Journal of an Overland Expediti

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by long tracts of undulating country, covered with broad-leaved tea-trees, Grevillea ceratophylla, and G. mimosoides, and with the new species of Grevillea, with broad lanceolate leaves. We had to skirt several impassable thickets and scrubs of tea-tree, in one of which Pandanus abounded. At last, just as the sun was setting, and we were preparing to encamp

ree thickets seemed liable to a general inundation, and many shallow water-holes and melon-holes were scattered everywhere about the flats. The flats and elevations of the surface were studded with turreted ant-hills, either forming single sharp cones from three to five feet high, and scarcely a foot broad at their base, or united into a row, or several rows t

and encamped near some fine rocky water-holes, in which I discovered

ck of which he met when fetching the horses. By holding branches before him, he was enabled to approach so close to them, that he shot one de

d much interest. Its younger branches were rather drooping, its fruit was an oblong yellow plum, an inch long and half an inch in diameter, with a rather rough kernel. When ripe, the pericarp is very mealy and agreeable to eat, and would be wholesome, if it were not so extraordinarily astringent. We

shening up during the afternoon. The forenoon was very hot: the night clear, and rat

tracts of bloodwood forest, grew the Nonda, the Pandanus, and the apple-gum. The shallow creek was surrounded by a scrub of various myrtaceous trees, particularly Melaleucas. The creek afterwards divided into water-holes, fringed with Stravadium, which, however, lower down gave way to dense belts of Polygonum. The water was evidently sligh

s' fires was seen to th

s. In one of them, we saw Salicornia for the first time, which led us to believe that the salt water was close at hand. Having crossed the plains, we came to broad sheets of sand, overgrown with low shrubby tea-trees, and a species of Hakea, which always grows in the vicinity of salt water. The sands were encrusted with salt, and here and there strewed with heaps of Cytherea shells. Beyond the sands, we saw a dense green line of mangrove trees extending along a salt water creek, which we headed, and in which Brown speared the first salt water mullet. We then came to a fine salt water river, whose banks were covered with an open well grassed forest; interrupted

f of Carpentaria: we had travelled along never failing, and, for the greater part, running waters: and over an excellent country, available, almost in its whole extent, for pastoral purposes. The length of time we had been in the wilderness, had evidently made the greater portion of my companions distrustful of my abilities to lead them through the journey; and, in their melancholy conversations, the desponding

Malacorhynchus membranaceus); and he, Brown, and John Murphy, went to the salt water to angle. My expectations, however, of catching fish in the salt

hot, but the air was cooled in the afternoon by a so

e was a sufficient change of good country to allow them to recover; I had been frequently inclined to throw the spare shoes away, but they had as often been retained, under the impression that they might be useful, when we came to the gulf, to barter with the natives for food, particularly for fish. Finding, however, that the natives were hostile, and scarcely wishi

or three miles through a fine bloodwood and Nonda forest, the verdant appearance of which was much increased by the leguminous Ironbark, which grew here in great per

est extended along both sides of the river; and, at its left, large deep Nymphaea lagoons were parallel to it. South of the Staaten, we travelled over a forest country, similar to that of former stages, and which might be aptly distinguished by the name of Grevillea Forest; as Gr. mimosoides (R. Br.) is its characteristic feature; though a rather stunted stiff-leaved tea-tree was more numerous. Some slight rises were covered with thickets of the Acacia of Expedition Range. The last six or s

but it had not the intended effect of inducing him to speak or stir. At last I desired Charley to ascend the neighbouring tree, to show him that we could easily get at him if necessary. This plan was more successful; for no sooner were Charley's intentions perceived, than our friend gave the most evident proof of his being neither deaf nor dumb, by calling out most lustily. He pooh'd, he birrrred, he spat, and cooeed; in fact, he did everything to make the silent forest re-echo with the wild sounds of his alarm; our horses, which were standing under the tree, became frightened, and those which were loose ran away. We were much afraid that his cooees would bring the whole tribe to his assistance, and every one eagerly proffered his advice. Charley wished to shoot him, "or," said he, "you will all be killed; I do not care for myself, but I care for your being killed and buried." Others wished to remove from the spot, and so give him an opportunity of escaping. I was, of course, horrified at the idea of shooting a poor fellow, whose only crime, if so it might be called, wa

