We Followed It
Up About A Mile, When It Ended In A Hollow Coming From The Range.
After
passing this, our course was intercepted by another large creek, which
compelled us to go to the south and even to south-east along the western
side of the range which we had seen from Typha brook.
We followed it up
about two miles, and found some ponds of slightly brackish water, in
which, however, Nymphaea grew, and several small freshwater fish lived;
and near them the track of a crocodile was observed by Charley. Open
country alternated with thick Acacia underwood along this creek, and its
grass was still coarse and blady. Many gullies came down from the range;
which was composed of baked sandstone, with not very distinct
stratification, and irregularly broken blocks. At a lagoon which we
passed in the commencement of the stage, Brown shot three more geese;
thus disclosing to us the haunts of those numerous flights we had seen.
We roasted four of our geese for dinner, and they formed by far the most
delicious dish our expedition had offered: the others were stewed for the
next breakfast; and they were equally good: though a whole night's
stewing might have robbed them of a little of their rich flavour.
We had frequently observed the flight of waterfowl, at the commencement
of night, and a little before dawn. At Cycas Creek, Spoonbills, Ibises,
and Whistling ducks came at night fall to the fresh water, and left it in
the morning. The geese flew past at night from an open lagoon to the
westward, to more confined ponds at the head of the fern swamp to the
eastward. It would appear that they prefer a sheltered situation for the
night, and large open sheets of water by day.
The nights were usually dewy, in consequence of the moist sea breeze,
which blew almost the whole day from east and E. N. E., and set in
frequently as early as 9 or 10 o'clock. The morning, from about 7 o'clock
till the sea breeze set in, was exceedingly hot; but, before sunrise, it
was most delightful; the myriads of flies which crowded round us during
the day, and the mosquitoes which annoyed us after sunset, were then
benumbed; and although the sun rose with the full intensity of its heat,
it was not so inconvenient in the early morn as to induce us to look for
shade. Not a breath was stirring; and the notes of the laughing jackass
and some few small birds, alone showed that there were other beings
enjoying the beauty of this august solitude.
Oct. 12. - We proceeded three or four miles up the creek, and found a
crossing at a fishing place of the natives; in an old camping place near
this fishery, I saw a long funnel-shaped fish trap, made of the flexible
stem of Flagellaria. Hence we travelled about north-west by west, towards
a fine mountain range, which yesterday bore W. N. W. After six miles of
undulating scrubby country, and broad-leaved tea-tree forest, we arrived
at a creek with a fine pool of water, which, notwithstanding its
Nymphaeas, Charas, and Typhas, was slightly brackish and bitter. Limnaea,
and two species of Melania, were found in it; the one species, with a
long sharp spire, had been found in a reedy brook, at the upper Burdekin.
Limmen Bight river was not half a mile from our camp; and I now hoped
that we should soon be out of the system of salt-water creeks joining it
from the southward.
Our lat. was 15 degrees 13 minutes (?) and longitude, according to
reckoning, 135 degrees 30 minutes. We had left the stiff grasses of the
coast, and the pasture was fast improving. John Murphy shot the Torres
Straits pigeon (Carpophaga luctuosa, GOULD) which we had once before
observed; but it was exceedingly shy and rare, and only seen in pairs.
Oct. 13. - We travelled about sixteen miles to the southward, to lat. 15
degrees 29 minutes 10 seconds, following the river, and heading several
salt water creeks, which prolonged our journey very much. Stony hills and
ranges frequently approached the river, and rendered our travelling
difficult and fatiguing. They were composed of baked sandstone, and white
and blue indurated clay, the strata of which dipped at a very small angle
to the southward, and the strike from east to west. The flats between the
ranges, and along the river and creeks, were openly timbered and well
grassed; and, at the head of a salt-water creek, we found deep ponds of
constant water covered with Nymphaeas, and surrounded with Typhas and
drooping tea-trees. Towards the end of the stage, where the high rocky
hills formed deep declivities into the river, we had to ascend them, and
to travel along their summits. A good sized creek joined the river at
their southern slopes, which, though salt below, contained some good
pools of fresh water higher up. To the southward of this creek, there
were four very remarkable flat-topped cones of sandstone, which appeared
like a plateau cut into four detached masses. These I called the "Four
Archers," in honour of my excellent hosts Messrs. David, Charles, John,
and Thomas Archer of Moreton Bay. From the eastern one, I enjoyed a fine
view, and distinguished distant ranges broken by a gap to the southward,
and detached long-stretched ridges to the westward.
I went with Charley to examine the river, in order to find a fording
place, in which we succeeded at about four miles south-west from our
camp, in lat. 15 degrees 30 minutes 31 seconds; where a stony bar crossed
the salt water, leaving a small channel in which the tide formed a
shallow stream. The bed of the river became very broad and sandy, covered
with shrubs like those of the Lynd and most of the other rivers we had
passed.
Oct. 14. - We crossed the river, and travelled about ten miles north-west,
over a succession of stony ridges, separated by fine open tea-tree and
box flats.
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