MOUNT MELVILLE (OF OXLEY), FROM MERUMBA.
MOUNT MELVILLE (OF OXLEY), FROM MERUMBA.
MOUNT MELVILLE (OF OXLEY), FROM MERUMBA.
We were here disturbed by herds of cattle running towards our spare bullocks and mixing with them and the horses. In no district have I seen cattle so numerous as all along the Lachlan; and notwithstanding the very dry season, they were nearly all in good condition. We found this day, near the river bed, a new herbaceous indigo with white flowers and pods like those of the prickly liquorice (Glycyrrhiza echinata).*
(*Footnote. I. acantho carpa, Lindley manuscripts; caule herbaceo erecto ramisque angulatis scabriusculis, foliis pinnatis 5-jugis viscido-pubescentibus; foliolis lineari-lanceolatis mucronulatis margine scabris, racemis folio aequalibus, leguminibus subrotundo-ovalibus compressis mucronatis echinatis monospermis.)
March 29.
Our next point was Mount Cunningham (Beery birree of the natives) and we travelled towards it along the margin of Field's Plains as the angles of the river allowed.
MOUNT CUNNINGHAM, OR BEERY BIRREE.
MOUNT CUNNINGHAM, OR BEERY BIRREE.
MOUNT CUNNINGHAM, OR BEERY BIRREE.
CRACKS IN THE SURFACE.
This was our straightest course, but we had to keep along the riverbank for another reason. The plains were full of deep cracks and holes so that the cart wheels more than once sunk into them, and thus detained us for nearly an hour. A sagacious black advised us to keep near the riverbank, and we found the ground better. We encamped at half-past two o'clock, after a journey of ten miles; and I immediately set out, accompanied by a native and a man carrying my theodolite, both on horseback, for the highest or northern point of Mount Cunningham (a). The distance was full five miles; yet we could not proceed direct on horseback, the scorched plains being full of deep, wide cracks; and we were therefore compelled to take a circuitous route nearer the river.
ASCEND MOUNT CUNNINGHAM.
There our guide called up three savage-looking natives with spears, whom he described to be the natives of the hill, and they accompanied us to the top. With some difficulty we led our horses near the crest, our new friends always keeping the vantage ground of us, apparently from apprehension. At length I planted my theodolite on the highest part of the summit which commanded a fine view of the western horizon; and from the mouths of my sable guides I obtained the native names, in all their purity, of the various hills in sight. The most distant, named Bolloon, were said to be near the great lake Cudjallagong--no doubt Regent's Lake of Oxley--and a peak they called Tolga I took to be Hurd's Peak of the same traveller.
NYORORONG.
Still I saw nothing on the horizon in the direction of his Mount Granard, and in no other any hill of magnitude, except in the quarter whence I came, where I still discerned my old friends Marga and Nangar, with Nyororong and Berabidjal, high hills more to the southward.
NYORORONG FROM MOUNT CUNNINGHAM.
NYORORONG FROM MOUNT CUNNINGHAM.
NYORORONG FROM MOUNT CUNNINGHAM.
Mount Cunningham consists of ferruginous sandstone. The sun had reached the horizon before I left the summit, which I did not until I had obtained an angle on every visible point. We arrived at the camp soon after seven o'clock. Latitude by an observation of Cor Leonis 33 degrees 15 minutes 27 seconds South.
MR. OXLEY'S TREE.
March 30.
I ascertained accidentally this morning that we were abreast of the spot where Mr. Oxley left the Lachlan and proceeded southward. This I learnt from a marked tree which a native pointed out to me distant about 250 yards south from our camp, on the opposite side of a branch of the river. On this tree were still legible the names of Mr. Oxley and Mr. Evans; and although the inscription had been there nineteen years the tree seemed still in full vigour; nor could its girth have altered much, judging from the letters which were still as sharp as when first cut, only the bark having overgrown part of them had been recently cleared away a little as if to render the letters more legible. I endeavoured to preserve still longer an inscription which had withstood the fires of the bush and the tomahawks of the natives for such a length of time by making a drawing of it as it then appeared.
OXLEY'S TREE ON THE LACHLAN (OR KALARE) RIVER.
OXLEY'S TREE ON THE LACHLAN (OR KALARE) RIVER.
OXLEY'S TREE ON THE LACHLAN (OR KALARE) RIVER.
By Mr. Oxley's journal we learn that where the river formed two branches he, on the 17th of May, 1817, hauled up his boats, and on the following day commenced his intended journey towards the south-east. But our latitudes also assisted us in verifying the spot. Mr. Oxley made the latitude of his camp (doubtless near the tree) 33 degrees 15 minutes 34 seconds South which gives a difference of seven seconds for the 250 yards between the tree and my camp. The variation of the needle Mr. Oxley found to be here, in 1817, 7 degrees 0 minutes 8 seconds East and I had made it at the last camp (Merimbah) 8 degrees 54 minutes 15 seconds East, or nearly two degrees more, in a lapse of 19 years. The longitude of this point as now ascertained by trigonometrical measurement from Parramatta was 147 degrees 33 minutes 50 seconds East, or 17 minutes 50 seconds (equal on this parallel to 17 1/4 miles) nearer to Sydney than it is laid down by Mr. Oxley.
We proceeded from this camp towards the southern extremity of Mount Cunningham, under which a small branch of the Lachlan passes so close that the party was occupied an hour and a half in removing rocks to open a passage for the carts. We then got into an open country in which we soon saw the same dry branch of the Lachlan before us; but we turned more to the north-west until we reached a slightly undulated surface. No branch of the river extends to the northward of Mount Cunningham as shown on Mr. Oxley's map; but a small tributary watercourse, then dry, skirts the eastern side of the hill, and enters that branch of the Lachlan which we were upon.
Yesterday and this day had been so excessively hot (82 degrees in the shade) that I confidently anticipated rain, especially when the sky became cloudy to the westward, while the wind blew steadily from the opposite quarter. A dense body of vapour in the shape of stratus, or fall cloud of the meteorologist, was at the same time stretching eastward along the distant horizon on both sides of us. After crossing some sound, open plains of stiff clay, guided by the natives, we gained an extensive pond of muddy water and encamped on a hill of red sand on its northern bank, and under shelter of a grove of callitris trees.
RAIN.
The wind now began to blow and the sky, to my great delight, being at length overcast, promised rain enough to fill the streams and waterholes: at twilight it began to come down. In the woods we passed through this day we found a curious willow-like acacia with the leaves slightly covered with bloom, and sprinkled on the underside with numerous reddish minute drops of resin.* The Pittosporum angustifolium we also recognised here, loaded with its singular orange-coloured bivalved fruit.
