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
The Acacia of Expedition Range was plentiful in the large flat and at the
wells of the natives, and formed a fine tree: its seeds, however, were
shed, and had been roasted by the late bush fire. Mr. Phillips (who was
always desirous of discovering substitutes for coffee, and to whom we
owed the use of the river-bean of the Mackenzie) collected these seeds,
and pounded and boiled them, and gave me the fluid to taste, which I
found so peculiarly bitter that I cautioned him against drinking it; his
natural desire, however, for warm beverage, which had been increased by a
whole day's travelling, induced him to swallow about a pint of it, which
made him very sick, and produced violent vomiting and purging during the
whole afternoon and night. The little I had tasted acted on me as a
lenient purgative, but Mr. Calvert, who had taken rather more than I did,
felt very sick. The gum of this Acacia was slightly acid, and very
harmless.
Oct. 30.--We travelled about four miles to the N.W. and N.N.W. along the
summit of rocky ranges, when a large valley bounded by high ranges to the
north and north-west, burst upon us. We descended into it by a steep and
rocky basaltic slope, and followed a creek which held a very tortuous
course to the south-west; we had travelled along it about seven miles,
when Charley was attracted by a green belt of trees, and by the late
burnings of the natives, and discovered a running rivulet, coming from
the N.N.W. It was fringed with Pandanus, Acacia (Inga monilifornis) and
with an arborescent Vitex, with ternate leaves. The flats were well
grassed, and lightly timbered with box and white-gum. On the flat summit
of the sandstone ranges, we observed the Melaleuca gum, the rusty gum,
the mountain Acacia, and Persoonia falcata, (R. Br.) The basaltic rock
was apparently confined to the upper part of the valley, where it had
broken through the sandstone, which composed all the ranges round our
camp, the latitude of which I observed to be 14 degrees 23 minutes 55
seconds. At our last camp, I observed a Platycercus, of the size of the
Moreton Bay Rosella, with blackfront, yellow shoulders, and sea-green
body; the female had not the showy colours of the male, and the young
ones were more speckled on the back. I believe it to be the Platycercus
Brownii, GOULD. A black and white Ptilotis, the only stuffed specimen of
which was taken by a kite almost out of Mr. Gilbert's hand, was very
frequent at the wells of the natives.
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