Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in Search of a Route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria (1848)Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
History
Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia, in Search of a Route from Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria (1848)
Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Queensland -- Discovery and exploration
1ST MAY.--On leaving the lagoon, passing between its head and the river,
we were soon enveloped in a thick scrub of Casuarinae, on ground broken
into gullies falling to the river. I tried to pass by the lower margin of
this, but gullies in the way obliged me to ascend and seek a passage
elsewhere. Forcing our way, therefore, through the scrub and out of it,
we found outside of it, in an open forest, the box and Angophora, and
could go forward without impediment, first to the N. W., afterwards
northward, and N. E. At length the woods opened into fine grassy plains,
bounded on the east by trees belonging to the river berg. There I saw
still the trees we had so gladly got away from, the Casuarina; also the
cheering white arms of the Yarra, or blue gum. The prospect before us
improved greatly; fine plains presented a clear way to the northward,
with the river apparently coming thence, and even round from the N. W.
From a tree, Yuranigh descried hills in the N. E. and the plains
extending before us. I also perceived, from the wide plain, a distant low
rise to the N. W. We crossed two hollows on these grassy plains, each
containing deep ponds, and descended towards what seemed a branch of the
river; we encamped near it, in latitude 27 deg. 15' 4" S. As we approached
this spot, natives were seen first looking at us, and then running off--
Yuranigh said he recognized one of them as a countryman of his own. I
endeavoured to make him cooey to them, or call them, but they made off,
setting fire to the grass. Any information from natives of these parts
might have been very useful to us then, and I hoped they would at length
come to us. Thermometer, at sunrise, 26 deg.; at 4 P. M., 67 deg.; at 9, P. M.,
48 deg.;--with wet bulb, 46 deg..
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account