S.S.E. (or rather 23 E. of S.), for my homeward guidance; and this morning I travelled, over a good firm surface, for sixteen miles in that direction, when we arrived at the bank of the Barwan and there encamped. We had pa.s.sed through some open scrub, chiefly of the rosewood kind, and crossed several small gra.s.sy plains; saw one or two patches of brigalow, but very little callitris. An improvement was visible in the quality of the gra.s.s, when we came within the distance of about two miles from the river; and open forests or plains of richer soil, its usual concomitants, plainly enough indicated the presence of the Barwan (or "Darling"). In the country we traversed, we saw no cart tracks; but the deep impressions of a few stray cattle, apparently pursued by natives, were visible throughout the scrubs. There was still a considerable flood in the river, although the water had been recently much higher, as was obvious from the state of the banks. Lat.i.tude, 28 37' 20" S. Height above the sea, 590 feet.

9TH DECEMBER.--All hands were busy this morning in making preparations for crossing the Barwan. The boats were soon put together, and on reconnoitring the river in one of them, I soon found a favourable place for swimming the cattle and horses at, and which was effected without accident. The unloaded drays were next drawn through the river at the same place; which was about three hundred yards lower down the river than that at which we had encamped, and which was marked by the number 87, cut on a tree. My former camp on this river in 1831, for want of such a mark, could not be recognised. According to my surveys, it should have been found seventeen miles lower down the river. All our stores and equipment were carried across in the boats. These looked well in the water; their trim appearance and utility, then renewed my regret that I had not reached the navigable portion of the Victoria, and that its channel had been so empty. Perhaps more efficient portable boats never were constructed, or carried so far inland undamaged. They were creditable to the maker, Mr. Struth of Sydney. By their means, the whole party was comfortably encamped this afternoon, on the left bank of the Barwan, just before a heavy thunder-shower came down. The river had fallen several feet during the day. Thermometer, at 6 P.M., 82.

10TH DECEMBER.--At 6 A.M. thermometer 68. The mosquitoes were most tormenting; as was well expressed by one of the men outside my tent, who remarked to his companion, "That the more you punishes 'em, the more they brings you to the scratch:" a tolerable pun for one of "the fancy," of which cla.s.s we had rather too many in the party. The horses, although tethered and close spancelled, could not be secured, even thus. Some had broken away and strayed during the night. It was ascertained by Yuranigh, that four other strange horses were with ours, having come amongst them and led them astray. These had broken loose from a neigh- bouring station, whence a native came to the men I had left to await the horses at the Barwan, and took back the strange horses. I had gone forward with the party, still pursuing the same bearing, and came thus upon the "Maal," a channel not usually deep, but, at the time, so full of water, with a very slight current in it, that here again we were obliged to employ the boats. This channel was distant 5 miles from where we had crossed the Barwan. The bullocks were made to swim across in the yokes, drawing the empty drays through, which they accomplished very well; "RARi NANTES IN GURGITE VASTO." The loads were carried in the boats, and the horses taken across, as before. The camp was established at an early hour on the left bank of the "Maal," which camp I caused to be marked 88, in figures cut on an iron bark tree. Lat.i.tude, 29 1' 20" S. This seemed to be the same channel crossed by me on 5th February, 1832, at a similar distance from the main river.

