Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1.: With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During; The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43.; By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative; Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea.Stokes, John Lort
History
Discoveries in Australia, Volume 1.: With an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and Surveyed During; The Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the Years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43.; By Command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Also a Narrative; Of Captain Owen Stanley's Visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea.
Stokes, John Lort
Australia -- Description and travel; Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Natural history -- Australia
(*Footnote. Escaped convicts, who live by plundering the settlers, taking
also their lives if any resistance is offered. I remember on one
occasion, a party of gentlemen had their horses taken from them: one of
them was of great value, and the owner thought he would try an experiment
to recover him, by saying in a jocular manner, that he would tie a card
with his address round the animal's neck, in order that when done with
they might know where to return him. Strange to say his experiment
succeeded, as the horse was sent back a short time afterwards.)
We passed the night at the inn to which we had been directed, and next
morning I separated from my companions, our roads being different. There
had been a hoar frost during the night, and the morning was delightfully
bracing. About ten miles in a North-West direction, brought me to the end
of my journey at Cam yr Allyn, the residence of Mr. Boydell. A few miles
from this place, I passed the house of a Mr. Townsend, the road close to
which was literally through a garden of roses, which in the freshness of
the morning, diffused a delicious fragrance.
Mr. Boydell's residence is on a rich spot of ground, on the banks of the
Allyn river, which runs among the spurs of a range of hills, trending
North-North-West, and distant about six miles to the eastward, where it
attains an elevation of three or four thousand feet.
SAGACITY OF THE HORSE.
The country in the neighbourhood is very hilly, and intersected by deep
narrow valleys or ravines. I was very much amused by the sagacity
displayed by the horses in crossing these. They make a point, as soon as
they get near the bottom on one side, of dashing down at a most
tremendous pace, in order to gain an impetus that shall carry them up the
opposite acclivity. The first time the animal I rode exhibited this
instance of forethought, I imagined he was about to run away with me; for
suddenly, without giving the least warning, he made a rush in a downward
direction and was across the valley before I could look round.
All the hills in this part of the country, showed singular sloping sides
to the South-West, whilst on the opposite, they were almost
perpendicular; old red sandstone is generally found on their sides, and
granite on their summit. On the Allyn, I noticed the same kind of rich
limestone, that I found on the west bank of the Karuah, two miles within
the entrance. These two spots are about thirty miles apart. The rocks in
the valley of the Karuah belong to the transition series, and on the
shore of Port Stephens, they consist of porphyry, basalt, and greenstone.
An instance here came under my own observation of the beneficial results
which sometimes arise from the punishment of transportation; knowing the
difficulty of getting good servants, I was curious to learn how Mr.
Boydell had procured his excellent butler, and on inquiry was surprised
to learn that he had been sent out for robbing Madame Vestris of her
jewels.
CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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