Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1: With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South WalesMitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
History
Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1: With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South Wales
Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone), 1792-1855
June 3.
I set off with four men on horseback to examine the river downwards,
proceeding first two miles on a bearing of 151 degrees, and then
south-west. At about 20 miles we made an angle of the river where the
left bank was 50 feet high. None of the usual indications of the
neighbourhood of the Darling appeared here. No flats of Polygonum
junceum, nor falls in the ground. The river was evidently encroaching on
this high bank which consisted of red sandy earth to the depth of ten
feet. Below this stratum was clay mixed with calcareous concretions. The
opposite bank was lower and very grassy; and the water in the river was
brackish; but a small spring oozing from the rocks above-mentioned, at
about two feet above the water of the river, was perfectly sweet. From
this bend the highest point of D'Urban's group bore 151 degrees (from
north). About one half of the way which we had come today lay across
plains, the last portion we crossed containing several hollows, thickly
overgrown with the Polygonum junceum. Between these low parts the ground
was rather more elevated than usual, especially where D'Urban's group
bore 163 degrees (from north). The undulations were probably connected
with that range, and their position afforded some clue to the western
bends of the river. We passed in a scrub a young gin and a boy. They did
not begin to run until we stood still and had called to them for some
time. As there was still light to spare I proceeded onward, travelling
west-south-west, and with difficulty regained sight of the river at dusk.
Here the water was still more brackish but quite good enough for use; and
we passed the night in a hollow by the riverside.
June 4.
At an angle of the river, below the gully in which we had slept, a rocky
dyke crossed the stream in a north-north-west direction. It consisted of
a very hard ferruginous sandstone resembling that on the eastern coast.
This must have been another of the many impediments to our boat
navigation had we proceeded by water, and from the general appearance of
the river I was satisfied that a passage with boats could not have been
attempted in its present state with any prospect of getting soon down. We
travelled on, without seeing the river, from seven until twelve,
following a south-west course, then due west, and in this direction we
crossed the broad dry bed of a watercourse coming from the south-east,
having previously observed high ground on the left.
A PERFUMED VEGETABLE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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