At The End Of The Stage, We Came
To A Large Pandanus Creek, Which We Followed Until We Found Some Fine
Pools Of Water In Its Bed.
My companions had, for several days past,
gathered the unripe fruits of Coniogeton arborescens, Br.; which, when
boiled, imparted an agreeable acidity to the water, and when thus
prepared tasted tolerable well.
When ripe, they became sweet and pulpy,
like gooseberries, although their rind was not very thick. This
resemblance induced us to call the tree "The little Gooseberry tree." At
the table land, and along the upper South Alligator River, it was a tree
from twenty-five to thirty feet high, with a fresh green shady foliage;
but, at the Cobourg Peninsula, it dwindled into a low shrub. The fruit
was much esteemed there by the natives; for, although the tree was of
smaller size, the fruit was equally large and fine.
Nov. 17. - We travelled four or five miles through Banksia, and
Melaleuca-gum forest, crossed several rocky creeks; and followed down the
largest of them; which in its whole extent was exceedingly rocky. The
rock was generally in horizontal layers. There were many high falls in
the bed, which compelled me to leave the creek, and proceed on the rising
ground along its banks, when suddenly the extensive view of a magnificent
valley opened before us. We stood with our whole train on the brink of a
deep precipice, of perhaps 1800 feet descent, which seemed to extend far
to the eastward. A large river, joined by many tributary creeks coming
from east, south-east, south-west and west, meandered through the valley;
which was bounded by high, though less precipitous ranges to the westward
and south-west from our position; and other ranges rose to the northward.
I went on foot to the mouth of the creek; but the precipice prevented my
moving any farther; another small creek was examined, but with the same
result. We were compelled to move back, and thence to reconnoitre for a
favourable descent. Fortunately the late thunder-storms had filled a
great number of small rocky basins in the bed of the creek; and, although
there was only a scanty supply of a stiff grass, our cattle had filled
themselves sufficiently the previous night to bear a day's privation. In
the afternoon, Charley accompanied me on foot in a northerly direction
(for no horse could move between the large loose sandstone blocks), and
we examined several gullies and watercourses, all of a wild and rocky
character, and found it impossible to descend, in that direction, into
the valley. Charley shot a Wallooroo just as it was leaping, frightened
by our footsteps, out of its shady retreat to a pointed rock. Whilst on
this expedition, we observed a great number of grasshoppers, of a bright
brick colour dotted with blue: the posterior part of the corselet, and
the wings were blue; it was two inches long, and its antennae three
quarters of an inch.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 240 of 272
Words from 124352 to 124851
of 141354