11TH DECEMBER.--Thermometer, at 7 A.M., 70. We continued to travel homewards on the same bearing; thus tracing with our wheels, a direct line of road from Sydney to the northern interior and coast. The plains were gay with the blue flowers of a new CYCLOGYNE[*]; a new CANTHIUM, was in fruit[**]; and we found also a species of Malva, which Sir William Hooker has determined to be MALVA OVATA (Cav.), or scarcely differing from that species, except in the rather soft and short hairs to the calyx (not long and rigid): the two ends of the curved carpels are equal or blunt; but in M. OVATA the upper one is longer and attenuated into a short beak. The same plant was found by Frazer along the Brisbane. The THYSANOTUS ELATIOR was again found here; and a shrubby CRUCIFEROUS plant, quite woody at the base, with very narrow linear setaceous pinnatifid leaves,[***] and linear curved torulose silicules. A new HAKEA with stout needle like leaves, was also found this day in the scrub. We met with no impediment for eighteen miles, when I encamped, although without reaching water enough for our cattle. I knew we could not expect to meet with any watercourse between the Barwan and the Gwydir; which latter river I wished to cross as soon as possible, in hopes then to meet with roads and inhabitants. Even cattle-tracks had again become rare in this intermediate ground, although the gra.s.s was in its best state, and most exuberant abundance. We crossed much open plain, and pa.s.sed through several shady forests of casuarina. A curious provision of nature for the distribution of the seeds of a parasitical plant was observed here, each seed being enclosed within a sort of pulp, like bird-lime, insoluble in water; the whole resembling a very thin-skinned berry. On this being broken, probably by birds, the bird-lime is apt to attach the seed to trees or branches, and so the parasitical growth commences. On the plains, the blue flowers of a large variety of MORGANIA GLABRA caught the eye: the rare and little known HETERODENDRON OLOEFOLIUM of Desfontaines, a genus referred to Soapworts by Mr. Planchon. We found also this day, a new POLYMERIA with erect stems, silky leaves, and pink flowers.[****]

Height above the sea, 554 feet.

[* C. SWAINSONIOIDES (Benth. MS.); foliolis 8-11 anguste oblongis, racemis laxis dissitifloris, carina spiraliter contorta.--Habit of a SWAINSONIA or LESSERTIA. Flowers blue, as in the original Swan river species (C. CANESCENS). That has not a spirally-twisted keel, but the structure is indicated both by the circinnate apex of the style, and by a slight curl at the summit of the keel.]

[** C. OLEIFOLIUM (Hook. MS.); foliis obovato-oblongis obtusis glaucis basi in petiolum gracilem attenuatis, stipulis parvis acutis, fructibus didymis.]

[*** H. LONGICUSPIS (Hook. MS.); rigida glaberrima, ramis junioribus subp.u.b.escentibus, foliis bi-triuncialibus tereti-filiformibus rigidis strictis longe mucronatis, perianthiis glabris, capsulis suboblique ovatis lignosis glabris brevi-ac.u.minatis.]

[**** P. LONGIFOLIA (Lindl. MS.); erecta, foliis sericeo-nitentibus linearilanceolatis auriculatis, pedunculis unifloris foliis multo brevioribus.]

12TH DECEMBER.--Thermometer, at 6 A.M., 67. Pa.s.sing over a similar sort of country for some miles (and through a scrub, on first leaving the camp), we at length came upon a more open country, where the ground seemed to fall southward. Cattle-tracks were again numerous, and cow-dung abundant, an article in much request with us just then, its smoke being a valuable specific for keeping off the mosquitoes, when a little of it was burnt before a tent. We next came upon more s.p.a.cious plains than any we had seen southward of the Balonne; and I recognised, with great pleasure and satisfaction, the blue peak of Mount Riddell, distant 61 miles. This seemed to peep through the obscurity of fifteen laborious years, that had intervened since I had given a name to that summit. It now proved the accuracy of my recent survey, appearing exactly in the direction, where, according to my maps, I pointed my gla.s.s to look for it. Like the face of an old friend, which, as the Persian proverb says, "brighteneth the eyes," so this required clear eyes to be seen at all; even Yuranigh, could not at first be persuaded that it was not a cloud. This fine peak must always be a good landmark on these vast plains, and may yet brighten the eye of the traveller from India, when emerging from the level regions upon the Barwan. We next perceived at a distance, a cloud of dust raised by a numerous herd of cattle, and came upon a water-course, or branch of the Gwydir, called, I believe, the "Meei." As I wanted to cross the Gwydir, I crossed this and continued; met with another deep ditch or channel, four miles beyond the Meei; and, at three miles beyond that, another: none of these resembling the Gwydir I had formerly seen. I had ridden twenty-five miles, and hastened back to meet the carts, and encamped them just beyond the first-mentioned of these two water-courses.

