Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 2: 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 2: 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
As we went on our way rejoicing I perceived at length two figures at a
distance who at first either did not see or did not mind us. They proved
to be a gin with a little boy and as soon as the female saw us she began
to run. I presently overtook her, and with the few words I knew prevailed
on her to stop until the two gins of our party could come up; for I had
long been at a loss for the names of localities. This woman was not so
much alarmed as might have been expected; and I was glad to find that she
and the gins perfectly understood each other. The difference in the
costume on the banks of the Wando immediately attracted the notice of the
females from the Lachlan. The bag usually carried by gins was neatly wove
in basketwork and composed of a wiry kind of rush. She of Wando carried
this bag fastened to her back, having under it two circular mats of the
same material, and beneath all a kangaroo cloak, so that her back at
least was sufficiently clothed, although she wore no dress in front. The
boy was supported between the mats and cloak; and his pleased and
youthful face, he being a very fine specimen of the native race,
presented a striking contrast to the miserable looks of his whining
mother. In the large bag she carried some pieces of firewood and a few
roots, apparently of tao, which she had just been digging from the earth.
Such was the only visible inhabitant of this splendid valley resembling a
nobleman's park on a gigantic scale. She stated that the main river was
called Temiangandgeen, a name unfortunately too long to be introduced
into maps. We also obtained the gratifying intelligence that the whole
country to the eastward was similar to these delightful vales and that,
in the same direction, as Piper translated her statement, "there was no
more sticking in mud." A favourable change in the weather accompanied our
fortunate transition from the land of watery soil and dark woody ravines
to an open country. The day was beautiful; and the balmy air was
sweetened by a perfume resembling hay which arose from the thick and
matted herbs and grass. Proceeding along the valley the stream on our
left vanished at an isolated rocky hill; but, on closer examination, I
found the apparent barrier cleft in two, and that the water passed
through, roaring over rocks. This was rather a singular feature in an
open valley where the ground on each side of it was almost as low as the
rocky bed of the stream itself. The hill was composed of granular felspar
in a state of decomposition; the surrounding country consisting chiefly
of very fine-grained sandstone. It is not easy to suppose that the river
could ever have watered the valley in its present state and forced its
way since through that isolated hill of hard rock; as to believe that the
rock, now isolated, originally contained a chasm, and afforded once the
lowest channel for the water before the valley now so open had been
scooped out on each side by gradual decomposition. Another rivulet
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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