PLATE 25: PIPER WATCHING THE CART AT BENANEE.Major T.L. Mitchell del. Waldeck Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
PLATE 25: PIPER WATCHING THE CART AT BENANEE.Major T.L. Mitchell del. Waldeck Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
PLATE 25: PIPER WATCHING THE CART AT BENANEE.Major T.L. Mitchell del. Waldeck Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
In the group before me were pointed out two daughters of the gin which had been killed, also a little boy, a son. The girls exactly resembled each other and reminded me of the mother. The youngest was the handsomest female I had ever seen amongst the natives. She was so far from black that the red colour was very apparent in her cheeks. She sat before me in a corner of the group, nearly in the attitude of Mr. Bailey's fine statue of Eve at the fountain; and apparently equally unconscious that she was naked. As I looked upon her for a moment, while deeply regretting the fate of her mother, the chief who stood by, and whose hand had more than once been laid upon my cap, as if to feel whether it were proof against the blow of a waddy, begged me to accept her in exchange for a tomahawk!
HARASSING NIGHT IN THEIR PRESENCE.
The evening was one of much anxiety to the whole party. The fiendish expression of some of these men's eyes shone horribly, and especially when they endeavoured to disguise it by treacherous smiles. I did not see the tall man nor the mischievous old one of last year; but there were here many disposed to act like them. One miserable-looking dirty aged man was brought forward, and particularly pointed out to me by the tribe. I accordingly showed him the usual attention of sitting down and smoothing the ground for him.* But he soon requested me to strip, on which I arose, mindful of a former vow, and perceiving the blacksmith washing himself, I called him up and pointed out the muscles of his arm to the curious sage. The successor and brother, as the natives stated, of king Peter, was also looking on, and I made Vulcan put himself into a sparring attitude and tip him a touch or two, which made him fall back one or two paces, and look half angry. We distinctly recognised the man who last year threw the two spears at Muirhead; while on their part they evidently knew again Charles King who, on that occasion, fired at the native from whose spears Tom Jones so narrowly escaped.
(*Footnote. Instead of handing a chair the equivalent of politeness with Australian natives is to smooth down or remove with the foot any sharp spikes or rubbish on the ground where you wish your friend to be seated before you.)
Night had closed in and these groups hung still about us, having also lighted up five large fires which formed a cordon around our camp. Still I did not interfere with them, relying chiefly on the sagacity and vigilance of Piper whom I directed to be particularly on the alert. At length Burnett came to inform me that they had sent away all their gins, that there was no keeping them from the carts, and that they seemed bent on mischief.
PIPER ALARMED.
Piper also took alarm and came to me inquiring, apparently with a thoughtful sense of responsibility, what the Governor had said to me about shooting blackfellows. "These," he continued, "are only Myalls" (wild natives). His gin had overheard them arranging that three should seize and strip him, while others attacked the tents. I told him the Governor had said positively that I was not to shoot blackfellows unless our own lives were in danger. I then went out--it was about eight o'clock--and I saw one fellow, who had always been very forward, posted behind our carts and speaking to Piper's wife.
ROCKETS FIRED TO SCARE THEM AWAY.
I ordered him away, then drew up the men in line and when, as preconcerted, I sent up a rocket and the men gave three cheers, all the blacks ran off, with the exception of one old man who lingered behind a tree. They hailed us afterwards from the wood at a little distance where they made fires, saying they were preparing to corrobory and inviting us to be present. Piper told them to go on, and we heard something like a beginning to the dance, but the hollow sounds they made resembled groans more than any sort of music, and we saw that they did not, in fact, proceed with the dance. It was necessary to establish a double watch that night and indeed none of the men would take their clothes off. The most favourable alternative that we could venture to hope for was that a collision might be avoided till daylight.
THEY AGAIN ADVANCE IN THE MORNING.
May 25.
The night passed without further molestation on the part of the natives; but soon after daybreak they were seen advancing towards our camp. The foremost was a powerful fellow in a cloak, to whom I had been introduced by king Peter last year, and who was said to be his brother. Abreast of him, but much more to the right, two of the old men, who had reached a fallen tree near the tents, were busy setting fire to the withering branches. Those who were further back seemed equally alert in setting fire to the bush and, the wind coming from that quarter, we were likely soon to be enveloped in smoke. I was then willing that the barbarians should come again up, and anxious to act on the defensive as long as possible; but when I saw what the old men were about I went into my tent for my rifle and ordered all the men under arms. The old rascals, with the sagacity of foxes, instantly observed and understood this movement and retired.
MEN ADVANCE TOWARDS THEM HOLDING UP THEIR FIREARMS.
I then ordered eight men to advance towards the native camp, and to hold up their muskets as if to show them to the natives, but not to fire unless attacked, and to return at the sound of the bugle.
THEY RETIRE, AND WE CONTINUE OUR JOURNEY.
The savages took to their heels before these men who, following the fugitives, disappeared for a time in the woods but returned at the bugle call. This move, which I intended as a threat and as a warning that they should not follow us, had at least the effect of giving us time to breakfast, as Muirhead observed on coming back to the camp.
AGAIN FOLLOWED BY THE NATIVES. DANGER OF THE PARTY.
We afterwards moved forward on our journey as usual; but we had scarcely proceeded a mile before we heard the savages in our rear and, on my regaining the Murray, which we reached at about three miles, they were already on the bank of that river, a little way above where we had come upon it and consequently as we proceeded along its bank they were behind us. They kept at a considerable distance; but I perceived through my glass that the fellow with the cloak carried a heavy bundle of spears before him.
He comes, not in peace, O Cairbar: For I have seen his forward spear. Ossian.
LONG MARCH THROUGH A SCRUBBY COUNTRY.
We were then upon a sloping bank or berg,* which was covered backwards with thick scrub; below it lay a broad reach of still water in an old channel of the river and which I, for some time, took to be the river itself. It was most painfully alarming to discover that the knowledge these savages had acquired of the nature of our arms, by the loss of several lives last year, did not deter them from following us now with the most hostile intentions.