quietly to load our bullocks, and depart, without offering us the least annoyance. Their companio

dead Paludinas, with shells of a large crab, and of the fresh water turtle. At about seven miles, we passed a strip of Blackwood forest, with many Nonda trees; and crossed a small creek. The latter part of the stage was again over a large box-flat, intersected by shallow grassy depressions, tim

out three feet apart, and appeared to have been dug with sharp sticks. I have not the slightest idea for what purpose they were intended. They we

o south by east, and, as I have before mentioned a conjecture that the little builders would expose th

evillea forest. These plains were well grassed, or partly covered with a species of Euphorbia, which was eaten by our horses and cattle; and also with the long trailings of the native melon; the fruit of which tastes very t

were frequently shaded by the Acacia with articulate pods (Inga moniliformis). The two species of Terminalia, of the upper Lynd, were numerous; and a small green looking tree, which we found growing densely along the creek, had wood of a brown colour, which smelt like raspberry jam;

banks of the creek, and for

fore, we experienced a very

ize, and speaks a different language; but the noise is by no means so ridiculous as that of Dac. gigantea: he is heard before sunrise, and immediatel

but retired as soon as they saw us: and when they met Charley returning with the bullocks, they ran away. After half-an-hour's travelling towards the south-west, we came to the Van Diemen, which is marked in Arrowsmith's map in latitude 17 degree

e of killing our last little steer. The country was a fine open grassy forest land, in which the apple-gum prevailed, and wit

where we encamped had been frequently used by the natives for the same purpose. Our attention was particularly attracted by a large heap of chaff, from which the natives appeared to have taken the seeds. This grass was,

s calm, clea

on the embers, and the idea of the fat dainty bit made my mouth water. But alas! whilst holding it in my

though evidently with great suspicion. They were rather small, and the tall ones were slim and lightly built. They examined Brown's hat, and expressed a great desire to keep it. In order to make them a present, I went to the tents to fetch some broken pieces of iron; and whilst I was away, Brown, wishing to surprise them, mounted his horse, and commenced trot

f drying in rather more than a day. It was, of course, necessary to spread the meat out for several

ssed a small river with a course west by north; it had a broad sandy bed, numerous pools of water, and steep banks: the latter were covered with Sarcocephalus and drooping tea-trees. I called it the "Gilbert," after my unfortunate companion. Five miles farther, we came to a fine creek, at which we encamped. Its wat

of Grevillea mimosoides, G. ceratophylla, Terminalia, Bauhinia, and Balfouria? an apocynaceous tree. And again we passed over box and apple-gum flats, which, by their rich verdure, refreshed the eye tired with the uniform yellow colour of the dry grass, in which the whole country was clothed. We saw the bush fires of the natives every where around us; and many large tracts which had been recently burnt. The sun was getting very low, and my patients were very tired, and yet no water was to be seen. Cumuli, which had been gradually collecting

it, and probably to the leeward, was a row of fire places. It seemed that the natives sat and lay between the fires and the row of branches. There were, besides, three huts of the form of a bee-hive, closely thatched with straw and tea-tree bark. Their only opening was so small, that a man could scarcely creep through it; they were four or five feet high, and from eight to

led us to save some of our meat. We encamped at a f

move his legs, and we were obliged to carry him from one place to anoth

ox and Melaleuca flat, free from melon-holes and grassy swamps, but full of holes, into whi

l, very beautiful. We skirted a tea-tree scrub, without a watercourse, about two miles and a half south of the "Caron," and passed some undulations, with Grevillea forest. To the south-west of these undulations, we came to a chain of lagoons; from which several white cranes and

