The Banks Of The River Were, I Think, Much Lower, Not Exceeding Fifteen
Or Twenty Feet High, And They Were Rather Clearer Of Timber Than Before.
The Casuarina, Which Used To Line The Banks, Was Now Seldom Seen, The
Acacia Pendula Seeming To Take Its Place.
We stopped for the night on a
plain of good land, flooded, but clear of timber:
Large flocks of emus
were feeding on it, and we were fortunate enough to kill a very large
one after a fine chase. At three o'clock, the boats not having arrived,
I sent a man back to look for them; at eight he returned, having found
them about six miles up the river, unable to proceed until morning,
having met with continual interruptions from fallen trees. These
impediments in the navigation of the river obstruct our progress very
materially, and its windings continue so great and frequent, that the
distance travelled by land is nearly trebled by water.
May 9. - The boats not having arrived at ten o'clock, Mr. Evans proceeded
with the BAT horses another stage down the river. Mr. Cunningham and I
waited to bring up the boats, which shortly afterwards came in sight. We
proceeded to join the horses, which we did about five o'clock, the boats
having gone in that time nearly thirty-six miles, although the distance
from the last station did not exceed seven in a direct line.
The country we had passed through during this day's route was extremely
low, consisting of extensive plains divided by lines of small trees:
the banks of the river, and the deep bights formed by the irregularity
of its course, were covered with acacia bushes and dwarf trees. The
river, at the spot where we stopped, wound along the edge of an
extensive low plain, being at least six miles long and three or four
broad; these I called Field's Plains, after the judge of the supreme
court of this territory; they are the same which we saw from the top of
Mount Amyot. The soil of these plains is a light clayey loam, very wet
in many places; they were fringed round with that beautiful tree, the
acacia pendula, which here seems to perform the part of the willow in
Europe; the cypresses were also more frequent, and the banks of the
river much lower than even those we passed yesterday. I cannot help
thinking that the whole of this extensive region has been at some time
or other under water, and that the present river is the drain by which
the waters have been conveyed to lower grounds. It is evident that even
now the plains (on those parts clear of trees) are frequently under
water, and that at very high floods the wooded lands are so too, for it
is almost impossible to distinguish any difference in their elevation;
but the wooded lands, from being actually higher, seem to have given
time for the growth of the diminutive timber with which they are
covered, whereas the lower plains are too frequently covered to give
time for such growth.
May 10. - The horses having strayed in the night, and it being nearly
noon before they were found, I determined to make this a halting day.
These plains are much more extensive than I supposed yesterday, and many
new plants were found on them. The river rose upwards of a foot during
the night, and still continues to rise; a circumstance which appears
very singular to me, there having been no rains of any magnitude for the
last five weeks, and none at all for the last ten days. We are also
certain that no waters fall into it or join it easterly for nearly one
hundred and fifty miles. This rise must therefore be occasioned by heavy
rains in the mountains, whence the river derives its source; but it is
not the less singular, that during its whole course, as far as it is
hitherto known, it does not receive a single tributary stream. Observed
the latitude 33. 16. 33. S.
May 11. - The river rose about four feet during the night, and still
continues to rise. Set forward on our journey down the river. About four
miles and a half from this morning's station. the river began to wash
the immediate edge of the plain, and so continued to do all along. My
astonishment was extreme at finding the banks of the river not more than
six feet from the water: it at once confirmed my supposition that the
whole of this extensive country is frequently inundated; the river was
here about thirty yards broad. Mount Cunningham was at this time distant
about two miles, and Mount Melville four miles; the plains winding
immediately under the base of each. At twelve o'clock ascended the south
end of Mount Cunningham, a small branch of the river running close under
it. From this elevation our view was very extensive in every direction,
particularly in the west quarter. The whole country in that direction
was so low, that it might not improperly be termed a swamp, the spaces
which were bare of trees being more constantly under water than those
where they grew. A remarkable peaked hill bearing W. 27 1/4. N. was
named Hurd's Peak [Note: After Captain Hurd, Hydrographer to the
Admiralty.], and a lofty hummock S. 83 1/2. W, Mount Meyrick: these were
the only elevations of any consequence in the western direction. To the
north, low ranges of rocky hills bounded the swamps, which on the south
had a similar boundary, except that occasionally a bolder rocky
projection would obtrude itself on the flat.
On descending from the hill, we proceeded to the point where the
north-west arm is separated from the main branch, but apparently to join
it in water, bearing from Mount Cunningham W. 40. N.: on arriving there
we found the boats and horses. The crew of the former reported, that an
equally considerable branch of the river, with that down which they had
come, had turned off to the south-west, about two miles below the place
where we stopped last night.
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