The heavy drays were, of course, far behind. Lat.i.tude, 29 34' 41" S.

Height above the sea, 553 feet.

13TH DECEMBER.--Thermometer, at 10 A.M., 70. The drays joined us early, having performed an immense distance yesterday. This being Sunday, rest for the remainder of the day was both proper and necessary. I found we were within a less distance of Snodgra.s.s Lagoon, than we were from the camp we had left the previous day. I expected to fall in with some road, when we reached the country to which I had formerly led the way. At sunset the sky seemed charged with rain, and the barometer had fallen 2 millimetres; much thunder, and but a slight shower followed, after which the sky cleared up. Heavy rain there, must have caused much difficulty and delay to the party, as we were upon low levels subject to inundation.

Height above the sea, 499 feet. Thermometer, at 6 P.M., 88.

14TH DECEMBER.--Thermometer, at 6 A.M., 76. During the night, and at day-break, heavy rain pattered on my tent, but a streak of the blue sky appeared in the N.W., which increased; and before 7 A.M. the sun shone on the ground, and dried it so that we could proceed. We crossed a channel of the river, at three miles, which is called the "Moomings;" and still I doubted whether we had not yet to cross the main channel of the Gwydir, having seen no current in any of those channels I had crossed. I had however already crossed the lat.i.tude of the river I had formerly seen; and, coming soon to rising ground, and seeing before me the wide-spread plains of my former journey, I was convinced that the late rains had not extended to the Gwydir, and that this river had been crossed by us in these several channels. At length, I arrived at the lagoon I had named, in former times, after Colonel Snodgra.s.s; thus terminating this journey, having travelled in a direct line the last seventy-three miles of it, to meet at this point the line from Sydney, traced by me thus far in the year 1831. Height above the level of the sea, 545 feet. Thermometer, at 7 P.M., 87. The temporary occupation of the country by squatters, imprints but few traces of colonization. Cattle-tracks were visible, certainly, but nothing else. No track remained along the line which I had so many years before laboured to mark out. Having ordered some of the men to look out for a stockman, one was at length caught, and persuaded to come to my tent, but not without some apprehension that the people he had come amongst so suddenly were robbers. He was a youth, evidently of the Anglo- Saxon race, in a state of transition to the condition of an Australian stockman. His fair locks strayed wildly from under a light straw hat about the ears of an honest English face, and the large stock whip in his hand explained what he was about,--"in search of some stray cattle." He had evidently never heard of exploring expeditions, past or present; nor of such a name as "Snodgra.s.s Lagoon." Mount Riddell was called "Cow hill," according to him. Knew there was a road to Maitland, but of Sydney he seemed to require some minutes to recal the recollection. He had come from the station of Mr.----, where he was employed as stockman. Came out from England about six years ago with a brother. When asked if his brother was with him, he said "No." To my next question, as to the rest of his relatives, a tear was the only reply, and I pushed my inquiries no further.

16TH DECEMBER.--I left the camp, accompanied by Mr. Kennedy, and, in looking for my old route, we soon arrived at cattle stations. The lagoon was full, and the first station we saw was on the opposite bank; but having crossed some miles higher, we arrived at one, where the master and some men were busy in the stockyard, and there we were hospitably received. It was then about 2 P.M., and tea mixed with milk was set before us, with a quart pot full of fine salt, and some hard-boiled eggs.

Having put into my tea a table-spoonful of the salt, mistaking it for sugar, and there being no sugar, I had two strong reasons for not taking much tea. Fortunately for me, however, I did eat one of the hard-boiled eggs, for from that hour I was doomed to fast two days. There I bade Mr.