g to look at, but box trees and anthills." The box-forest was, however, very open and the grass was good; and the squatter would probably form a very different op

ith the broad Ocean before him. We had a long way to go to the east and S.S.E. to get out of the reach of the brackish water, and came at last to grassy swamps, with a good supply of fresh water. We encamped in lat. 17 degrees 41 minutes 52 seconds; about ten miles south by west from our last camp. Charley was remarkably lucky to-day, in catching an emu, and shooting six teals, a brown wallabi of the Mitchell, and a kangaroo with a broad nail at the end of its tail. Brown also shot a sheldrake a

natives had been digging here, either for shells or roots. We came to a fine river with salt water about two hundred and fifty or three hundred yards broad, with low banks fringed with stunted mangroves. The well beaten foot-path and the numerous fire-places of the native

oy, who immediately retreated out of sight. Two straw-necked Ibises and seven ducks were shot. Mr. Roper had suffered much by the long rides of the last stages; but his health was improving, notwithstanding. The Nonda tr

sappeared, and various species of tea-tree (Melaleuca) took their place; they grew even on the sands

ad-leaved Terminalia of the upper Lynd, and bo

urus), which had followed us from our last

tarted, they joined our train and guided us on their foot-path (Yareka) along the salt water creek (Yappar.) They very much admired our horses and bullocks, and particularly our kangaroo dog. They expressed their admiration by a peculiar smacking or clacking with their tongue or lips. The fine river changed very soon into a salt water creek, coming from south by west. We passed some very beautiful rocky lagoons under the abrupt terminations of low sandstone hills, which were openly timbered at the top, but surrounded by thickets of the little Severn tree. The box-tree grew on the flats which separated the ridges from the creek, with the small bread-tree, the bloodwood and pandanus. As the Mangrove disappeared, the drooping tea-tree took its place. Several rocky bars crossed the "Yappar," which seemed to be the name by which the natives called it; but only one was broad enough to allow us to cross safely with our horses and bullocks. Here our black friends took their leave of us; they seemed very desirous of showing us their whole country, and of introducing us to their tribe, which was probably very numerous. After crossing the creek in lat. 17 degrees 54 minutes or 55 minutes, and longit. 140 degrees 45 minutes approx., we travelled due west, and came at once into an undulating hilly country. The hills were composed of iron-sandstone; their summits were general

holes. When he brought this welcome intelligence, we immediately loaded our bullocks, and moved to these water-holes; on which it appeared some natives had encampe

ward in the forenoon, and from the westward in the aft

to resume his duties; and, notwithstanding the fatigues

d. I had not felt it so much since the night of Mr. Gilbert's death, nor since we left the upper Lynd and the table land of the Burde

opened at last into a large plain, which we crossed at its southern termination, where it was three miles broad; it appeared boundless to the northward. Plains of the same character had been dimly seen through the open forest to the northward, for some time before we came to the one we crossed. This was not covered with the st

h the assistance of the dog, which b

sufficient barrier against the spears of the natives. Tired as we generally are, we retire early to our couch; Charley usually takes the first watch, from half-past six to nine o'clock; Brown, Calvert, and Phillips follow in rotation; whilst I take that portion of the night most favourable for taking the altitude. John Murphy has his watch from five to six. We generally tethered three horses, and kept one bridled; and, with the

pberry-jam trees. We had travelled, however, more than a mile on its bank, when we came to a broad rocky barrier or dam extending across the river, over which a small stream of brackish water rippled, and, by means of this, we crossed without difficulty. I now steered again north-west by west, and passed at first some fine shady lagoons, and for the next six miles, over an immense plain, apparently unlimited to the north and north-east. At its west side we again found Polygonum lagoons, which were swarming with ducks, (particularly Malacorhynchus membranaceus), and teal (Querquedula). Box, raspberry-jam trees, and Acacia, (Inga monili