(*Footnote. This is allied in some respects to A. verniciflua and exudans, but is a very distinct and well-marked species. A. salicina, Lindley manuscripts; glaucescens, ramulis angulatis, phyllodiis divaricatis lineari et oblongo-lanceolatis utrinque angustatis obtusissimis uninerviis venulis pinnatis: ipso apice glandulosis subtus resinoso-punctatis, capitulis 3-5 racemosis phyllodiis triplo brevioribus.)
March 31.
It rained during the night and this morning the sky seemed as if it would continue; the mercury in the barometer also falling, we halted. On a dry sandhill, with wood and water at hand, we were well prepared to await the results of a flood; some good grass also was found for the cattle on firm ground at the distance of about two miles.
GOOBANG CREEK.
Mount Allan (Wollar of the natives) lay north-east by north, at a distance of 3 3/4 miles. It was not a conspicuous or commanding hill, but between it and our camp we this day discovered a feature of considerable importance. This was the Goobang creek of our former journey, to all appearance here as great a river as the Bogan and indeed its channel, where we formerly saw it, contained deep ponds of clear water at a season when the muddy holes of the Bogan had nearly failed us. Here the Goobang much resembled that river in the depth of its bed and the character of its banks: and its sources and tributaries must be also similar to those of the Bogan. Hervey's range gives birth to the one, Croker's range to the other and, their respective courses being along the opposite sides of the higher land extending westward between the Lachlan and Macquarie, all their tributaries must fall from the same ridge. Of these Mr. Oxley crossed several in his route from the Lachlan to the Macquarie; Emmeline's Valley creek belonging to the basin of the Goobang; Coysgaine's ponds and Allan's water to that of the Bogan. It was rather unfortunate, considering how much has been said about the Lachlan receiving no tributaries in its long course, that Mr. Oxley left unexplored that part where a tributary of such importance as the Goobang joins it; especially as the floods of this stream lay the country below Mount Cunningham under water, and are the sole cause of that swampy appearance which Mr. Oxley observed from the hill on looking westward. It would appear that this traveller's route northward was nearly parallel to the general course of the Goobang. The name this stream receives from the natives here is Billibang, Goobang being considered but one of its tributaries. Its course completes the analogy between the rivers and plains on each side, and the supposed disappearance of the channel of the Lachlan seemed consequently as doubtful as the mysterious termination of the Macquarie.
April 1.
The rain continuing, the party remained encamped. The barometer had fallen since we came here from 29.442, at which it stood last night at ten, to 29.180, which I noted this morning at six: the thermometer continuing about 60 degrees of Fahrenheit.
LARGE FISHES.
On dragging our net through the muddy pond we captured two fishes, but of monstrous size, one weighing 17 pounds, the other about 12 pounds. Although very different in shape, I recognised in them the fish of the perch kind with large scales* and the eel-fish** formerly caught by us in the Namoi. But the former when taken in that river was coarse and tasted of mud, whereas this ruffe, although so large was not coarse, but rich, and of excellent flavour--and so fat that the flakes fell into crumbs when fried. This day a bird of a new species was shot by Roach. It was of a swallow kind, about the size of a snipe, of a leaden colour, with dark head and wings.
(*Footnote. Cernua bidyana.)
(**Footnote. Plotosus tandanus.)
HEAVY RAIN.
April 2.
The rain continued through the night and this morning it fell rather heavily, so that enough of water could be gathered from the surface of the plains near our camp to preclude the necessity for our having recourse to the muddy pool. The barometer began to rise slowly from seven in the morning, when it had reached its minimum; but the weather continued hazy, with drizzling rain (from the south-west) until four o'clock, when the clouds slowly drew up. The plains were not yet at all saturated, although become too soft for our carts. The evening was cloudy, but by ten o'clock the state of the barometer was such as to leave little doubt about the return of fair weather. We this day found in the woods to the northward a most beautiful species of Trichinium, with spiky feathered pale yellow flowers, sometimes as much as six inches long.*
(*Footnote. Tr. nobile, Lindley manuscripts; foliis caulinis obovatis cuspidatis subundulatis ramisque corymbosis angulatis glabris, spica cylindracea: rachi lanata, calycis laciniis 3 acutis 2 retusis, bracteis puberulis. Differs from Tr. densum, Cunningham in the bracts not being villous at the base, and from T. macrocephalum, R. Br. in having much larger flowers, which are yellow not lilac, and in three of the segments of the calyx being acute.)
ASCEND MOUNT ALLAN.
April 3.
Thick fog in the morning. The day being Sunday the party remained in the camp; but I do not think we could have left it from the soft state of the plains, however desirable it might have been to proceed. After twelve I rode to Wollar (Mount Allan) with the theodolite, and from its summit I intersected most of the hills seen from Mounts Amyot and Cunningham. A small wart on the eastern horizon, very distant yet conspicuous, I found to be Mount Juson, the hill on which I had stood with the brother of the botanist whose name had been given to this hill by Mr. Oxley.
The sameness in the surface of this country is apparently owing to the simplicity of its geological composition. All the hills I ascended below the junction of Byrne's creek consist of ferruginous sandstone, similar to that which constitutes all the hills I saw on, and even beyond, the Darling.
On passing to and from Mount Allan we crossed, at three-quarters of a mile from the camp, Goobang creek, the bed of which exactly resembles that of the Bogan. The remains of drifted weeds on the trees and the uniformity of its channel showed that it is a considerable tributary of the Lachlan. At length the stars appeared in the evening, and I could once more see my unerring guides, the faithful Little Dog, and the mighty Hercules,* whereby our latitude seemed to be 33 degrees 8 minutes 55 seconds South.
(*Footnote. Procyon, in Canis Minor and Regulus in Leo. The latter being also called Hercules and Cor Leonis.)
NATIVES FROM THE BOGAN.
At the camp we recognised among the natives seated at our fire two of our friends from the Bogan. Their little shovel of hard wood (not used on the Lachlan) and one of the tomahawks formerly distributed by us left no room to doubt whether we were right about their features.
PROPHECY OF A CORADJE.
One was an old man and a Coradje, the other was a boy. They disappeared in the evening, but the Coradje was so far civil as to tell the men that, having heard The Major was praying for rain, he had caused the late fall. This priest had also prophesied a little for our information, telling the men that a day was at hand when two of them would go out to watch the bullocks and would never return.
April 4.
The surface being sufficiently dry to enable us to travel we accordingly continued our journey and, crossing the Goobang at 5 1/4 miles, we kept the right bank of it during the day. The surface on that side was dry and firm; and it may be remarked that if ever it becomes desirable to open a line of communication from Sydney towards the country on the lower part of the Murray, the right bank of the Goobang will probably be found the best direction as the adjacent valley affords both grass and water for the passage of cattle, and the doubtful plains of the Lachlan may be thus avoided.
