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
nest of a pair of these fish, and that they carried the stones there, and
made it. The general bed of the river where I saw these nests, consisted
wholly of deep firm sand; and that the fish had some way of carrying or
moving stones to such spots, seemed evident, but for what purpose I could
not discover. Thermometer, at sunrise, 56 deg.; at noon, 83 deg.; at 4 P. M.,
93 deg.; at 9, 75 deg.;--with wet bulb, 59 deg..
[* See Pl. 6. fig. 2. p. 44. vol. i. of Three Expeditions.]
27TH OCTOBER.--We now travelled along the left bank of the river, and
found the country tolerably open. The ADRIANIA ACERIFOLIA grew on an
islet in the river.[*] This still pursued a remarkably straight course,
and contained abundance of water. After passing over a place where the
bush was on fire, we saw a female in the act of climbing a tree. When she
had ascended about eight feet, she remained stationary, looking at us
without any appearance of dismay. I continued to pursue a straight-
forward course, but told Yuranigh to inquire, EN PASSANT, what was the
name of the river; to which question she replied, in his own language,
"The name of that water is Maranoa:" thus confirming the name we had
already understood, however indirectly, to be that of the river. It
proved the accuracy of my servant Brown's ear, for it was first
communicated to him, during my absence, by the old chief at Bindango. The
gin appeared to be climbing in search of honey. To state that this female
wore no sort of clothing, were superfluous to any reader of this journal
who may have been in such interior parts of Australia. After travelling
about fourteen miles, we came upon a fine reach of the river, and
encamped beside it. Thermometer, at sunrise, 59 deg.; at noon, 68 deg.; at 4 P.
M., 95 deg.; at 9, 77 deg.;--wet bulb, 65 deg.. Height above the sea, 832 feet.
(Camp 80.)
[* A. ACERIFOLIA (CROTON ACERIFOLIUM All. Cunn. MS.); foliis cordato-
ovatis trifidis segmentis acuminatis grosse inaequaliter sinuato-
serratis, subtus bracteisque pubescenti-tomentosis.--Shrub three feet
high. Flowers scarlet. Collected by Allan Cunningham along the Lachlan
river.]
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