(*Footnote. See above.)
DISMAL PROSPECT.
We had endeavoured to prevent them, by the demonstration of sending the men advancing with firearms, yet they still persisted; and Piper had gathered from them that a portion of their tribe was still before us. Our route lay along the bank of a river, peopled by other powerful tribes; and at the end of 200 miles we could only hope to reach the spot where the party already following in our rear had commenced the most unprovoked hostility last season. I had then thought it unsafe to divide my party, it was already divided now, and the cunning foe was between the two portions; a more desperate situation therefore than this half of my party was then in can scarcely be imagined. To attempt to conciliate these people had last year proved hopeless. Our gifts had only excited their cupidity, and our uncommon forbearance had only inspired them with a poor opinion of our courage; while their meeting us in this place was a proof that the effect of our arms had not been sufficient to convince them of our superior strength. A drawn battle was out of the question, but I was assured by Piper and the other young natives that we should soon lose some of the men in charge of the cattle. Those faithful fellows, on whose courage my own safety depended--some of them having already but narrowly escaped the spears of these very savages on the former journey. We soon discovered that the piece of water was not the river, by seeing the barbarians passing along the other side of it; and I thereupon determined to travel on as far as I could. The river taking a great sweep to the southward, we proceeded some miles through an open forest of box or goborro; and when I at length met with sandhills and the Eucalyptus dumosa I continued to travel westward, not doubting but that I should reach the Murray by pursuing that course. We looked in vain however during the whole day for its lofty trees, and in fact crossed one of the most barren regions in the world.
NIGHT WITHOUT WATER OR GRASS.
Not a spike of grass could be seen and the soil, a loose red sand, was in most places covered with a scrub like a thick-set hedge of Eucalyptus dumosa. Many a tree was ascended by Burnett, but nothing was to be seen on any side different to what we found where we were. We travelled from an early hour in the morning until darkness and a storm appeared to be simultaneously drawing over us. I then hastened to the top of a small sandhill to ascertain whether there was any adjacent open space where even our tents might be pitched, and I cannot easily describe the dreariness of the prospect that hill afforded. No signs of the river were visible unless it might be near a few trees which resembled the masts of distant ships on a dark and troubled sea; and equally hazardous now was this land navigation, from our uncertainty as to the situation of the river on which our finding water depended, and the certainty that, wherever it was, there were our foes before us, exulting perhaps in the thought that we were seeking to avoid them in this vile scrub. On all sides the flat and barren waste blended imperceptibly with a sky as dismal and ominous as ever closed in darkness. One bleak and sterile spot hard by afforded ample room for our camp; but the cattle had neither water nor any grass that night.
HEAVY RAIN.
A heavy squall set in and such torrents of rain descended as to supply the men with water enough; and indeed this was not the only occasion during the journey when we had been providentially supplied under similar circumstances.
May 26.
It appeared that we had not, even in that desert, escaped the vigilance of the natives, for Piper discovered, within three hundred yards of our camp, the track of two who, having been there on the preceding evening, had that morning returned towards the river. At an early hour we yoked up our groaning cattle and proceeded, although the rain continued for some time. I pursued by compass the bearing of the high trees I had seen, though they were somewhat to the northward of west.
AGAIN MAKE THE MURRAY.
Exactly at five miles a green bank and, immediately after, the broad expanse of the Murray, with luxuriantly verdant margins, came suddenly in view on the horizon of the barren bush in which we had travelled upwards of twenty-three miles, and which here approached the lofty bank of the river. The green hill I had first seen afforded an excellent position for our camp; and as the grass was good I halted for the rest of the day to refresh the cattle.
STRANGE NATIVES VISIT THE CAMP AT DUSK.
Towards evening the natives were heard advancing along our track, and seven came near the camp but remained on the river margin below, which from our post on the hill we completely overlooked. Piper went to these natives to ascertain if they were our enemies from the lake. He recognised several whom he had seen there, and he invited them to come up the hill; but when I saw them I could not, from their apparently candid discourse, look upon them as enemies. They said that the tribe which we had seen at Benanee did not belong to that part of the country, but had come there to fight us, on hearing of our approach. One of them, who had been seen at the lake, asked Piper several times why I did not attack them when I had so good an opportunity, and he informed us that they were the same tribe which intended to kill another white man (Captain Sturt) in a canoe, at the junction of the rivers lower down. They also informed us, on the inquiry being made, that the old man who then behaved so well to the white men was lately dead, and that he had been much esteemed by his tribe. I desired Piper to express to them how much we white men respected him also. I afterwards handed to these people a fire-stick and, pointing to the flat below, gave them to understand, through Piper, that the tribe at Benanee had behaved so ill and riotously about our camp that I could not allow any natives to sit down beside us at night.
New and remarkable shrub.Darling tribe again.Their dispersion by the party.Cross a tract intersected by deep lagoons.Huts over tombs.Another division of the Darling tribe.Barren sands and the Eucalyptus dumosa.Plants which grow on the sand and bind it down.Fish caught.Aspect of the country to the northward.Strange natives from beyond the Murray.They decamp during the night.Reach the Darling and surprise a numerous tribe of natives.Piper and his gin explain.Search for the junction with the Murray.Return by night.Followed by the natives.Horses take fright.Break loose and run back.Narrow escape of some men from natives.Failure of their intended attack.Different modes of interment.Reduced appearance of the Darling.Desert character of the country.Rainy morning.Return of the party.Surprise the females of the tribe.Junction of the Darling and Murray.Effect of alternate floods there.
NEW AND REMARKABLE SHRUB.
May 27.