POISONED WATERHOLE.
We finally encamped on the Lachlan at the junction of the Goobang, in latitude 33 degrees 5 minutes 20 seconds; longitude East 147 degrees 13 minutes 10 seconds. There the river contained some deep pools and we expected to catch fish; but Piper told us that the holes had been recently poisoned, a process adopted by the natives in dry seasons, when the river no longer flows, for bringing the fish to the surface of deep ponds and thus killing the whole; I need not add that none of us got a bite. All these holes were full of recently cut boughs of the eucalyptus, so that the water was tinged black.
ASCEND HURD'S PEAK.
April 5.
As soon as the party had started I gave the overseer the bearings and distances to be pursued; while I proceeded to the cone named Hurd's peak by Oxley, but by the natives Tolga. It was distant about four miles from our line of route. A low ridge of quartz rock extends from the Goobang to this peak the base of which consists of chlorite slate, and its summit of squarish pebbles of quartz, with the angles rounded, associated with fragments of chlorite slate. There was just convenient room on it for the theodolite and, as it afforded a most satisfactory and commanding view, well suited for the purpose of surveying, it seemed to have been aptly named after a distinguished geographer. Many points of a distant range now appeared on the north-western horizon in the direction of Oxley's Mount Granard, and the ridge of Bolloon (towards the great lake Cudjallagong) seemed not very distant. I took angles on all the points and then hastened to overtake the party, which I did after they had travelled about nine miles. At fourteen miles we made the banks of the Lachlan, and encamped by the side of it on the edge of a plain in latitude 33 degrees 4 minutes 38 seconds South, longitude 147 degrees East. Judging by the relative position of Hurd's peak etc., I supposed it might have been about this place that Oxley's party crossed to the right bank of the river on his return towards Wellington valley. No traces however were discovered by us here of the first explorers of the Lachlan.
April 6.
The night had been mild and clear and the sun rose in a cloudless sky. We traversed plains of firmer surface than those crossed on the previous day. So early even as nine o'clock the heat was oppressive.
SNAKE AND BIRD.
On one of these plains I witnessed an instance of the peculiar fascination attributed to the serpent race. A large snake, lying at full length, attracted our attention and I wished to take it alive, but as Roach, the collector, was at a distance, some time elapsed before preparations were made for that purpose. The ground was soft and full of holes, into one of which it would doubtless have disappeared as soon as it was alarmed. The rest of the party came up yet, unlike snakes in general, who glide rapidly off, this creature lay apparently regardless of noise, or even of the approach of the man, who went slowly behind it and seized its head. At that moment a little bird fluttered from beside a small tuft within a few feet of the snake and, it seemed, as the men believed, scarcely able to make its escape.
When we were near the spot on which we intended to encamp a native pointed out to me a small hill beyond the river where, as he informed me, Mr. Oxley and his party had encamped before he crossed the Lachlan. It was called by this native Gobberguyn. We pitched our tents a little higher than that hill where a favourable bend of the river met my line of route. The cattle were much fatigued with the day's work although the distance did not exceed eleven miles. It was in my power however to give them rest for a day or two as the grass was tolerably good on that part of the riverbank, and I was within reach of Mount Granard, a height which I had long been anxious to examine, as well as the country to be seen from it. Among the usual grasses we found one which I had not previously seen and which proved to be a new species of Danthonia.*
(*Footnote. Danthonia pectinata, Lindley manuscripts; spica simplici secunda pleiostachya pectinata foliis multo longiore, palea inferiore villosissima; laciniis lateralibus membranaceis aristae aequalibus.)
RIDE TO MOUNT GRANARD.
April 7.
I set off early for Mount Granard, followed by six men on horseback and a native named Barney who was also mounted. We rode at a smart pace on a bearing of 280 degrees across thirty miles of soft red sand in which the horses sank up to their fetlocks, and we reached the foot of the hill a little before sunset.
SCARCITY OF WATER THERE.
Throughout that extent we neither saw a single watercourse nor discovered the least indication of water having lodged there during any season. At eleven miles from the camp we crossed a low ridge of granite (named Tarratta) a hopeful circumstance to us as promising a primitive range of hills between the Darling and Lachlan, and because in a crevice of this granite our aboriginal guide found some water. The desert tract we crossed was in other respects unvaried except that, in one place, we passed through four miles of a kind of scrub which presented difficulties of a new character. The whole of it consisted of bushes of a dwarf species of eucalyptus, doubtless E. dumosa (A. Cunningham) which grew in a manner that rendered it impossible to proceed, except in a very sinuous direction, and then with difficulty by pushing our horses between stiffly grown branches. Where no bushes grew the earth was naked, except where some tufts of a coarse matted weed resembling Spinifex impeded the horses, but seemed to be intended by Providence to bind down these desert sands. We saw blue ranges on our right, and I hoped that before we ascended Mount Granard we should cross some watercourse coming from them; but nothing of the kind appeared and, after traversing a dry sandy flat, we began to ascend. Finding myself separated from the summit, after we had climbed some way, by a deep rocky ravine, and being in doubt about obtaining water, I sent the people with the horses to encamp in the valley to which that ravine opened, with directions to look for water while daylight lasted.
VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.
Meanwhile I proceeded to the summit with one of the men and the native. I arrived there and, just before the sun went down, obtained an uninterrupted view of the western horizon; but the scene was inconclusive as to the existence of such a dividing range as I hoped to see. Ridges and summits appeared abundantly enough, but they were not of a bold or connected character, and I did not obtain upon the whole a better idea than I previously had respecting the extension of that singular group of hills to the westward. I stood upon the best height however for carrying on my angles in that direction. To the eastward I saw Hurd's Peak and Bolloon, also Goulburn's and Macquarie's ranges, Mount Torrens, and Mount Aiton of Oxley. The last hill appeared alone on the horizon, in a south-south-east direction as shown in his map. But the most commanding point was Yerrarar, the highest apex of Goulburn range, forming with Bolloon and this station an almost equilateral triangle of about 30 miles a side.
The features before us terminated rather abruptly towards the south like cliffs of tableland, and seemed to mark out the basin of the Lachlan; but beyond those parts overlooking Mr. Oxley's route I could obtain no view, although I perceived that I might from Yerrarar.
ENCAMP THERE.
Having completed my work as the sun was setting I hastened to the valley, and learnt that the party had discovered neither water nor grass. Barney the native had nevertheless obtained both when with me at the top of the mountain; and therefore, although it was dark and we were all fatigued, yet up that rocky mountain we were compelled to go with the horses, and encamp near the summit beside a little pool of water which had been well-known to Barney at other times. On this elevated crest the air was surprisingly mild during the night for, although I slept in my clothes and on the ground, I enjoyed its freshness as a great relief from the oppressive heat of the day. Our singular bivouac on the summit, which I had so long wished to visit, was adorned with a strange-looking tree, probably Casuarina glauca.