Kennedy farewell, leaving him in charge of the party, and proceeded along a cart-track homewards, followed by John Douglas, and a led horse. Before we could arrive at the station where I intended to halt, night overtook us on a plain, with very heavy rain, and total darkness. The cart-track was no longer visible, and, after groping on some way without it, we were obliged to alight and sit in the mud, without the shelter of even a tree, until day-break. Daylight exhibited the station not above two miles off, but that did not avail us much; for, on awaking the inmates, and asking them for some breakfast, the hut-keeper shook his head, and said he had no provisions to spare. Once more I struck away from these "abodes of civilized men," to look for my old track, which had been traced along the base of the Nundawar Range, where the bold outlines of Mounts Lindesay and Forbes hung dimly, like shadows of the past, amongst clouds lighted by beams from the rising sun. After having been long in unknown regions, time and distance seem of little consequence when we return to those previously known; and thus the whole day soon pa.s.sed in looking for my former track. But I sought it in vain; and was glad at night to turn towards the banks of the Nammoy, in search of a cattle-station. Since I had first explored that country to which my wheel-tracks marked and led the way, station after station had been taken up by squatters, not by following any line of route, but rather according to the course of the river, for the sake of water; and in such cases, the beaten track from station to station, no matter how crooked, becomes the road. Thus it is, in the fortuitous occupation of Australia, that order and arrangement may precede, and be followed only by "CHAOS come again." I arrived about sunset, at Mr. Cyrus Doyle's station near the Nammoy, where I was hospitably entertained by a man in charge of it, who rode eight miles in twenty minutes only, to borrow some tea and sugar for me, and who lived on very friendly terms with some old natives who remembered me, and my first advance into that country.

18TH DECEMBER.--At 6 A.M., Thermometer 75. Height above the sea 750 feet. Guided by one of these natives, I reached the "great road," saw many wool drays upon it, before I arrived at Maule's creek; and I endeavoured, for a considerable time, to pa.s.s two gentlemen in a gig, and wearing veils, who were driving a lot of mares before them, and who seemed to derive amus.e.m.e.nt from making their mares keep pace with my entire horse.

The road this day traversed the luxuriant flats of the Nammoy, one of the richest districts in the colony, as the fat cattle on the banks of the river sufficiently attested. The mountains behind, afforded equally eligible runs for sheep. Nothing could surpa.s.s the beauty of the scenery, amid abundance of water, umbrageous trees, cattle, verdure, and distant mountains. I was most comfortably lodged that night at Mr. Wentworth's station on the Nammoy, elevated above the sea 1055 feet, and next day I reached the dwelling of a resident squatter, and saw a lady in a comfortable house near the very spot, where, fifteen years before, I had taken a lonely walk by the then unknown Nammoy, the first white man permitted there to discover a "flowery desert."[*] I was most kindly welcomed by this family; but I asked in vain, even there, to be favoured with the perusal of a newspaper. When I expressed anxiety about my numerous family, and spoke of my long absence of a year, I observed a tear in the lady's eye, which I then thought the product of mere sensibility; but I learnt subsequently, that she was aware the newspapers she possessed, and out of sympathy withheld, would have apprised me of the death of a son, which sad tidings were only communicated to me some days after.[**]

[* Three Expeditions, etc., vol. i. p. 54.]

[** He died on the 16th July, at the age of eighteen, from the want of medical aid, when surveying, in winter, the Australian Alps. His grave, trodden by cattle hoofs, is in a desolate unconsecrated spot. He had served the public, gratis, upwards of two years, as a draughtsman and surveyor.]

Chapter X.

MR. KENNEDY CONDUCTS THE PARTY TO SYDNEY.--PROCEEDS OF THE SALE OF THE CATTLE AND EQUIPMENT.--APPLIED TO THE REFITTING OF A LIGHT PARTY ON HORSEBACK.--MR. KENNEDY'S INSTRUCTIONS TO TRACE DOWN THE VICTORIA.--Of the aborigines.--CHARACTER OF YURANIGH.--IMPEDIMENTS TO THEIR CIVILIZATION.--Of the Convicts.--THEIR USES IN THE COLONY.--CHARACTER OF THOSE OF THE PARTY.--DIFFERENT CLa.s.sES OF CRIMINALS.--THE UNFORTUNATE AND THE DEPRAVED.--Of the present Colony of New South Wales.--NATURAL STATE.