In the scrub adjoining our camp we found a new and remarkably beautiful shrub bearing a fruit, the stone of which was very similar to that of the quandang (Fusanus acuminatus) although there was no resemblance either in the form of the tree or of the flower. This shrub was not unlike the weeping willow in its growth, and the fruit, which grew at the extremities of the drooping branches, had the shape of a pear and a black ring at the broad end. The crop then on the tree was unripe, and was probably a second one; the flower was also budding, and we hoped to see the full blossom on our return. Only three or four of these trees were seen, and they were all on the hill near our encampment. Here likewise grew a new shrubby species of Xerotes, with hard rush-like leaves, but allied to X. gracilis.*
(*Footnote. X. effusa, Lindley manuscripts; acaulis, foliis linearibus longissimis semiteretibus margine scabris dorso striatis: apice dentato tabescente, panicula mascula effusa abbreviata, bracteis acuminatis scariosis pedicello brevioribus.)
A NEW SHRUB, THE Eucarya murrayana (MIHI) AND YOUNG FRUIT.
A NEW SHRUB, THE Eucarya murrayana (MIHI) AND YOUNG FRUIT.
A NEW SHRUB, THE Eucarya murrayana (MIHI) AND YOUNG FRUIT.
DARLING TRIBE AGAIN.
We proceeded on our journey as usual, but had not gone far when we heard the voices of a vast body of blacks following our track, shouting prodigiously, and raising war cries. It now became necessary for me to determine whether I was to allow the party under my charge to be perpetually subject to be cut off in detail by waiting until these natives had again actually attacked and slain some of my people, or whether it was not my duty, in a war which not my party, but these savages, had virtually commenced, to anticipate the intended blow. I was at length convinced that, unless I could check their progress in our rear and prevent them from following us so closely, the party would be in danger of being compelled to fight its way back against the whole savage population, who would be assembled at that season of drought on the banks of the large rivers. But in order to ascertain first whether this was the hostile tribe I sent overseer Burnett with Piper and half the party into the scrub which skirted our line of route. We were travelling along the berg or outer bank of the river, a feature which not only afforded the best defensive position but also guided me in tracing the river's course. It was also in many parts the only ground clear of timber or bushes and therefore the best for travelling upon. I directed the men to allow the tribes to pass along our track towards me, as I intended to halt with the carts after crossing the low hill. Piper recognised from this scrub the same people he had seen at Benanee.
DISPERSION OF THE DARLING TRIBE BY THE PARTY.
The natives however having immediately discovered our ambuscade by the howling of one of their dogs, halted and poised their spears; but a man of our party (King) inconsiderately discharging his carabine, they fled as usual to their citadel, the river, pursued and fired upon by the party from the scrub. The firing had no sooner commenced than I perceived from the top of the hill which I ascended some of the blacks, who appeared to be a very numerous tribe, swimming across the Murray. I was not then aware what accidental provocation had brought on this attack without my orders, but it was not the time to inquire; for the men who were with me, as soon as they heard the shots of their comrades and saw me ascend the hill, ran furiously down the steep bank to the river, not a man remaining with the carts. The hill behind which these were posted was about a quarter of a mile from the river, and was very steep on that side, while on the intervening space or margin below lofty gum trees grew, as in other similar situations. By the time I had also got down, the whole party lined the riverbank, the men with Burnett being at some distance above the spot at which I reached it. Most of the natives were then near the other side, and getting out while others were swimming down the stream. The sound of so much firing must have been terrible to them and it was not without effect, if we may credit the information of Piper who was afterwards informed that seven had been shot in crossing the river, and among them the fellow in the cloak, who at Benanee appeared to be the chief. Much as I regretted the necessity for firing upon these savages, and little as the men might have been justifiable under other circumstances for firing upon any body of men without orders, I could not blame them much on this occasion; for the result was the permanent deliverance of the party from imminent danger. Our men were liable in turn to be exposed singly while attending the cattle, which often unavoidably strayed far from the camp during the night; and former experience had, in my mind, rendered the death of some of these men certain. I was indeed satisfied that this collision had been brought about in the most providential manner; for it was probable that, from my regard for the aborigines, I might otherwise have postponed giving orders to fire longer than might have been consistent with the safety of my men. Such was the fate of the barbarians who, a year before, had commenced hostilities by attacking treacherously a small body of strangers, which, had it been sent from heaven, could not have done more to minister to their wants than it did then, nor endured more for the sake of peace and goodwill. The men had then been compelled to fire in their own defence and at the risk of my displeasure. The hostility of these savages had also prevented me from dividing my party, and obliged me to retire from the Darling sooner than I might otherwise have done. It now appeared that they had discovered this, judging from their present conduct, and unappalled by the effect of firearms, to which they were no longer strangers, they had boastingly invaded the haunts of other tribes, more peaceably disposed than themselves, for the avowed purpose of meeting and attacking us. They had persisted in following us with such bundles of spears as we had never seen on other occasions, and they were on the alert to kill any stragglers, having already, as they acknowledged, destroyed two of our cattle.
This collision took place so suddenly that no man had thought of remaining at the heads of the horses and cattle, as already stated; nor was I aware of this until, on returning to them, I found the reins in the hands of Piper's gin; a tall woman who, wrapped in a blanket, with Piper's sword on her shoulder, and having a blind eye, opaque and white like that of some Indian idol, presented rather a singular appearance as she stood the only guardian of all we possessed. Her presence of mind in assuming such a charge on such an occasion was very commendable, and seemed characteristic of the female aborigines.
I gave to the little hill which witnessed this overthrow of our enemies and was to us the harbinger of peace and tranquillity the name of Mount Dispersion.
CROSS A TRACT INTERSECTED BY DEEP LAGOONS.
The day's journey was still before us. On leaving the river we soon encountered a small creek or ana-branch* and, though I made a practice of avoiding all such obstructions by going round rather than crossing them, yet in the present case I was compelled to deviate from my rule on finding that this creek would take me too far northward. Soon after, we approached a lagoon and during the whole day, turn wherever we would, we were met by similar bodies of water or, as I considered them, pools left in the turnings and windings of some ana-branch formed during high floods of the river. Nevertheless I managed to preserve a course in the desired direction; and at length we encamped on the bank of several deep ponds which lay in the channel of a broad watercourse. I was anxious to avoid if possible being shut up between ana-branches and the river lest, as the river seemed rising, I might be at length surrounded by deep water. I was in some uncertainty here about the actual situation of the Murray and our position was anything but good; for it was in the midst of scrubby ground, and did not command, in any way, the place where alone grass enough was to be found for the cattle. The bergs of the river were not to be seen, although the river itself could not be distant; for the whole country traversed this day was of that description which belongs to the margin of streams, being grassy land under an open forest containing goborro and yarra trees. These are seldom found in that region at any considerable distance from the banks of the river, the whole interior country being covered with Eucalyptus dumosa and patches of the pine or Callitris pyramidalis.