April 8.
Next morning I had an opportunity of surveying the hills around me more at leisure, and I noted down their various names from the lips of Barney for that desolate region, where neither a kangaroo nor a bird was to be seen or heard, was poor Barney's country, that lonely mountain his home!
I learned that the only water in these deserts was to be found in the crevices of rocks on such hills as this; and I thus understood the cause of the smoke I observed last year arising from so many summits when I looked over the same region from a hill on its northern limits. Perhaps within thirty miles around there was no other water, and the bare top of a mountain was certainly one of the last situations where I should have thought of seeking for it.
We descended after I had completed my survey from a hill which perhaps no white man will again ascend; I may however add, for the information of those who may be disposed to do so, that the well is on the crest of a ridge extending north-west from the principal summit, and distant therefrom about 200 yards. I had brought provisions for another day as I originally intended to examine the course of the Lachlan above Mount Torrens; but having seen enough from this hill to satisfy me on that point we retraced our steps to the camp.
April 9.
This day I halted as well to rest the horses as for the purpose of observing equal altitudes of the sun and protracting my survey.
ASCEND BOLLOON, A HILL BEYOND THE LACHLAN.
April 10.
Leaving the party encamped I crossed the Lachlan and rode eight miles due south to Bolloon which proved to be the highest cone of a low ridge situated within the great bend of this river. I found it a valuable station for continuing my chain of triangles downwards, as from it Mounts Cunningham and Allan, Hurd's Peak, Peel's and Goulburn ranges, Mount Granard, etc. are all visible. We passed some lower hills belonging to the same chain, and of which the basis seemed to be the prevailing ferruginous sandstone. In my return to the camp I found the dogs had killed an emu.
NATIVES REFUSE TO EAT EMU.
It is singular that none of the natives would eat of this bird; and the reasons they gave were that they were young men, and that none but older men who had gins were allowed to eat it; adding that it would make young men all over boils or eruptions. This rule of abstinence was also rigidly observed by our interpreter Piper.
NATIVE DOG.
Late in the night I was awoke by one of the watch firing a pistol at a native dog which had got close to the sheepfold. At the same moment a sheep leaped out and, having been at the first alarm pursued by our dogs, it was worried in the bed of the river. The native dog having howled as it escaped was supposed to have been wounded. To prevent such occurrences in future and as this arose from a neglect of my original plan, the two fires of the men's tents were ordered to be again placed in such positions as threw light around the sheepfold, which was of canvas fastened to portable stakes and pegs. (See plan of camp, Volume 1.)
KALINGALUNGAGUY.
April 11.
We left this camp (named Camarba) and continued our journey around the great bend of the Lachlan at which point (4 1/2 miles from our camp) the low ridge of Kalingalungaguy closed on the river. This ridge is a remarkable feature, extending north and south, and I expected to see some tributary from the north entering the river here; but we crossed on the east side of the ridge only a wide, dry and grassy hollow, which was however evidently the channel of a considerable body of water in times of flood, as appeared by marks on the trees which grew along the banks. All were of the dwarf box kind, named goborro by the natives, a sort of eucalyptus which usually grows by itself on the lower margins of the Darling and Lachlan, and other parts subject to inundation, and on which the occasional rise of the waters is marked by the dark colour remaining on the lower part of the trunk. In the bed of the Lachlan at the junction of the channel near Kalingalungaguy I found quartz rock.
MR. STAPYLTON OVERTAKES THE PARTY.
We had not proceeded far beyond that ridge when Mr. Stapylton overtook the party, having travelled in great haste from Sydney to join us as second in command, in compliance with my letter of instructions sent from Buree. Mr. Stapylton was accompanied by two stockmen, having left his own light equipments at Cordowe, a station above Mount Cunningham. On the plains which we crossed this day grew in great abundance that beautiful species of lily found in the expedition of 1831, and already mentioned under the name of Calostemma candidum,* also the Calostemma luteum of Ker with yellow flowers.
(*Footnote. Volume 1. C. candidum; floribus centralibus subsessilibus, articulo infra medium in pedicellis longioribus, corona integerrima.)
At nine miles we crossed some granite rocks, evidently a part of the ridge of Tarratta, thus exhibiting a uniformity in the granite with the general direction of other ridges, which is about north-north-east. The strike is between north and north-east; the dip in some places being to the west, and in others to the east, at great inclinations. The ridge of Kalingalungaguy consists of quartz, clay-slate, and the ferruginous sandstone, but I observed in the bed of the river a trap-dyke extending to the Bolloon ridge. Of the few low hills about the Lachlan it may be observed that they generally range in lines crossing the bed of that river. Mount Amyot is a ridge of this sort, being connected to the southward with Mount Stewart and Nyororong; and to the northward with the high ground separating the Bogan from the Goobang; the latter creek also forcing its way through the same chain on its course westward. Mounts Cunningham, Melville, and the small hills about them on each bank belong to another system of ridges of similar character, but more broken up; and the range of Kalingalungaguy with that of Bolloon form a third, also intersected by the river.
OF THE PLAINS IN GENERAL.
The plains appear to be divided into several stages by these cross ridges, which may have shut up the water of high floods in extensive lakes during the existence of which the deposits formed the surface of the present plains. Loose red sand also constantly forms low hills on the borders of these plains; and it seems to have been derived from the decomposition of the sandstone, and may be a diluvial or lacustrine deposit. Blue clay appears in the lowest parts of the basin, and forms the level parts of the plain, with concretions of marl in thin layers. This has every appearance of a mud deposit; but its depth is greater than the lowest part visible in the channel of the river. The parallel course of small tributaries joining rivers, which seem to be the middle drain of extensive plains, may have been marked out during the deposition of the sedimentary matter as tributaries, on entering the channel of greater streams, immediately become a portion of them; hence it is, the general inclination being common to both, that such tributaries do not cross these sediments of floods now termed plains in order to join the main channel or river now remaining.
CHARACTER OF THE GOOBANG AND BOGAN.