--CAPABILITIES.--ITS TEMPORARY USES.--ULTIMATE COLONIZATION.--RETENTION OF WATER.--NEW SYSTEMS OF AGRICULTURE REQUISITE.--GROWTH OF COTTON AND SUGAR ALONG THE EASTERN COAST.--THE VINE AND THE OLIVE.--WHEAT CROPS.-- DIFFICULTY OF ACCESS TO MARKETS.--ROADS.--PROJECTED RAILWAYS.-- Conclusion.--ORIGIN OF THIS SURVEY.--ITS PRIMARY OBJECTS.--ULTIMATE TENDENCY.--MY RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT.--CO-OPERATION OF THE COLONIAL LEGISLATURE.--FINAL REPORT.--GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.-- THE NATURAL DIVISIONS OF THE TERRITORY.--PORT BOWEN--CAPRICORNIA.--GULF OF CARPENTARIA--AUSTRALINDIA.

The party which I had left in charge of Mr. Kennedy near Snodgra.s.s Lagoon arrived in the neighbourhood of Sydney on the 20th of January, and the new Governor, Sir Charles Fitzroy, kindly granted such gratuities to the most deserving of my men as I had recommended, and also sent the names to England of such prisoners as His Excellency thought deserving of Her Majesty's gracious pardon.

The sale of the cattle and equipment produced about 500L.; and as Mr.

Kennedy volunteered his services, when the proper season should arrive (March), to trace down the course of the river Victoria with a light party on horseback, I submitted a plan to Sir Charles Fitzroy, and obtained His Excellency's permission to send this officer to survey the river, and to apply the above-mentioned proceeds of sale in providing the equipment of his party. Mr. Kennedy finally left Sydney about the middle of March, with a party of eight men, all well mounted and leading spare horses, with two light carts carrying a stock of provisions for fourteen months. The following copy of his instructions will show what Mr. Kennedy was required to do.

Surveyor-General's Office, Sydney, 22d February, 1847.

"Sir,

"His Excellency the Governor having been pleased to sanction my proposal for the further exploration of the river Victoria with a small party to be sent under your command; I have now the honour to enclose to you a copy of instructions by which I was guided in conducting the late expedition into the northern interior, and I have to request that you will conform thereto, as much as the following particular instructions for your especial guidance may permit.

"You will as early as possible return by the road across Liverpool Plains so as to fall into the return route of the late expedition before you leave the settled districts, and in this manner you will recross the Balonne at St. George's Bridge, take the route back to Camp (83), and thence by the route along the Maranoa to Camp (XXIX), beyond which you will proceed as hereinafter detailed, with reference to the accompanying tracing of my survey.

"You will cross the Maranoa at Camp (XXIX), and continue along my return route until you reach Camp (75). I beg you will be particular so far in looking for the track of my party returning, as you will perceive by the map that many very circuitous detours may be thus avoided. But beyond Camp (75), about seven miles, you will have to leave my return track on your right, and not cross a little river there at all, but go along my old advance track to Camp (x.x.xIV). Thence you will proceed by Camps (x.x.xV) and (x.x.xVI), in order to approach the bed of the Warreg in the direction of my ride of 14th June, in a general N. W. direction. It is very desirable that you should keep my horse tracks there; but this I can scarcely expect, and I can only therefore request that you will proceed as closely in that direction as you can. The bed of the Warreg may be looked for at a distance further on, equal to that of my ride of 14th June.

"You will next pursue the course of the Warreg upwards towards Mount Playfair, which the accompanying map will be sufficient to guide you to.

You will follow up the Cunno Creek, leaving Mount Playfair on your right or to the eastward, and you will thus fall into the line of my horse- track about the spot where I spoke to an old native female. I wish you would then take some pains to travel in the direction of my track from the head of Cunno through the Brigalow, which is comparatively open, in the direction of my bivouac of 11th September.