ld is probably owing to the large plains, over which the wind passes. We were never so much troubled

covered the approaches to the river. Salicornia and Binoe's Trichinium grew round the dry ponds, and along the small water-courses, into which the tide flowed. We found a good crossing place at a fishery of the natives; who--to judge by the number of their tracks through the soft mud, and

r; upon which Brown gave chase with Spring, and killed two. This was the greatest sport we ever had had on our journey. Upon making our camp, we cut part of their meat into slices, and dried it on green hide ropes; the bones, heads, and necks were stewed: formerly, we threw the heads, gizzards, and feet away, but necessity had taught

well grassed, but its sandy patches were covered with Salicornia. This plant abounded particularly where the plain sloped into the system of salt-water creeks; the approaches of which were scattered over with the raspberry-jam tree. A west-north-west and west course led me constantly to salt water; and we saw a large expanse of it in the distance, which Charley, to whose superior sight all deference was paid, considered to be the sea. I passed some low stunted forest, in which a small tree was observed, with stiff pinnate leaves

emaining alone to guard the rest of our property. They found three of the bullocks on the plain, in the most wretched condition, and met Charley returning with four others, which had made an immense round along all the salt-water creeks. My companions, however, were fortunate enough to find a fresh water lagoon about three miles west of our last camp. John and Charley returned after moon-rise, with three pack-horses, and arrived at my camp at a quarter to seven in the morning. I had been in a state of the most anxious suspense about the fate of our bullocks, and was deeply thankful to the Almighty when I heard that they were all safe. I had suffered much

the broad bed of a creek one mass of the purest and whitest salt. Lumps of it had crystallized round stems of grasses which the wind had blown into the water. A little higher up the creek, a large pool of water was full of these lumps, and in less than ten minutes we collected more than sufficient to supply us for the r

eously fishy taste. Charley shot a bustard, and John a black ibis. The smoke of the Black-fellows' fires was seen to the southward. The fresh grass of recent

river until I came into the zone of fresh water, which we had left, and then to continue my course to the west and north-

I considered to indicate the presence of fresh water, at least for a part of the year. I found them, however, at times, on salt-water rivers, not on the level of the salt water, but high on the banks within the reach of the freshes during the rainy season. In turning again towards the river, we crossed a large plain, from which pillars of smoke were seen rising above the green belt of raspberry-jam trees which covered the approaches to the river. After passing some forest o

hom was a remarkably tall one, decamped at our approach. A fine shell of Dolium was in their camp, which we passed through. After we had passed by, the natives followed us; upon which I returned towards them, and hung a nose ring on the branch of a small tree. This sign of friendly disposition on my side, emboldened them to approach me and demand a parley. I, therefore, dismounted, and, accompanied by Charley, divided some empty tin canisters among them, with which the

e again saw some storie

of the plain, a green belt of forest stretched from north to south. Before we entered into it, and into the valley of the creek, along which it extended, we passed some open forest of stunted silver-leaved Ironbark. On the slopes of the plains we met, as usual, the raspberry-jam tre

of the double barrelled fowling piece, and bent the barrels. Spring took hold of the emu, which dragged him to the lagoon we had left, pursued by Charley on foot. The emu plunged into the water, and, ha

ful; a fine breeze from

to the westward, I took that direction, passed the head of a small creek which went to the southward, crossed some box forest and Ironbark ridges, and came into an open country, with alternating plains and ridges, which, even at the present season, was very pretty, and must, when clothed in the garments of Spring, be very beautiful. The creek which we had met at the east side of the forest, had swept round the ri

herefore, rode up to it alone; the gins had decamped, but a little urchin remained, who was probably asleep when his mother went. He cried bitterly, as he made his way through the high grass, probably in search for his mother. Thinking it prudent to tie an iron ring to his neck, that his parents might see we were peaceably inclined

ne grained flaggy sandstone on the first plains we cro