Thus the Goobang, on entering the valley of the Lachlan, pursues a parallel course until the ridge from Hurd's peak confines the plain on the west and turns the Goobang into the main channel. The Bogan, on the opposite side of the high land, may be said to belong to the basin of the Macquarie, although it never joins that river, but merely skirts the plains which, below Cambelego, may be all supposed to belong to the original bed of the Macquarie. Throughout its whole course of 250 miles the left bank of the Bogan is close to low hills, while the right adjoins the plains of the Macquarie. The basin of the Macquarie, as shown by its course near Mount Harris and Morrisset's ponds, falls northward, but that of the Darling to the south-west. It is not at all surprising therefore that the course of a tributary so much opposed, as the Macquarie is, to that of the main stream, should spread into marshes: still less that, on being at length choked with the deposit filling up these marshes, it should work out for itself a channel less opposed to the course of the main stream. Duck creek appears to be now the channel by which the floods of the Macquarie join the Darling, and in a course much more direct than that through the marshes. Hence the Bogan also, being still less opposed to that of the Darling, finally enters that river without presenting the anomaly of an invisible channel. In like manner, at a much lower point on the Darling, the course of the little stream named Shamrock ponds, so remarkable in this respect, may be understood. This forms a chain of ponds, or a flowing stream, according to the seasons, between the plains on the left bank of the Darling, and the rising grounds further to the eastward: but instead of crossing the plains to join the main channel this supposed tributary, after approaching within one or two miles of the Darling where its plains were narrow, again receded from it as they widened, and finally disappeared to the left where the plains were broad, so that its junction with the Darling has not even yet been discovered. On this principle the channel of the Lachlan, as soon as it enters the plains belonging to the basin of the Murrumbidgee, may be sought for on the northern skirts of these plains, although its floods may have been found to spread in different channels more directly towards the main stream.
At 12 1/4 miles we crossed a dry and shallow branch of the river, and at 14 1/2 miles we at length reached the main channel, and encamped where a considerable pond of water remained in it, surrounded by abundance of good grass. In this hole we caught some cod-perch (Gristes peelii).
April 12.
I sent back three men with two horses to bring on the light cart of Mr. Stapylton, intending to await its arrival (which I expected would be in five days) at the end of this day's journey. It was my object to encamp as near as possible to Regent's Lake without diverging from the route which I wished to follow with the carts, along the bank of the Lachlan.
WANT OF WATER IN THE RIVER.
For this purpose it was desirable to gain a bend of that river at least as far west as the most western portion of the lake, according to Mr. Oxley's survey. This distance we accomplished and more; for we were obliged to proceed several miles further than I intended, and along the bank of the river, because no water remained in its bed, until Mr. Stapylton found a good pond where we encamped after a journey of 16 1/4 miles. Notwithstanding such an alarming want of water in the river, we saw during this day's journey abundance in hollows on the surface of the plains; a circumstance clearly evincing that this river, as Mr. Oxley has truly stated, is not at all dependent for its supply on the rains falling here. The deep cracks on the plains, so abundant as to impede the traveller, seemed capable of absorbing not only the water which falls upon them, but also any which may descend from the low hills around. During our day's journey I found grey porphyry, the base consisting apparently of granular felspar with embedded crystals of common felspar and grains of hornblende.
April 13.
The night had been unusually warm, so much so that the thermometer stood during the whole of it at 76 degrees (the usual noonday heat) and so parching was the air that no one could sleep. A hot wind blew from the north-east in the morning, and the barometer fell 4/10 of an inch; there were also slight showers.
CUDJALLAGONG OR REGENT'S LAKE.
Leaving Mr. Stapylton in charge of the camp I went with a small mounted party to Cudjallagong (Regent's lake) which I found to be nine miles to the east-south-east of our tents. We passed by the place where Cudjallagong creek first leaves the river and by which this lake is supplied.
NEARLY DRY.
The uniformity of breadth and width in this streamlet and its tortuous course were curious, especially as it must lead the floods of the Lachlan almost directly back from the general direction of their current to supply a lake. Thus the fluviatile process seemed to be reversed here, the tendency of this river being not to carry surface waters off, but rather to spread over land where none could otherwise be found, those brought from a great distance. The particular position of this portion of depressed surface being so far distant from the general course of the river and the communication between it and the river by a backwater so shallow and small, the lake can only receive a small share of the river deposits and this only from the waters of its highest floods. We found the "noble lake" (as it appeared when discovered by Mr. Oxley) now for the most part a plain covered with luxuriant grass; some water, it is true, lodged on the most eastern extremity, but nowhere to a greater depth than a foot. Innumerable ducks took refuge there and also a great number of black swans and pelicans, the last standing high upon their legs above the remains of Regent's lake. We found the water perfectly sweet even in this shallow state. It abounds with the large freshwater mussel which was the chief food of the natives at the time we visited it.
DEAD TREES IN IT.
On its northern margin and a good way within the former boundary of the lake stood dead trees of a full-grown size which had been apparently killed by too much water, plainly showing, like the trees similarly situated in Lake George and Lake Bathurst, to what long periods the extremes of drought and moisture have extended, and may again extend, in this singular country.
ROCKS NEAR IT.
That the lake is sometimes a splendid sheet of water was obvious in its line of shores. These were overhung on the south-western side by rocky eminences which in some parts consisted of a red calcareous tuff containing fragments of schist; in others, of trap-rock or basalt which was very hard and black. The opposite shore was lower, with water-worn cliffs of reddish clay. By these cliffs and the beaches of drifted sand under them, we perceived that the prevailing winds in all times of high flood came from the south-west; the north-east side being very different from the opposite, which was free from sand and bore no such marks of chaffing waves.
TRAP AND TUFF.
At two places the banks are so low that in high floods the water must flow over them to the westward and supply, as I supposed, Campbell's lake, called Goorongully, and that to the north-east of Regent's lake. Upon the whole it appeared that the trap which originally elevated the western shore had either partially subsided, or that it was connected with a crater or cavity of which the only vestige is this lake. The calcareous conglomerate was unlike any rock I had seen elsewhere, consisting in part of a tuff resembling the matrix of the fossil bones found in limestone fissures. It is also worthy of notice that it appears in some low undulations which extend from the lake to the river, and that the channel conveying the waters to the lake lies in a hollow between them.
NATIVES THERE.
On first approaching the lake we saw the natives in the midst of the water, gathering the mussels (unio). I sent Piper forward to tell them who we were, and thus, if possible, prevent any alarm at our appearance. It began to rain heavily as we rode round; and although detached parties of gins on the south shore had taken fright, left their huts and run to the main camp, I was glad to find, when we rode up, that they remained quietly there, under cover from the heavy rain. These huts or gunyas consisted of a few green boughs which had just been put up for shelter from the rain then falling. The tribe consisted of about a hundred.
WOMEN.
The females and children were in huts at some distance from those of the men. A great number sat huddled together and cowered down under each gunya, their skinny limbs being so folded before their bodies that the head rested upon the knees. Among the faces were some which, being hideously painted white (the usual badge of mourning) grinned horribly; and the whole was so characteristic a specimen of life among the aborigines that the heavy rain did not prevent me from making a sketch. While I was thus employed the natives very hospitably made a fire in a vacant gunya, evidently for the purpose of warming poor Barney, our guide, who seemed miserably cold, having no covering except a jacket, thoroughly wet.