(*Footnote. See above.)
PLATE 26: THE RIVER MURRAY, AND DISPERSION OF NATIVES, 27TH MAY, 1836.Major T.L. Mitchell del. J. Brandord and G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
PLATE 26: THE RIVER MURRAY, AND DISPERSION OF NATIVES, 27TH MAY, 1836.Major T.L. Mitchell del. J. Brandord and G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
PLATE 26: THE RIVER MURRAY, AND DISPERSION OF NATIVES, 27TH MAY, 1836.Major T.L. Mitchell del. J. Brandord and G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
May 28.
A thick fog hung over us in the morning but it did not impede our progress. For the first three miles our way was along the banks of the channel or lagoon beside which we had passed the night. It then crossed a polygonum flat and several dry hollows, beyond which I at length saw the rising ground of the river-berg and, immediately after, the river itself, flowing by the base of a precipitous red cliff in which the scrubby flat country we were travelling upon abruptly terminated. We had cut off a great bend of the Murray by our intricate journey among the lagoons; and had again reached the river precisely at the point most desirable.
HUTS OVER TOMBS.
On this upper ground we observed several tombs, all enclosed within parterres of the same boat-like shape first seen by us on the day we traced the Lachlan into the basin of the Murrumbidgee. Two of the tombs here consisted of huts, very neatly and completely thatched over, the straw or grass being bound down by a well-wrought net. Each hut had a small entrance on the south-west side, and the grave within was covered with dry grass or bedding on which lay however some pieces of wood. There was a third grave with coverings of the same kind, but it was not so neatly finished, nor was it covered with net.* There were also graves without any covering; one where it appeared to have been burnt; and two old-looking graves were open, empty, and about three feet deep.
(*Footnote. Isaiah 45:4. Who remain among the graves.] "The old Hebrews are charged by the prophet Isaiah with remaining among the graves and lodging in the monuments." See Lewis' Origines Hebraeae volume 3 page 381.)
ANOTHER DIVISION OF THE DARLING TRIBE.
We had not proceeded far through the scrub on the top of the precipice overhanging the river when the usual alarm term "the natives" was passed along to me from the people in the rear of our party. Piper had been told that we should soon see the other division of the Darling tribe, which was still ahead of us; and I concluded that these natives belonged to it and were awaiting us at this point where, as they had foreseen, we were sure to come upon the river. Four or five advanced up to us while the rest followed among the bushes behind. I recognised two men whom I saw last year on the Darling. They begged hard for axes and held out green boughs, but I had not forgotten the treachery of their burning boughs on our former interview and, thinking I recognised the tall man who had been the originator of the war, I went up to him with no very kind feeling; but I was informed he was only that man's brother. My altered manner however was enough for their quick glance; and indeed one of the best proofs that these natives belonged to the Darling tribe was the attention with which they watched me when they asked for tomahawks, and their speaking so much to Piper about Majy. Of the evil tendency of giving these people presents I was now convinced, and fully determined not to give more then. This resolution the natives having discovered very acutely, their ringleaders vanished like phantoms down the steep cliffs, and we heard no more of the rest. It is possible that this portion of the tribe had not then received intelligence of what had befallen the others or they would not have advanced so boldly up. Be that as it may they followed us no more, having probably heard in the course of the day from the division of the tribe which we had driven across the Murray.
BARREN SANDS AND THE EUCALYPTUS DUMOSA. PLANTS WHICH GROW ON THE SAND AND BIND IT DOWN.
The river taking a turn to the southward, we again entered the dumosa scrub but it was more open than we had seen it elsewhere. The soil consisted of barren sand; there was no grass, but there were tufts of a prickly bush which tortured the horses and tore to rags the men's clothes about their ankles. I observed that this bush and the Eucalyptus dumosa grew only where the sand seemed too barren and loose for the production of anything else; so loose indeed was it that, but for this dwarf tree and prickly grass, the sand must have drifted so as to overwhelm the vegetation of adjacent districts, as in other desert regions where sand predominates. Nature appears to have provided curiously against that evil here by the abundant distribution of two plants so singularly adapted to such a soil. The root of the Eucalyptus dumosa resembles that of a large tree; but instead of a trunk only a few branches rise above the ground, forming an open kind of bush, often so low that a man on horseback may look over it for miles. The heavy spreading roots however of this dwarf tree and the prickly grass together occupy the ground and seem intended to bind down the sands of the vast interior deserts of Australia. Their disproportioned roots also prevent the bushes from growing very close together and, the stems being leafless except at the top, this kind of eucalyptus is almost proof against the running fires of the bush. The prickly grass resembles at a distance, in colour and form, an overgrown bush of lavender; but the pedestrian and the horse both soon find that it is neither lavender nor grass, the blades consisting of sharp spikes which shoot out in all directions, offering real annoyance to men and horses.
On ascending a small sandhill about three P.M. I perceived that I could not hope to reach the river in the direction I was pursuing. Accordingly I turned to the left and, entering a rather extensive valley which was bounded on the south by the river-bergs at a distance of three or four miles, we encamped on the immediate bank of the Murray shortly before sunset. There was little grass about the river for the ferruginous finely-grained sandstone formed still the riverbank, and was exactly similar to the arenaceous rock on the eastern coast.
FISH CAUGHT.
The river had more the appearance of having a flood in it now than at the time we first made it, and here we caught some good cod-perch (Gristes peelii) one weighing seventeen pounds. As we came along the lagoons in the morning of this day we shot a new kind of duck.
May 29.
