Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2 — John Shaqi
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2Sturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
To the W.N.W. of Yass Plains there is a remarkable hill, called Pouni,
remarkable not so much on account of its height, as of its commanding
position. It had, I believe, already been ascended by one of the
Surveyor-general's assistants. The impracticability of the country to
the south of it, obliged us to pass under its opposite base, from which
an open forest country extended to the northward. We had already
recrossed the Yass River, and passed Mr. Barber's station, to that of
Mr. Hume's father, at which we stopped for a short time. Both farms are
well situated, the latter I should say, romantically so, it being
immediately under Pouni, the hill we have noticed. The country around
both was open, and both pasture and water were abundant.
Mr. O'Brien had been kind enough to send one of the natives who
frequented his station to escort us to his more advanced station upon
the Morumbidgee. Had it not been for the assistance we received from
this man, I should have had but little leisure for other duties: as it
was however, there was no fear of the party going astray. This gave
M'Leay and myself an opportunity of ascending Pouni, for the purpose of
taking bearings; and how ever warm the exertion of the ascent made us,
the view from the summit of the hill sufficiently repaid us, and the
cool breeze that struck it, although imperceptible in the forest below,
soon dried the perspiration from our brows. The scenery around us was
certainly varied, yet many parts of it put me forcibly in mind of the
dark and gloomy tracks over which my eye had wandered from similar
elevations on the former journey. This was especially the case in
looking to the north, towards which point the hills forming the right
of the valley by which we had entered the plains, decreased so rapidly
in height that they were lost in the general equality of the more
remote country, almost ere they had reached abreast of my position.
From E.S.E. to W.S.W. the face of the country was hilly, broken and
irregular; forming deep ravines and precipitous glens, amid which I was
well aware the Morumbidgee was still struggling for freedom; while
mountains succeeded mountains in the back-ground, and were themselves
overtopped by lofty and very distant peaks. To the eastward, however,
the hills wore a more regular form, and were lightly covered with wood.
The plains occupied the space between them and Pouni; and a smaller
plain bore N.N.E. which, being embosomed in the forest, had hitherto
escaped our notice.
We overtook the party just as it cleared the open ground through which
it had previously been moving. A barren scrub succeeded it for about
eight miles. The soil in this scrub was light and sandy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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