MEN.
The men were in general strong, healthy, and muscular, and among them was one who measured six feet four inches, as we afterwards ascertained at our camp. My chief object in visiting the lake was to cultivate a good understanding with these natives in the hopes that one of them might be induced to accompany me down the Lachlan. The facility with which Piper, then at a distance of 200 miles from his native place, Bathurst, conversed with these people showed that their dialects are not so varied as is commonly believed; and I had little doubt that he would be understood, even on the banks of the Darling.
THEIR ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY LOWER DOWN. OOLAWAMBILOA.
He ascertained from one of these natives of Regent's lake that after eight of our daily journeys, according to his comprehension, the bed of the Lachlan would contain no water, and that we must go to the right across "the middle," as Piper understood, reaching in four days more a lagoon called Burrabidgin or Burrabadimba: that there I must leave the carts and go with the native on horseback; and that in two days' travelling at the rate we could then proceed, we should reach Oolawambiloa, a very great water. They also said that water could be found in the bush at the end of each of those four days' journey by one of their tribe who would go with us and who had twice been at the great water. All this news made me impatient to go on; but we had to remain a day or two for the light cart. It rained heavily during the whole afternoon; nevertheless a body of these natives accompanied us back, keeping pace with our horses.
GAIETY OF THE NATIVES.
Each carried a burning torch of the resinous bark of the callitris, with the blaze of which these natives seemed to keep their dripping bodies warm, laughing heartily and passing their jokes upon us, our horses and particularly upon our two guides of their own race, Piper and Barney, who seemed anything but at home on horseback with wet clothes dripping about them.
COLOUR LIGHT.
These natives were of a bright copper colour, so different from black that one had painted his thighs with black chequered lines which made his skin very much resemble the dress of a harlequin.
MR. STAPYLTON SURVEYS THE LAKE.
Mr. Stapylton proceeded with a party to make a survey of Cudjallagong lake and creek, an operation which could be accomplished with less inconvenience as that gentleman's equipment could not come up to us until the 16th.
CAMPBELL'S LAKE.
He extended his survey to the small lake to the north-east, the first discovered by Mr. Oxley and named by him Campbell's lake. Mr. Stapylton found only a grassy plain without a drop of water. By an opening from Cudjallagong lake he proceeded to another likewise seen by Mr. Oxley. It had also become a verdant plain, nevertheless I thought it was necessary to distinguish it on my map by its native name of Goorongully, as Mr. Oxley had not supplied any to it.
April 15.
The sky had continued overcast although no rain fell after the evening of the 13th. This day however the wind changed from north-west to west and the sky became clear.
PIPER OBTAINS A GIN.
The surveying party returned from the lake by midday; and with it came also Piper, my aboriginal interpreter, who had gone there chiefly with the view of obtaining a gin, a speculation which I thought rather hazardous on his part; yet, strange to say, a good strong woman marched behind him into our camp, loaded with a new opossum-skin cloak, and various presents, that had been given to Piper with her. How he contrived to settle this important matter with a tribe to whom he was an utter stranger could not be ascertained; for he left our party on the lake by night, going quite alone to the natives, and returned from their camp in the morning followed by his gin. To obtain a gin at Cudjallagong was the great ambition of most of the natives we had left behind, among whom were two, friends of Piper, whom I compelled to return, and who were most anxious to accompany us that they might obtain wives at this place.
ASCEND GOULBURN RANGE.
April 16.
The morning was beautifully clear and I set out for the summit of Goulburn range, named Yerrarar, fourteen miles distant from the camp. The country we rode over was so thinly wooded that the hill was visible nearly the whole way. The soil was good and firmer than the common surface of the plains, the basis being evidently different, consisting rather of trap than of the sandstone so prevalent elsewhere. At exactly halfway we passed a hill of trap-rock, connected with a low range extending towards still higher ground nearer Regent's lake, on the eastern side. This was the first trap-rock I had seen besides that of the lake during our whole journey down the Lachlan.
VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.
On the summit I found hornstone and granular felspar. The whole of Goulburn range consisted also of the same rock. It was rather light-coloured, partially decomposed, and lay in rounded nodules and boulders which formed however ridges across the slopes of the ground, tending in general 12 or 14 degrees East of North. The hills were everywhere rocky, so that the ascent cost us nearly an hour, and we were forced to lead our horses; but it was well worth the pains for the summit afforded a very extensive prospect. The most interesting feature in the country was Regent's lake which, although fifteen miles distant, seemed at our feet, reflecting like a mirror the trees on its margin; and on the other side we looked into the unknown west, where the horizon seemed as level as the ocean. In vain I examined it with a powerful telescope, in search of some remote pic; only a level and thinly wooded country extended beyond the reach even of telescopic vision.
With the spirit-level of my theodolite I found that the most depressed part extended about due west by compass, a circumstance which first made me imagine the Lachlan might have some channel in that direction.
WARRANARY.
Of the Mount Granard range I could see and intersect only that remarkable cape-like point which was also the high land visible to the westward from Mount Granard itself, being named Warranary by Barney. Closer to the summit on which I stood were various ranges besides that of which it was the highest point, but even this was not, strictly speaking, a range, for it consisted on the southward of different masses, separated by portions of low, level country.
A NEW CORREA.
I recognised many of my stations, such as Mount Cunningham, Bolloon, Hurd's Pic, Mount Granard, etc. and having taken all the angles I could with the theodolite, and gathered some specimens of a curious new correa,* and a few bulbs of a pink-coloured amaryllis which grew on the summit,** we descended and, just as it became quite dark, reached the camp where I found that the men had arrived with Mr. Stapylton's light cart, although his own horse, having strayed at Cordowe, did not accompany it.
(*Footnote. Resembling C. rupicola of Cunningham, but with larger and shorter flowers, and differently shaped leaves. Young shoots were covered with a white down which easily rubbed off. C. leucoclada, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis albo-tomentosis gracilibus, foliis ovato-oblongis obtusissimis petiolatis supra glabris scabriusculis subtus tomentosis, floribus subsessilibus, corolla campanulata quadrifida, calyce cupulari truncato.)
(**Footnote. Calostemma carneum, Lindley manuscripts; foliis...tubo perianthii limbo subaequali, corona truncata dentibus sterilibus nullis, umbellis densis, pedicellis articulatis exterioribus longioribus. Flowers pink.)