The broad slopes of the river-berg, or second bank, were generally distinguished by a strip of clear ground which we found the best for travelling upon; and it afforded us also the satisfaction of overlooking the friendly river at a greater or less distance on the left. The Murray meandered between the opposite bergs of the valley or basin which was here about four miles wide.
ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY TO THE NORTHWARD.
From a hill situated between the river and the scrub I this day saw, for the first time since we left the Lachlan, a ridge on the horizon. It appeared to the northward, the west end being distant about seven miles; and it was long, flat, and not much higher than the surrounding country. An extensive plain reminded us of those on the Darling and in the more hollow part of it I perceived the dry bed of a lake, bordered by some verdure. On proceeding I observed that the bergs fell off; and we descended into a valley where a line of yarra trees enveloped a dry creek, very much resembling the one seen by us on the Darling and named Clover-creek. Crossing this dry course we soon regained the berg of the river, and found it as favourable to our progress as before but, being of red sand, I at length led the party along the firm clay at the base of the higher ground.
STRANGE NATIVES FROM BEYOND THE MURRAY.
As the dogs were chasing a kangaroo across a bit of open flat four natives appeared at the other side. They came frankly up to us and they were well painted, broad white patches marking out the larger muscles of the breasts, thighs, and arms, and giving their persons exactly the appearance of savages as I have seen them represented in theatres. Their hair was of a reddish hue and they were altogether men of a different make from the tribe of the Darling. We accordingly allowed them to remain in the camp which I took up on the margin of the Murray soon after our meeting with them. They told us that a creek named Bengallo joined the Murray amongst the numerous lagoons where we had been encamped two days before; and they supposed it came from the hills near the Bogan, because natives from that river sometimes came to the Murray by the banks of the creek. They also informed us that the name of a river to the southward was Perrainga; and (if we understood each other rightly by Piper's interpretation) their name for lake Alexandrina was Kayinga: a lake which however had, according to them, a wide deep outlet to the sea.
THEY DECAMP DURING THE NIGHT.
During that night it rained heavily and the natives left us, without notice, during an interval of fair weather. There was much scrub about the river and I was not quite satisfied with the position of our camp, but a strict watch was always kept up, and we had excellent watch-dogs, no bad protection against the midnight treachery of the aborigines.
REACH THE DARLING AND SURPRISE A NUMEROUS TRIBE OF NATIVES.
May 30.
We heard our new acquaintance cooeying in the bush but we gave no attention to them and proceeded on our journey. The smooth and verdant escarp of the river-berg guided us, while the river itself was sometimes at hand and sometimes four miles off. This day I recognised several shrubs which I had seen before only on the Darling. At length the berg terminated altogether in a smooth round hill beyond which lay a low woody country, intersected by lines of yarra trees in almost every direction. I thought I perceived in one of these lines the course of the Darling coming into the extensive valley from the northward; and the old hands exclaimed, when they saw the bare plains to the north-west of our camp, that we had got upon the Darling at last. Beyond this valley to the south-westward I perceived that the bergs of the opposite bank of the Murray were continuous and advanced to a point about west-south-west. Upon the whole I was satisfied that we were near the junction of the two rivers; and we encamped on the lower extremity of the point, already mentioned, which overlooked a small lagoon and was not above three hundred yards from an angle of the Murray.
May 31.
I now ventured to take a north-west course in expectation of falling in with the supposed Darling. We crossed first a plain about two miles in breadth, when we came to a line of yarra trees which enveloped a dry creek from the north-east, and very like Clover-creek. We next travelled over ground chiefly open, and at four miles crossed a sandhill on which was a covered tomb, after the fashion of those on the Murray. On descending from the sand-ridge we approached a line of yarra trees which overhung a reach of green and stagnant water. I had scarcely arrived at the bank when my attention was drawn to a fire about a hundred yards before us and from beside which immediately sprung up a numerous tribe of blacks who began to jump, wring their hands, and shriek, as if in a state of utter madness or despair.
PIPER AND HIS GIN EXPLAIN.
These savages rapidly retired towards others who were at a fire on a further part of the bank, but Piper and his gin, going boldly forward, succeeded at length in getting within hail and in allaying their fears.
SEARCH FOR THE JUNCTION WITH THE MURRAY.
While he was with these natives I had again leisure to examine the watercourse upon which we had arrived. I could not consider it the Darling as seen by me above, and so little did it seem the sister stream to the Murray as described by Sturt that I at first thought it nothing but an ana-branch of that river. Neither did these natives satisfy me about Oolawambiloa, by which I had supposed the Darling was meant but respecting which they still pointed westward. They however told Piper that the channel we had reached contained all the waters of Wambool (the Macquarie) and Callewatta (the upper Darling) and I accordingly determined to trace it up at least far enough to identify it with the latter. But I thought it right that we should endeavour first to recognise the junction with the Murray as seen by Captain Sturt. The natives said it was not far off; and I accordingly encamped at two o'clock that I might measure back to that important point. Thirteen natives set out as if to accompany us, for they begged that we would not go so fast. Three of them however soon set off at full speed as if on a message; and the remaining ten fell behind us. We had then passed the camp of their gins and I supposed at the time that their only object was to see us beyond these females, Piper being with us.
RETURN BY NIGHT.
I pursued the river through a tortuous course until sunset when I was obliged to quit it and return to the camp by moonlight without having seen anything of the Murray. I had however ascertained that the channel increased very much in width lower down and, when it was filled with the clay-coloured water of the flood then in the Murray, it certainly had the appearance of a river of importance.
FOLLOWED BY THE NATIVES.
June 1.
The country to the eastward seemed so dry and scrubby that I could not hope in returning to join Mr. Stapylton's party or reach the Murray by any shorter route than that of our present track; and I therefore postponed any further survey back towards the junction of the Darling and Murray until I should be returning this way. We accordingly proceeded upwards and were followed by the natives. They were late in coming near us however which Piper and his gin accounted for as follows: As soon as it was known to them, the day before, that we were gone to the junction, the strong men of the tribe went by a shorter route; but they were thrown out and disappointed by our stopping short of that promising point. There they had passed the night and, having been busy looking for our track in the morning, the earth's surface being to them a book they always read, they were late in following our party.
