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
[* C. MITCHELLII (Benth. MS.) erecta, ramulis flavescenti-tomentosis,
stipulis parvis subulatis, foliis ovali-ellipticis obtusis retusisve basi
angustatis supra glabris subtus calycibusque subsericeo-
pubescentitomentosis, bracteolis in pedicello brevissimo minutis
setaceis, legumine sessili glabro. Allied to C. RETUSA and SERICEA, but
flowers much smaller, in short dense spikes. It agrees in most respects
with the short character of C. NOVOE HOLLANDIOE, etc., but the leaf is
not articulated on the footstalk, and the stipules exist.]
11TH APRIL.--Proceeding due north we had the river close on our right
hand, when two miles on. After making a slight detour to avoid a gully
falling into it, we continued the same course over open forest land, and,
at length, saw an immense sheet of water before us, with islands in it.
This was also a lagoon supplied by floods in the Balonne. It was covered
with ducks, pelicans, etc. I called it Lake Parachute, no natives being
near to give me their name for it. I must here add that the true
aboriginal name is not Baloon, however, but Balonne, and this I the more
readily adopt to avoid the introduction of a name so inappropriate
amongst rivers. I was obliged to turn this lagoon, by moving some way
about to my right, for it sent forth a deep arm to the S. W. which lay
across my intended route. Continuing to travel northward, we arrived upon
the banks of a lagoon, where they resembled those of the main channel,
having trees of the same kind and fully as large. The breadth was very
uniform, and as great as that of the river, so that it seemed this had
once been the bed of the Balonne. We crossed it at a dry part of the
swamp, the waters extending and increasing in it to the eastward. In the
opposite direction it was equally uniform and continuous, but apparently
dry. On crossing this old channel, I turned sharply to the N. E., aware
that it is usually at acute angles in a river's course that such
overflowings break out. I found it necessary in the present case to turn
eastward, and even to the southward of east before I could find the river
again. At length we came upon the channel divided amongst ridges of sand,
where the waters took a sharp turn and broke thus into separate currents.
I was now very desirous to select a camp where the cattle might remain to
rest and refresh while I proceeded with a small party to the N. W. This
place did not please me, having been too scrubby, the water not well
tasted, and the grass dry, therefore liable to be set on fire by the
natives, or by accident. A bulbous species of CYPERUS grew on the bank of
the Balonne, and in the river we found the common European reed, ARUNDO
PHRAGMITES: a Loranthus allied to L. LINEARIFOLIUS, but with broader
leaves, grew on some of the trees, and we saw a fine new species of
ADRIANIA.[*] (No. VII.) Thermometer, at sunrise, 47 deg.; at noon, 102 deg.; at 4
P. M., 104 deg.; at 9, 69 deg.; with wet bulb, 62 deg.. Average height above the sea,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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