North arm of the Lachlan.Quawys.Wallangome.Wild cattle.Ascend Moriattu.Leave the Lachlan to travel westward.No water.Natives from Warranary.Course down the Lachlan resumed.Extensive ride to the westward.Night without water.Continue westward, and south-west.Sandhills.Atriplex.Deep cracks in the earth.Search for the Lachlan.Cross various dry channels.Graves.Second night without water.Native tumulus.Reedy swamp with dead trees.Route of Mr. Oxley.Dry bed of the Lachlan.Find at length a large pool.Food of the natives discovered.Horses knock up.Scenery on the Lachlan.Character of the different kinds of trees.Return to the party.Dead body found in the water.Ascend Burradorgang.A rainy night without shelter.A new guide.Native dog.Branches of the Lachlan.A native camp.Children.A widow joins the party as guide.Horse killed.The Balyan root.How gathered.Reach the united channel of the Lachlan.No water.Natives' account of the rivers lower down.Mr. Oxley's lowest camp on the Lachlan.Slow growth of trees.A tribe of natives come to us.Mr. Oxley's bottle.Waljeers Lake.Trigonella suavissima.Barney in disgrace.A family of natives from the Murrumbidgee.Inconvenient formality of natives meeting.Rich tints on the surface.Improved appearance of the river.Inhabited tomb.Dead trees among the reeds.Visit some rising ground.View northward.Difficulties in finding either of the rivers or any water.Search for the Murrumbidgee.A night without water.Heavy fall of rain.Two men missing.Reach the Murrumbidgee.Natives on the opposite bank.They swim across.Afraid of the sheep.Their reports about the junction of the Darling.Search up the river for junction of Lachlan.Course of the Murrumbidgee.Tribe from Cudjallagong visits the camp in my absence.Caught following my steps.Piper questions them.
NORTH ARM OF THE LACHLAN.
April 17.
We proceeded along the right bank of the Lachlan, crossing at five miles a small arm or ana-branch* which had been seen higher up diverging from the river, and flowing towards the north-west by Mr. Oxley. The local name of it is Yamorrima. Beyond this watercourse Cannil plains extend and were more grassy than plains in general. I observed a small ridge of trap-rock near the river. We crossed soon after the base of Mount Torrens, also a hill of trap; and a continuation on this bank of the Lachlan of the Goulburn range. Mount Torrens is however only an elongated hill. The trap-rock reappears in some lower hills further northward, of which Mount Davison is the highest and most eastern.
(*Footnote. See Footnote below.)
QUAWYS.
Beyond Mount Torrens we entered the region which lies to the westward of the Macquarie range, and found several new plants, especially a very pretty Xerotes, with sweetly perfumed flowers, being a good deal like X. leucocephala, but with the leaves filamentous at the edges, and the male spikes interrupted.* We encamped on a deep pond at a bend of the Lachlan named Gonniguldury. I learnt from the old native guide who accompanied us from Regent's lake that they call those ponds of a river which never dry up quawy, a word which proved to be of use to us in descending the Lachlan. At this camp I found, by a careful observation of alpha and beta Centauri, that the magnetic variation was 8 degrees 56 minutes 15 seconds East.
(*Footnote. X. typhina, Lindley manuscripts; acaulis, foliis longissimis angusto-linearibus margine laevibus filamentosis basi laceris, capitulis omnibus cylindraceis lanatis foemincis simplicibus masculis interruptis.)
WALLANGOME.
April 18.
We continued along the riverbank passing quawys of various names as they were pointed out by our guide. We crossed the skirt of an extensive plain (Eeoappa) which brought in view just ahead of us a low ridge named Wallangome. At 8 1/2 miles we found the river close under the southern extremity of this hill, and its rocks so obstructed our passage that we were delayed an hour in clearing a way. I ascended that point nearest the river and determined its position by taking angles on various heights already laid down in my map such as Granard, Yarrarar, Mount Torrens, etc. The hill itself consisted chiefly of quartz rock, but at its base were water-worn blocks of quartzose sandstone containing pebbles of quartz, and they seemed to be the principal rock in the bed of the Lachlan.
As we proceeded a low rocky ridge or extremity from Wallangome extended upwards of a mile along the river. Soon after we had passed a bend called Taralago we crossed the southern limits of a plain of which the local name is Nyaindurry, being bounded on the north-west by an isolated hill named Moriattu. After passing successively two similar points of the river we reached that of Gooda, where we encamped, the latitude observed being 33 degrees 23 minutes 3 seconds South.
WILD CATTLE.
Mr. Stapylton, with overseer Burnett and the natives, had gone forward early in the morning towards the hills near this place in pursuit of wild cattle, which were said to abound near it. The tracks we perceived were old, and although the other party had found many that were newer they returned without having seen any of these wild animals. It appeared that a herd of such cattle had got together about Macquarie's range, then only a short way ahead of us, and I saw no objections to the overseer's killing one or two, as he wished to do, in order that we might feed our native guides without drawing so largely as we were otherwise compelled to do on our own stock of provisions. This was a fortunate day for us in regard to plants. Besides several curious kinds of grass,* a splendid blue Brunonia was found on Wallangome. Its colour surpassed any azure I had ever seen in flowers, the tinge being rather deeper than that of the turquoise. We also obtained the seed so that I hoped this plant, which seemed hardy enough, might become a pleasing addition to our horticultural treasures.
The flowers are nature's jewels.**
(*Footnote. Lappago racemosa, W. and Aristida ramosa, R. Br.)
(**Footnote. Croly's Gems.)
The pink lily* was also found, as on Yerrarar, amongst rocks, but growing in rich red soil. We gathered a number of the bulbs, being very desirous to propagate this plant, which differs from the common white amaryllis and others belonging to the plains not only in colour, but also in the absence from their corona of intermediate teeth. We again found here the new Xerotes, having the flower in five or six round tufts on the blade. The flowered blades drooped around, radiating from the centre, while those without flowers stood upright, giving to the whole an uncommon appearance; the flower had a very pleasant perfume.
ASCEND MORIATTU.
April 19.
Mr. Stapylton conducted the party forward while I went to the summit of Moriattu with the theodolite. Thence I saw Mount Granard, Yerrarar, and Mount Torrens, also the various points which I had intersected from Wallangome. A level plain appeared to extend southward in the midst of the groups of ridges composing Macquarie and Peel's ranges. Coccaparra, a range very abrupt on the eastern side, appeared to be Macquarie's range of Oxley, and an elevated extremity of it, near the river, I took to be Mount Porteous, and of which the local name is Willin.* To the northward the most remarkable feature was a line of plains similar to those beside the main channel of the river, and they appeared to border a branch from it, which extended in a western direction under the base of a small hill named Murrangong, and far beyond it. The hill on which I stood was the most perfectly isolated that I had ever seen, low level ground surrounding it on every side. It consisted of a variety of the same quartz rock as Wallangome, but contained pebbles of laminated compact felspar. This hill was abrupt and rocky on the west and north-west sides, the best ascent being from the south-east.