Kangaroos were more numerous and larger here than at any other part we had yet visited. This day one coming before me I fired at it with my rifle; and a man beside me, after asking my permission, fired also. The animal nevertheless ran amongst the party behind, some of whom hastily and without permission discharged their carabines also.
HORSES TAKE FRIGHT.
At this four horses took fright and ran back at full speed along our track. Several of the men who went after these horses fell in with two large bodies of natives coming along this track, and one or two men had nearly fallen into their hands twice.
BREAK LOOSE AND RUN BACK.
Tantragee (McLellan) when running at full speed pursued by bands of savages escaped only by the opportune appearance of others of our men who had caught the horses and happened to come up.
NARROW ESCAPE OF SOME MEN FROM NATIVES.
The natives then closed on our carts, and accompanied them in single files on each side; but as they appeared to have got rid of all their spears I saw no danger in allowing them to join us in that manner. Chancing to look back at them however, when riding some way ahead, the close contact of such numbers induced me to halt and call loudly, cautioning the men, upon which I observed an old man and several others suddenly turn and run and, on my going to the carts, the natives fell back, those in their rear setting off at full speed.
FAILURE OF THEIR INTENDED ATTACK.
Soon after I perceived the whole tribe running away, as if a plan had been suddenly frustrated. Piper and his gin, who had been watching them attentively, now came up and explained to me these movements. It appeared that the natives entertained the idea that our clothes were impervious to spears, and had therefore determined on a trial of strength by suddenly overpowering us, for which purpose they had planted (i.e. hidden) their spears and all encumbrances, and had told off for each of us six or eight of their number, whose attack was to be sudden and simultaneous. A favourable moment had not occurred before they awoke my suspicions; and thus their motives for sudden retreat were to be understood. That party consisted of strong men, neither women nor boys being among them; and although we had little to fear from such an attack, having arms in our hands, the scheme was very audacious and amounted to a proof that these savages no sooner get rid of their apprehensions than they think of aggression. I had on several occasions noticed and frustrated dispositions apparently intended for sudden attacks, for the natives seemed always inclined to await favourable opportunities, and were doubtless aware of the advantage of suddenness of attack to the assailants.* Nothing seemed to excite the surprise of these natives, neither horses nor bullocks, although they had never before seen such animals, nor white men, carts, weapons, dress, or anything else we had. All were quite new to them and equally strange, yet they looked at the cattle as if they had been always amongst them, and they seemed to understand at once the use of everything.
(*Footnote. For a proof of this see extract from Sydney Herald of May 21st 1838 in Appendix 2.3.)
We continued our journey and soon found all the usual features of the Darling; the hills of soft red sand near the river covered with the same kind of shrubs seen so much higher up.
DIFFERENT MODES OF INTERMENT.
The graves had no longer any resemblance to those on the Murrumbidgee and Murray, but were precisely similar to the places of interment we had seen on the Darling, being mounds surrounded by and covered with dead branches and pieces of wood.* On these lay the same singular casts of the head in white plaster which we had before seen only at Fort Bourke.** It is indeed curious to observe the different modes of burying adopted by the natives on different rivers. For instance on the Bogan they bury in graves covered like our own and surrounded with curved walks and ornamented ground.*** On the Lachlan under lofty mounds of earth, seats being made around them. On the Murrumbidgee and Murray the graves are covered with well thatched huts containing dried grass for bedding and enclosed by a parterre of a particular shape, like the inside of a whale-boat.**** On the Darling, as above stated, the graves are in mounds* covered with dead branches and limbs of trees, and are surrounded by a ditch, which here we found encircled by a fence of dead limbs and branches.
(*Footnote. See Plate 16 volume 1.)
(**Footnote. See Volume 1.)
(***Footnote. See Plate 20 volume 1.)
(****Footnote. See above.)
REDUCED APPEARANCE OF THE DARLING.
As we proceeded the sandhills became more numerous and their surface softer; while the scrub was at length so close that it was difficult to follow any particular bearing in travelling through it. Near the river the surface was broken up by beds of dry lagoons which evidently became branches of the main stream in times of flood; and the intervening ground was covered with Polygonum junceum. At length I reached an angle of the river and encamped on a small flat beside a sandhill. Here the Darling was only a chain of ponds and I walked across its channel dry-shod, the bed consisting of coarse sand and angular fragments of ferruginous sandstone. The width and depth between the immediate banks were about the same as I had found them in the most narrow and shallow parts during my former journey. While I stood on the adverse side or right bank of this hopeless river I began to think I had pursued its course far enough. The identity was no longer a question.
DESERT CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.
The country on its banks in this part presented also the same unvaried desert features that it did in the districts examined by us during the preceding year. The Murray, unlike the Darling, was a permanent river, and I thought it advisable to exhaust no more of my means in the survey of deserts but rather employ them and the time still at my disposal in exploring the sources of that river, according to my instructions and in hopes of discovering a better country. My anxiety about the safety of the depot brought me more speedily to this determination. During the wet and cold weather there might be less activity among the savage natives, but it was not probable that the tribe which had collected 500 men to attack Captain Sturt would be quiet in my rear after having lost some of their number. To be in detached parties amongst a savage population was perilous in proportion to the length of time we continued separate; and I did not feel warranted in exhausting all my means in order to attain, by a circuitous route, the point where my survey ought to have commenced; while a second duty for which the means now left were scarcely adequate remained to be performed. I had already reached a point far above where any boat could be taken, or even any heavy carts; and nothing was to be gained by following the river further.
The natives were heard by Piper several times during the day's journey in the woods beyond the river, as if moving along the right bank in a route parallel with ours; but they did not appear near our camp, although their smoke was seen at a distance.
RAINY MORNING.
June 2.
For several days the barometer had been falling and this morning the weather was rainy and cold.
RETURN OF THE PARTY.
