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
19TH MAY.--I could now venture to halt a day without any apprehensions
about leaving sufficient water for the party who were following us; and I
had recently obtained many angles I wished to put together, in order to
learn the character of the country, which required much study. That I
should have overlooked an extensive country, without perceiving any
indication of a large river flowing through it, almost at my feet, seemed
a singular circumstance, and I was still as little aware of its ultimate
course. I found on laying down my work on paper, that the chief
elevations ran, in a continuous line, nearly due north from Mount Red
Cap, Bindango, and Bindyego, to the high ranges nearer the coast. That
the nascent stream on the western side of Bindango (the Amby), and
flowing first N. W., turned towards the S. W. within a range of basaltic
rock, which was a branch from the main stem between Bindango and the
northern range. Thus, upon the whole, this seemed but one side, and that
the south-eastern, of the basin of the river we had discovered. Where was
the other? The marks of flood were not high. The waters were full of
fish, but they would not take the bait. Thermometer, at sunrise, 46 deg.; at
noon, 73 deg.; at 4 P. M., 76 deg.; at 9, 65 deg..
20TH MAY.--The sky was wholly overcast, and drizzling rain afforded us
some grounds for hoping that the great impediment to our exploration
during this dry season, was at an end. The temperature underwent a sudden
change, and this day was the coldest as yet experienced during the
journey; the thermometer at noon being only 48 deg.. F. Yuranigh contrived to
catch three fishes, of a kind wholly different from those of the rivers
in the south; leaving it doubtful, again, whether this river could belong
to the system of the Barwan. Thermometer, at sunrise, 53 deg.; at noon, 48 deg.;
at 4 P. M., 45 deg.; at 9, 45 deg..
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