(*Footnote. Willi, an opossum)
We overtook the party after it had crossed some extensive plains, where we observed a species of solanum, the berries of which our native guides gathered and ate.* Overseer Burnett made another search this day on Coccaparra range for the wild bullocks; the party fell in with a herd but it kept at a great distance and got off into scrubs. Their bedding places and paths were numerous, and it thus appeared that the number of these animals was considerable. We gathered on Coccaparra and Mount Porteous several bulbous plants of a species quite new to me, the root being very large. There also we found a remarkable acacia, having long upright needle-like leaves among which a few small tufts of yellow flowers were sparingly scattered.** We encamped on a pond of the river named Burrabadimba, after travelling fifteen miles.
(*Footnote. S. esuriale, Lindley manuscripts; caule humili suffruticoso, aculcis subulatis tenuibus in apice ramulorum et costa, foliis lineari-oblongis obtusis subrepandis utrinque cinereis stellato-pilosis, pedunculis subtrifloris, calycibus campanulatis pentagonis 5-dentatis stellato-pilosis corollis tomentosis multo brevioribus.)
(**Footnote. This proved to be the rare A. quadrilateralis of De Candolle.)
LEAVE THE LACHLAN TO TRAVEL WESTWARD.
April 20.
After proceeding some miles on this day's journey our Cudjallagong guide pointed in a west-north-west direction as the way to Oolawambiloa. Leaving therefore the Kalare or Lachlan, near a great bend in its general course which below this (according to Mr. Oxley's map) was south-west, we followed the route proposed by my native friend as it was precisely in the direction by which I wished to approach the Darling. The universal scarcity of water had however deprived me of every hope that any could be found in that country, at a season when we often sought it in vain, even in the bed of one of the large rivers of the country. Our guide however knew the nature of our wants, and also that of the country, and I eagerly followed him towards a hill, the most distant and most westerly on the northern horizon.
NO WATER.
At sunset we halted full twenty miles short of that hill, beside the bed of a small river, resembling in capacity and the nature of its banks that of the Bogan; but to the manifest consternation of our guide we could find no water in it, although some ponds had been only recently dried up. This watercourse, he informed me, was the same which I had seen passing by Murrangong, but he said it did not return its waters to the Lachlan, a circumstance which I could not understand. Booraran was the name he gave it. He went with some of our people in the dark and found a few quarts of water two miles beyond it, but our cattle were obliged to pass the night without any. The barometer had been falling for several days and the wind arising suddenly at 9 P.M. brought a misty mass of cloud which began most providentially to drop upon us, to the great relief of our thirsty cattle. This day we found on the plains a new species of Sida with small yellow flowers, very fragrant, and on a long stalk.* In the woods I observed a eucalyptus of a graceful drooping character, apparently related to E. pilularis and amygdalina.
(*Footnote. S. fibulifera, Lindley manuscripts; incano-tomentosa, pusilla, diffusa, foliis ovato-oblongis obtusis dentatis basi cordatis, stipulis longissimis setaceis, pedunculis axillaribus aggregatis filiformibus petiolis longioribus, calycibus lanatis corolla parum brevioribus, fructu disciformi convexo tomentoso, coccis monospermis.)
NATIVES FROM WARRANARY.
April 21.
A rainy morning. Some strange natives approached from the woods while I was looking at the country beyond the dry channel, in the direction in which our guide still wished us to proceed (about west-north-west). They were grave and important-looking old men, and each carried a light. They called out to me in a serious tone "Weeri kally," words which I too well understood, meaning simply no water. I took my guide to them, but he still seemed in doubt about the scarcity.
COURSE DOWN THE LACHLAN RESUMED.
It was necessary not to depend on uncertainties on such a point, and I therefore lost no time in shaping our course again towards the nearest bend of the Lachlan, which we reached after travelling nine miles in the rain, and we encamped beside a pond or quawy named Buree. I considered this day's journey to be the first deviation from the most direct line of route towards that part of the Darling where my last journey terminated. It was evident that in common seasons the country I wished to traverse was not without water, our guide having suggested it as the way to Oolawambiloa (a name always referring to a great abundance of water). I considered it necessary now to ascertain, if possible, and before the heavy part of our equipment moved further, whether the Lachlan actually joined the Murrumbidgee near the point where Mr. Oxley saw its waters covering the country; or whether it pursued a course so much more to the westward as to have been taken for the Darling by Captain Sturt. Near the Lachlan at this place the Anthericum bulbosum occurred in abundance, and the cattle seemed to eat it with avidity.
On the bank of the river a new species of rosella appeared amongst the birds, and several were shot and preserved as specimens.
EXTENSIVE RIDE TO THE WESTWARD.
April 22.
I proceeded westward accompanied by five men and an aboriginal guide, all mounted on horseback. My object was to obtain, if possible, some knowledge of the final course of the Lachlan; and secondly to ascertain how far the hills to the north-west of our camp ranged beyond that very remarkable feature, resembling a cape or promontory and named Warranary, which marked the extent of our sight and knowledge at that time. This point was in a direct line between the camp we then occupied on the Lachlan and the lowest part of the Darling attained during the former journey, and we had just fallen back from want of water; a circumstance likely to compel me to follow the Lachlan downwards, at least if it could be ascertained thus early that this river could not possibly be the supposed Darling of Sturt. In case it proved otherwise I thought it not improbable that, at the end of two days' journey westward, I might fall in with the Lachlan, and if I could find water in it at such a point under any circumstances, I considered that a position so much advanced would be equally favourable, either for reaching the junction of the Murray or the upper Darling. Should I succeed in reaching the Lachlan at about sixty miles west of my camp I might be satisfied that it was this river which Captain Sturt took for the Darling, and then I might seek that river by crossing the range on the north. Whereas, should I find sufficient reason to believe that the Darling would join the Murray, I might continue my journey down the Lachlan until I reduced the distance across to the Darling as much as the scarcity of water might render necessary.
We traversed fine plains of greater extent than I had ever seen before, and in general of more tenacious surface. They were in many parts covered with salsolaceous plants, but I found also a kind of grass which I had not previously noticed; and a curious woolly plant with two-spined fruit, belonging to the genus Sclerolaena of Brown.* I looked in vain however for the continuation of the range to the northward. The cape before-mentioned first rose to a considerable height over the horizon, but as we proceeded it sunk so as to be just visible behind us, bearing at the point where we lay down for the night 31 degrees East of North. The continuation of the range, as we now saw, receded to the north-west; so that the horizon of these plains continued unbroken save by the cape-like point of Warranary.
(*Footnote. S. bicornis, Lindley manuscripts; caule lanato ramoso, foliis linearibus succulentis glabris, calycibus solitariis bispinosis lana alba involutis.)
A flight of the cockatoo of the interior, with scarlet and yellow top-knot, passed over our heads from the north-west.