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
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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
Oct. 9.--Commenced with cloudy weather, threatening rain. It cleared up,
however, about 10 o'clock, and we had a very warm day. We followed the
course of the river for some time, which is fringed with Myal scrubs,
separated by hills with fine open forest. Finding that the river trended
so considerably to the northward [It seems that NORTHWARD here is merely
miswritten for WESTWARD.--(ED.)], we left it at a westerly bend, hoping
to make it again in a north-west direction. Thus, we continued travelling
through a beautiful undulating country, until arrested by a Bricklow
scrub, which turned us to the south-west; after having skirted it, we
were enabled to resume our course to W.N.W., until the decline of day
made me look for water to the south-west. The scrubs were awful, and
threatened to surround us; but we succeeded in finding a fine large
lagoon, probably filled by the drainage of the almost level country to
the north-east. No water-course, not the slightest channel produced by
heavy rains, was visible to indicate the flow of waters. Occasionally we
met with swampy ground, covered with reeds, and with some standing water
of the last rains; the ground was so rotten, that the horses and bullocks
sunk into it over the fetlocks. The principal timber trees here, are the
bastard box, the flooded-gum, and the Moreton Bay ash; in the Myal scrub,
Coxen's Acacia attains a very considerable size; we saw also some
Ironbark trees.
The tracks and dung of cattle were observed; and this was the farthest
point to the westward where we met with them. Kangaroos seemed to be very
rare; but kangaroo rats were numerous. Black-fellows were very near to us
last night; they very probably withdrew upon seeing us make our
appearance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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