Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia: From Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a distance of upwards of 3000 miles, during the years 1844-1845Leichhardt, Ludwig
History
Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia: From Moreton Bay to Port Essington, a distance of upwards of 3000 miles, during the years 1844-1845
Leichhardt, Ludwig
Australia -- Description and travel; Australia -- Discovery and exploration
March 7.--I moved my camp through the mountain gorge, the passage of
which was rather difficult, in consequence of large boulders of
sandstone, and of thickets of narrow-leaved tea-trees growing in the bed
of the river. To the northward, it opens into fine gentle Ironbark slopes
and ridges, which form the heads of the Isaacs. They seem to be the
favourite haunts of emus; for three broods of them were seen, of ten,
thirteen, and even sixteen birds. About four miles from the gorge, we
came to the heads of another creek, which I called "Suttor Creek" after
--Suttor, Esq., who had made me a present of four bullocks when I
started on this expedition; four or five miles farther down we found it
well supplied with fine water-holes. Here, however, patches of scrub
again appeared. The ridges were covered with iron-coloured quartz
pebbles, which rendered our bullocks footsore. The marjoram was abundant,
particularly near the scrubs, and filled the air with a most exquisite
odour. A mountain range was seen to the right; and, where the ranges of
the head of the Isaacs abruptly terminated, detached hills and ridges
formed the south-western and southern barrier of the waters of Suttor
Creek.
March 8.--As we followed the creek about nine miles farther down, it
became broader, and the Casuarinas were more frequent. Its bed was sandy,
occasionally filled with reeds, and contained numerous water-holes,
particularly where the sandstone rock formed more retentive basins.
During the last two days we had drizzling rain, which cleared up a little
about noon and at night. The weather was delightfully cool; the wind was
very strong from the eastward. I sent Mr. Roper forward to look for
water, of which he found a sufficient supply. He stated that the country
to the westward opened into fine plains, of a rich black soil; but it was
very dry. The bluff terminations of the left range bore E. by S., and
that on the right E.N.E.
March 9.--We moved to the water-holes found yesterday by Mr. Roper. On
our way we crossed a large scrub creek, coming from the northward and
joining Suttor Creek, which turned to the westward, and even W. by S. and
W.S.W.
Mr. Gilbert and Charley made an excursion to the westward, in which
direction Mr. Roper had seen a distant range, at the foot of which I
expected to find a large watercourse. Wind continued from the east and
south-east; about the middle of last night we had some rain.
A slender snake, about five feet long, of a greyish brown on the back,
and of a bright yellow on the belly, was seen nimbly climbing a tree. The
head was so much crushed in killing it that I could not examine its
teeth.
Mr. Roper and John Murphy succeeded in shooting eight cockatoos, which
gave us an excellent soup. I found in their stomachs a fruit resembling
grains of rice, which was slightly sweet, and would doubtless afford an
excellent dish, if obtained in sufficient quantity and boiled.
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