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
Continuing our journey at half-past five A.M. over the clear plain, we
came upon several ponds, distant not more than a mile from where we had
passed the night. We lost no time in watering the cattle and proceeding.
At half a mile beyond I perceived on the right some very green grass by
the edge of a hollow, overhung by spreading eucalypti. I found there a
fine lagoon of considerable extent, and brim-full of the purest water.
There were no reeds, but short grass grew on the brink, and near the
shore a few waterlilies. Here we filled our keg and kettles. We next
crossed some slightly rising ground, and high in the branches of the
trees I perceived, to my astonishment, dry tufts of grass, old logs, and
other drift matter! I felt confident that we were at length approaching
something new, perhaps the large river, the Kindur of The Bushranger. On
descending by a very gentle slope, a dark and dense line of gigantic
bluegum-trees (eucalyptus) growing amid long grass and reeds, encouraged
our hopes that we had at length found the big river. A narrow tract of
rich soil covered with long grass and seared with deep furrows
intervened. I galloped over this, and beheld a broad silvery expanse,
shaded by steep banks and lofty trees. In this water no current was
perceptible, but the breadth and depth of channel far exceeded that of
the Namoi. Nevertheless this was not the Kindur as described by The
Barber, but evidently the Gwydir of Cunningham, as seen by him at a
higher part of its course. We were exactly in the latitude of the Gwydir,
the course of which was also westward. It was however a very new feature
of the country to us, and after so much privation, heat and exposure the
living stream and umbrageous foliage gave us a grateful sense of
abundance, coolness, and shade. Trees of great magnitude give a grandness
of character to any landscape, but especially to river scenery. The blue
gum (eucalyptus) luxuriates on the margin of rivers, and grows in such
situations to an enormous size. Such trees overhung the water of the
Gwydir, forming dense masses of shade, in which white cockatoos
(Plyctolophus galeritus) sported like spirits of light.
CROSS IT WITH ONE MAN.
As soon as I had fixed on the camp I forded the river, accompanied by
Woods carrying my rifle. The water where I crossed did not reach above
the ankle, but the steepness of the banks on each side was a great
obstacle to the passage of my horse. I proceeded due north, in search of
rising ground, but the whole country seemed quite level. After crossing
an open plain of about two miles in length, I entered a brush of Acacia
pendula, and soon after I arrived at an old channel or hollow scooped out
by floods.
PREVENTED BY A NATIVE WITH SPEARS FROM SHOOTING A KANGAROO.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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