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
22D SEPTEMBER.--Thermometer, at 6 A.M., 58 deg.. This was no sandybedded
river like others we had discovered. The bed still consisted of firm
clay, and now the rich vegetation on the banks presented so much novelty,
that, without the means of carrying an herbarium, I was nevertheless
tempted to select a bouquet of flowers for Dr. Lindley, and carry them
amongst my folded maps. The very herbage at this camp was curious. One
plant supplied an excellent dish of vegetables. There were others
resembling parsley, and having the taste of water-cresses with white
turnip-like roots. Here grew also a dwarf or tropical CAPPARIS. Among the
grasses was a tawny ERIANTHUS, apparently the same as that formerly seen
on the banks of the Bogan, and the curious DANTHONIA PECTINATA, gathered
in Australia Felix in 1836. There was also amongst the grasses a
PAPPOPHORUM, which was perhaps the P. GRACILE, formerly collected in the
tropical part of New Holland by Dr. Brown; and a very remarkable new
species of the same curious genus, with an open narrow panicle, and
little branches not unlike those of a young oat.[*] The river again
formed a goodly continuous channel. Its most splendid feature, the wide
open plains, continued along its banks, and I set out on this, as we had
indeed on all other mornings since we made the discovery, intensely
interested in the direction of its course. We had not prolonged our
journey very far across the plains, keeping the trees of the river we had
left visible on our right, when another line of river trees appeared over
the downs on our left. Thus it seemed we were between two rivers, with
their junction before us, for the ground declined in that direction. And
so we found it. At about seven miles from where we had slept, we arrived
at the broad channel of the first river we had traced down, whose
impetuous floods had left the trees half bent to the earth, and clogged
with drift matter; not on any narrow space, but across a deep section of
400 yards. The rocks in the channel were washed quite bare, and crystal
water lay in ponds amongst these rocks. A high gravelly bank, crowned
with brigalow, formed the western margin, but no brigalow could withstand
the impetuous currents, that evidently, at some seasons, swept down
there. It was quite refreshing to see all clear and green, over so broad
a water-worn space. The junction with the northern river took place just
below, and I continued my journey, not a little curious to see what sort
of a river would be formed by these channels when united. I found the
direction of the course to be about N.W., both running nearly parallel.
About three miles on I approached the united channel, and found the
broad, deep, and placid waters of a river as large as the Murray. Pelican
and ducks floated upon it, and mussle-shells of extraordinary size lay in
such quantities, where the natives had been in the habit of eating them,
as to resemble snow covering the ground. But even that reach seemed
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