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
The catalogue of the objects of Natural History collected during the
journey included several birds and animals not hitherto mentioned in this
Journal. Amongst the most remarkable of these was the pig-footed animal
found on June 16. It measured about ten inches in length, had no tail,
and the forefeet resembled those of a pig. There was also the rat which
climbs trees like the opossum; the flat-tailed rat from the scrubs of the
Darling, where it builds an enormous nest of branches and boughs, so
interlaced as to be proof against any attacks of the native dog. The
unique specimen from the reedy country on the Murray of a very singular
animal much resembling the jerboa or desert rat of Persia; also a
rat-eared bat from the Lachlan. We had several new birds, but the most
admired of our ornithological discoveries was a white-winged superb
warbler from the junction of the Darling and the Murray, all the plumage
not white being of a bright blue colour; but of this we had obtained only
one specimen. I had not many opportunities of figuring the birds from
life, so very desirable in ornithological subjects. The eye of the eagle
and the rich crest of the cockatoo of the desert could not be preserved
in dead specimens, and were too fine to be omitted among the sketches I
endeavoured to snatch from nature.* Our herbarium had suffered from the
continued wet weather, especially in fording deep rivers; and this was
the more to be regretted as it contained many remarkable specimens. The
seeds and bulbous roots comprising varieties of Calostemma, Caladenia,
and Anguillaria, besides a number of large liliaceous bulbs, were however
preserved in a very good state.**
(*Footnote. See Plates 23 and 36.)
(**Footnote. The specimens of natural history were deposited in the
Museum at Sydney, according to my letter of instructions. The seeds,
amounting to 134 varieties, have been brought home and distributed, with
the obliging assistance of my friend Dr. Lindley, amongst the principal
gardens in this country. The bulbs, 62 in number, were planted soon after
my arrival in England, in the gardens of the Horticultural Society at
Chiswick. It was not without regret that I left at Sydney the single
specimens of the Chaeropus and Dipus, but I took drawings representing
each, of the natural size, and from these the figures in Plates 37 and 38
have been very accurately reduced by Mr. Picken.)
SITUATION OF DEPOT CAMP AT LAKE REPOSE.
The camp in which Mr. Stapylton's party was to remain two weeks was in as
favourable a place for refreshing the cattle as could be found. The
ground undulated and was thickly clothed with fresh verdure; a grassy
swamp also, such as cattle delight in, extended northward into a lake of
fresh water which I named Lake Repose. The peaks of the Serra Range and
especially Mount Abrupt were landmarks which secured the men from even
the possibility of losing their way in looking after the cattle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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