After tracing the further course of the Darling for some distance and obtaining, during an interval of sunshine, a view from a sandhill which commanded a very extensive prospect to the northward, I commenced the retrograde movement along our route, which was but too deeply visible in the sand. From what Piper had said the men expected an engagement during the morning; and it was doubtful, on account of the wetness of the day, whether their pieces would go off if the natives came on; but fortunately we continued our journey unmolested. We reached our former encampment notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the ground, and again pitched our tents upon it. We found among the scrubs this day a new curious species of Baeckea with extremely small scattered leaves not larger than grains of millet, plano-convex and covered with pellucid dots.*
(*Footnote. B. crassifolia, Lindley manuscripts; glaberrima, foliis subrotundis oblongisque obtusis plano-convexis crassis, floribus solitariis axillaribus pedicellatis cernuis, laciniis calycinis marginatis integerrimis petalis integris brevioribus.)
SURPRISE THE FEMALES OF THE TRIBE.
June 3.
The natives had not again appeared, so that Piper's conjecture that they were moving up the river by the opposite bank with a view to assemble the tribes higher up appeared to be correct. Their gins had been left at their old camp; for as the party crossed a flat not far from it, and I fired at a kangaroo, their voices were immediately heard, signal columns of smoke arose in the air, and they hurried with their children to the opposite side of the Darling. From this astonishment on their part at our appearance, and especially from their flight, knowing well then who we were, it was not improbable that they knew the men were absent on some mischievous scheme affecting us.
JUNCTION OF THE DARLING AND MURRAY.
I struck out of the former line of route for the purpose of extending my measurement to the junction of the rivers, and thus at length found the Darling within a zone of trees which I had formerly taken for the line of the Murray. The banks were high and the channel was also much broader here. After tracing this river about four miles I found that the still but turbid backwater from the larger stream nearly reached the top of the grassy bank of the other. At length I perceived the Murray before me coming from the south-south-east, a course directly opposed to that in which I had followed the Darling for a mile. Both rivers next turned south-west, then westward, leaving a narrow tongue of land between, and from the point where they both turned westward to their junction at the extremity of this ground between them, I found that the distance was exactly three-quarters of a mile. A bank of sand extended further and, on standing upon this and looking back, I recognised the view given in Captain Sturt's work and the adjacent localities described by him. The state of the rivers was no longer however the same as when this spot was first visited. All the water visible now belonged to the Murray, whose course was rapid, while its turbid flood filled also the channel of the Darling, but was there perfectly still. We were then distant about a hundred miles from the rest of the party who, before we could join them, might have had enough to do with the natives. I thought that in case it might ever be necessary to look for us, this junction was the most likely spot where traces might be sought; and I therefore buried near the point, beside a tree marked with a large M and the word Dig, a phial in which I placed a paper containing a brief statement of the circumstances under which we had arrived there, and our proposed route to the depot, adding also the names of the men with me. As the ground was soft it was not necessary to dig but merely to drop the phial into a hole made with the scabbard of my sabre; and I hoped that the bottle would escape in consequence the notice of the natives.
EFFECT OF ALTERNATE FLOODS THERE.
The greater width and apparently important character of the Darling near its mouth may perhaps be accounted for by supposing that floods do not always occur in it and the Murray at the same time. The remoteness of the sources of the two rivers and the consequent difference of climate may occasion a flood in the one, while the waters of the other may be very low. That this is likely to happen sometimes may be inferred from the difference between the relative state of the atmosphere on the eastern coast and on the Darling. This difference seems to have been so considerable during the last journey as materially to have affected our barometrical measurements taken simultaneously with observations at Sydney. When the bed of the greater river is also the deepest any flood descending by the other channel when the larger stream is low must flow with greater force into that which is deeper, and in a soft and yielding soil may thus increase the width of its own channel. On the contrary a flood coming down the greater river while the minor channel may happen to be dry must first flow upwards some miles and so fill this channel and, being thus affected both by the rising and subsidence of the greater stream, this process would have had a tendency to deepen and widen the lower part of the Darling.
Return along the bank of the Murray.Mount Lookout.Appearance of rain.Chance of being cut off from the depot by the river floods.A savage man at home.Tributaries of the Murray.A storm in the night.Traverse the land of lagoons before the floods come down.Traces of many naked feet along our old track.Camp of 400 natives.Narrow escape from the floods of the river.Piper overtakes two youths fishing in Lake Benanee.Description of the lake.Great rise in the waters of the Murray.Security of the depot.Surrounded by inundations.Cross to it in a bark canoe made by Tommy Came-last.Search for the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Murray.Mr. Stapylton reaches the junction of the rivers.Reception by the natives of the left bank.Passage of the Murray.Heavy rains set in.Row up the Murray to the junction of the Murrumbidgee.Commence the journey upwards, along the left bank.Strange animal.Picturesque scenery on the river.Kangaroos numerous.Country improves as we ascend the river.A region of reeds.The water inaccessible from soft and muddy banks.Habits of our native guides.Natives very shy.Piper speaks to natives on the river.Good land on the Murray.Wood and water scarce.Junction of two branches.Swan Hill.
RETURN ALONG THE BANK OF THE MURRAY.
Returning from the junction towards our last camp on the Murray we again crossed, when within a mile of that position, the dry channel we had seen on proceeding towards the north-west. It contained some deep lagoons on which were pelicans, but we crossed it where the bed was quite dry and where it presented, like many other parts occasionally under water, striking proofs of the uncertainty of seasons in these parts of Australia. Numerous dead saplings of eight or ten years growth stood there, having evidently flourished in that situation until the water again filled this channel, after so long an interval of drought, and killed them.
On reaching the firm ground beyond we came upon some old graves which had been disturbed, as the bones protruded from the earth. Piper said that the dead were sometimes dug up and eaten; but this I could not believe.
MOUNT LOOKOUT.