"Keeping the direction of my track of next day, you will arrive at a low, but stony, ridge (A) (across which you must be careful how you pa.s.s your carts, but it is of no breadth), and you will descend into a flat, from which you will ascend another stony ridge (B), of no greater height but more asperity than the first, and covered with fallen timber. You will have about a mile of that sort of difficulty to deal with on the higher part, but by turning then to the right, you will fall into a well watered valley, which will lead you to the Nive. In the whole of your route thus far, you can meet with no difficulty in tracing it, guided by the map, and following these instructions; but if Douglas should be with you, he will no doubt recognize the country through which he pa.s.sed with me. It is very important that you should keep that route, as leading to the Victoria in a very straight direction from Sydney, and a direction in which, should your return be delayed beyond the time for which your party is to be provisioned, it is probable, that any party sent after you to your aid or a.s.sistance would proceed to look for you. After you shall have reached the Nive and Camp (77), you cannot have any difficulty in finding Camp (72) near the Gap, and from that valley you have only to follow down the watercourse to be certain that you are on my track to the Victoria, and, as you have been instructed to take an expert native with you, you ought to find still my horse's track across the downs, cutting off large bends of the river. But beyond Camps 16th September or 1st October, you must keep by the river along my route back, and not follow the circuitous track which I took through Brigalow to the westward. After about four miles by the river, you will see, by the map, that my return track again crossed the outward track over the downs, so that you may fall into the route westward of the great northern bend of the Victoria.

I fear you must depend on the lat.i.tude, pace measurement, and bearings, for ascertaining the situations of my camps of 29th September and 28th September. You will see by the map how generally straight my journeys were between these points, and how important it would be for you to know the situation of the camp of 28th September, that you may thence set out westward in the direction of my return route, instead of following the main channel throughout the very circuitous turn it then takes to the northward. Beyond the lowest point attained by me, or the point (wherever that may be) to which you will be able to identify the accompanying map with my track, of course it will be your duty to pursue the river, and determine the course thereof as accurately as your light equipment and consequent rapid progress, may permit. You may, however, employ the same means by which I have mapped that river so far; and, for your guidance, I shall add the particulars of my method of measuring the relative distances. If you count the strokes of either of your horse's fore feet, either walking or trotting, you will find them to be upon an average, about 950 to a mile. In a field-book, as you note each change of bearing, you have only to note down also the number of paces (which soon becomes a habit); and to keep count of these, it is only necessary to carry about thirty-five or forty small pieces of wood, like dice (beans or peas would do), in one waistcoat pocket, and, at the end of every 100 paces, remove one to the empty pocket on the opposite side. At each change of bearing, you count these, adding the odd numbers to the number of hundreds, ascertained by the dice, to be counted and returned at each change of bearing to the other pocket. You should have a higher pocket for your watch, and keep the two lower waisctoat pockets for this important purpose.

"Now, to plot such a survey, you have only to take the half-inch scale of equal parts (on the 6-inch scale in every case of instruments), and allowing TEN for a hundred, the half-inch will represent 1000 paces. You may thus lay down any broken number of paces to a true scale, and so obtain a tolerably accurate map of each day's journey. The lat.i.tude will, after all, determine finally the scale of paces; and you can, at leisure, adjust each day's journey by its general bearing between different lat.i.tudes; and, subsequently, introduce the details. You will soon find the results sufficiently accurate to afford some criterion of even the variation of the needle, when the course happens to be nearly east or west, and when, of course, it behoves you to be very well acquainted with the rate of your horse's paces, as determined by differences of lat.i.tude.

You will be careful to intersect the prominent points of any range that may appear on the horizon; and the nature of the rock also should be ascertained in the country examined: small specimens, with letters of reference, will be sufficient for this. Specimens of the gra.s.ses, and of the flower or seed of new trees, should be also preserved, with dates, in a small herbarium. But the princ.i.p.al object of the journey being the determination of the course of the Victoria, and the discovery of a convenient route to the head of the Gulph of Carpentaria, the accomplishment of these great objects must be steadily kept in view, without regard to minor considerations. Should the channel finally spread into an extensive bed, whether dry or swampy, you will adhere, as a general rule, to the eastern side or sh.o.r.e, as, in the event of any scarcity of water, the high land known to be there will thus be more speedily accessible to you; and I am also strongly of opinion, that you would cross in such a route more tributaries from the east than from the west. On arriving at or near the Gulph of Carpentaria, I have particularly to caution you against remaining longer than may be unavoidable there, or, indeed, in any one place, in any part of your route, where natives may be numerous.

