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
26TH AUGUST.--After cutting off an angle in the old track, and so
shortening the way about a mile, we pursued it back to Camp LIV.; which
spot we again occupied for the night. The horses were leg-weary; but I
could spare no time for rest, otherwise than by making the daily journies
short, until we could return to the foot of the dividing ranges. One of
the young pigeons was found nearly dead this morning; but Yuranigh, by
chafing and warming it by the fire, soon recovered it. The thermometer
had been as low as 38 deg.; but the birds had been kept in a box well covered
with wool, and also by canvas. On the hill, southward of this camp, I
found one tree, of the remarkable kind mentioned, as having been first
seen by Mr. Stephenson, near Mount Mudge. Thermometer, at sunrise, 37 deg.;
at noon, 80 deg.; at 4 P.M., 81 deg.; at 9, 44 deg.;--with wet bulb, 40 deg..
27TH AUGUST.--On reaching a difficult place for the passage of carts
along the rocky margin of the river, we took a new direction, more to the
right, crossing the clear hill, from which, on the 23d July, I had a view
of the mountains to the eastward. Then descending, we came upon plains of
firm clay, whereon grew some trees of ACACIA PENDULA. The rock in the
hills seemed calcarious, and on a detached slab of ferruginous sandstone,
I saw a more perfect specimen of ripple marks than I had ever seen
elsewhere, except on the sea-beach.
I had now an opportunity of observing, in the hills forming a low range
on my right, or to the westward, that their stratification dipped toward
the east, at an angle of about 25 deg. with the horizon; on which side those
slopes did not exceed that angle, whereas on the westward, they presented
abrupt, precipitous sides, each terminating in two steep sides, forming
an angle at the highest point. We encamped on a fine plain on the east
side of that range, but westward of the river (beyond which lay our
former route), and we found water in a lagoon a quarter of a mile
eastward of our camp; also, in a mountain rivulet two miles south of the
camp, coming from near Mount Beaufort, and some, very clear, was found in
a rocky gully immediately westward of our camp. Still, the bed of the
main channel was dry, and we had been obliged to seek for the water
before it was found in these several directions. Thermometer, at sunrise,
41 deg.; at noon, 79; at 4 P.M., 82 deg.; at 9, 48 deg.;--with wet bulb 39 deg..
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