"Having completed (at least roughly) the map of your general route, it will be in your power in returning, to take out detours, and cut off angles, by previously ascertaining the proper bearings for doing so; and when so returning, it would be convenient to number your camps, that the route and the country may be better described by you, and recognised afterwards by others. These numbers may be cut in common figures on trees; and if, as I hope, you should reach the Gulph, you can commence them there: you may prefix C to each number commencing with 1, thus avoiding any confusion with the numbers of my numbered camps on the Victoria.

"On returning to the colony, you will report to me, or to the officer in charge of the Survey Department, the progress and results of your journey.

"I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant,

"T. L. MITCh.e.l.l, SURVEYOR-GENERAL.

"E. B. C. Kennedy, Esq. J. P. a.s.sistant Surveyor, Sydney."

OF THE ABORIGINES.

There is no subject connected with New South Wales, or Australia, less understood in England than the character and condition of the aboriginal natives. They have been described as the lowest in the scale of humanity, yet I found those who accompanied me superior in penetration and judgment to the white men composing my party. Their means of subsistence and their habits, are both extremely simple; but they are adjusted with admirable fitness to the few resources afforded by such a country, in its wild state. What these resources are, and how they are economised by the natives, can only be learnt by an extensive acquaintance with the interior; and the knowledge of a few simple facts, bearing on this subject, may not be wholly devoid of interest. Fire, gra.s.s, kangaroos, and human inhabitants, seem all dependent on each other for existence in Australia; for any one of these being wanting, the others could no longer continue. Fire is necessary to burn the gra.s.s, and form those open forests, in which we find the large forest-kangaroo; the native applies that fire to the gra.s.s at certain seasons, in order that a young green crop may subsequently spring up, and so attract and enable him to kill or take the kangaroo with nets. In summer, the burning of long gra.s.s also discloses vermin, birds' nests, etc., on which the females and children, who chiefly burn the gra.s.s, feed. But for this simple process, the Australian woods had probably contained as thick a jungle as those of New Zealand or America, instead of the open forests in which the white men now find gra.s.s for their cattle, to the exclusion of the kangaroo, which is well-known to forsake all those parts of the colony where cattle run.

The intrusion therefore of cattle is by itself sufficient to produce the extirpation of the native race, by limiting their means of existence; and this must work such extensive changes in Australia as never entered into the contemplation of the local authorities. The squatters, it is true, have also been obliged to burn the old gra.s.s occasionally on their runs; but so little has this been understood by the Imperial Government that an order against the burning of the gra.s.s was once sent out, on the representations of a traveller in the south. The omission of the annual periodical burning by natives, of the gra.s.s and young saplings, has already produced in the open forest lands nearest to Sydney, thick forests of young trees, where, formerly, a man might gallop without impediment, and see whole miles before him. Kangaroos are no longer to be seen there; the gra.s.s is choked by underwood; neither are there natives to burn the gra.s.s, nor is fire longer desirable there amongst the fences of the settler. The occupation of the territory by the white race seems thus to involve, as an inevitable result, the extirpation of the aborigines; and it may well be pleaded, in extenuation of any adverse feelings these may show towards the white men, that these consequences, although so little considered by the intruders, must be obvious to the natives, with their usual acuteness, as soon as cattle enter on their territory. The foregoing journal affords instances of the habits of the natives in these respects. Silently, but surely, that extirpation of aborigines is going forward in grazing districts, even where protectors of aborigines have been most active; and in Van Diemen's Land, the race has been extirpated, even before that of the kangaroos, under an agency still more destructive.