By three P.M. we again occupied the remarkable point where we had formerly encamped. It is at this point (Mount Lookout on the map) that the berg of the Murray terminates on the basin of the Darling and thus commands, as before observed, an extensive view over the woody country to the westward. It would be an important position in any kind of warfare, and during my operations I felt as strong upon it with my party as if we had been in a citadel. I had now, I hoped, again got between the junction tribes and our old enemies, though the latter were still between us and our depot; and thus any danger of the junction tribes uniting with those up the Murray was less to be apprehended. Piper however discovered the track of a considerable number who had proceeded up the river the day before. Indeed all the tracks of natives he found led upwards and, seeing no longer any of them there, we felt more anxious about the safety of the depot.
APPEARANCE OF RAIN. CHANCE OF BEING CUT OFF FROM THE DEPOT BY THE RIVER FLOODS.
The barometer had been falling gradually from the 1st instant, and this was another source of anxiety to me; for we were in no small danger of being separated from the other party by any such rise of the river as might be expected after a heavy fall of rain.
June 4.
Notwithstanding the unpromising state of the mercurial column the night had been fair, and in the morning the sky was clear. We lost no time in moving on and we continued until we were four miles beyond our former camp; and then crossing Golgol creek we occupied a clear point of land between it and the Murray.
A SAVAGE MAN AT HOME.
As I was reconnoitring the ground for a camp I observed a native on the opposite bank and, not being seen by him, I watched awhile the habits of a savage man at home. His hands were ready to seize any living thing; his step, light and noiseless as that of a shadow, gave no intimation of his approach; and his walk suggested the idea of the prowling of a beast of prey. Every little track or impression left on the earth by the lower animals caught his keen eye, but the trees overhead chiefly engaged his attention; for deep in the heart of some of the upper branches he probably hoped to find the opossum on which he was to dine. The wind blew cold and keenly through the lofty trees on the river margin, yet that broad brawny savage was entirely naked. Had I been unarmed I had much rather have met a lion than that sinewy biped; but situated as I was, with a broad river flowing between us while I overlooked him from a high bank, I ventured to disturb his meditations with a loud halloo: he stood still, looked at me for about a minute, and then retired with that easy bounding step which may be termed a running walk, and exhibits an unrestrained facility of movement, apparently incompatible with dress of any kind. It is in bounding lighting at such a pace that, with the additional aid of the woomerah, an aboriginal native can throw his spear with sufficient force and dexterity to kill the emu or kangaroo, even when at their speed. One or two families of natives afterwards appeared hutted on the riverbank nearly opposite to our camp, and Piper opened a conversation with them across the river. These people had heard nothing of what had befallen the Benanee tribe. They had some years before seen white men go down and return up the river in a large canoe; and Piper also learnt from them that the Millewa (Murray) had now a flood in it, having for some time previous been much lower than it was then; but they assured Piper, apparently with exultation, that it flowed always.
TRIBUTARIES OF THE MURRAY.
The name of the creek we had just crossed was Golgol, and it came from the low range of the same name which I had observed on May 29. From what these natives said of Bengallo creek I thought it might be that branch of the Lachlan, already mentioned as Boororan, flowing westward under Warranary and other hills between the Murrumbidgee and the Darling.
A STORM IN THE NIGHT.
June 5.
Rain had fallen during the night but the day was favourable though cloudy. I ventured on a straight line through the sand and bushes of Eucalyptus dumosa in order to cut off some miles of our beaten track, which was nearer the river and rather circuitous. We crossed some sandhills, the loose surface of which was bound down only by the prickly grass already described. From these hills the view was extensive and bounded on all sides by a perfectly level horizon. On one of them a solitary tree drew my attention and, on examining it, I discovered with much satisfaction that it was of that singular kind I had only once or twice seen last year in the country behind the Darling. The leaves, bark, and wood tasted strongly of horse-radish. We now obtained specimens of its flower and seed, both of which seemed very singular.* By the more direct route through the scrub this day, with what we gained yesterday, we were enabled to reach, at the usual hour for encamping, the red cliffs near the spot where we formerly met the second division of the Darling tribe. I took up a position on the western extremity of the broken bank, overlooking an angle of the river, and commanding a grassy flat where our cattle would be also secure. The weather became very boisterous after sunset, and our tents were so much exposed to the fury of the wind that at one time I thought they would be blown into the river. The waters continuing to rise, the Murray now poured along nearly on a level with its banks, and how we should cross or avoid:
The mosses, waters, slaps, and stiles
that lay between us and the depot, if the river rose much longer, was a question for which I was prepared. On the other hand the very cold and boisterous weather was in our favour as being opposed to any assembling of the tribes at points of difficulty along the line of our track, as they certainly ought to have done as good tacticians, for they never lost sight of our movements while we were in that country.
(*Footnote. A new and genuine species of Gyrostemon. Gyrostemon pungens, Lindley manuscripts; foliis rhomboideis acutis glaucis in petiolum angustatis. The capsules are arranged in a single verticillus and consequently this species will belong to Gyrostemon as distinguished from Codonocarpus by Mr. Endlicher.)
TRAVERSE THE LAND OF LAGOONS BEFORE THE FLOODS COME DOWN.
June 6.
It had rained heavily during the night but the morning was clear. As we continued our journey the natives were heard in the woods although none appeared. Fortunately for our progress the floods had not reached the lagoons, and we succeeded in passing the whole of this low tract, so subject to inundations, without difficulty; and we finally encamped within four miles of the ground where we had been obliged to disperse the Darling tribes. We pitched our tents on the eastern side of the lagoon where we found an agreeable shelter from the storm in some scrub which, on former occasions, we should not have thought so comfortable a neighbour. We could now enter such thickets with greater safety; and in this we found a very beautiful new shrubby species of cassia, with thin papery pods and numbers of the most brilliant yellow blossoms. On many of the branches the leaflets had fallen off and left nothing but the flat leafy petioles to represent them. The pods were of various sizes and forms, on which account, if new, I would name it C. heteroloba.*
(*Footnote. C. heteroloba, Lindley manuscripts; foliolis bijugis linearibus carnosis cito deciduis apice mucronulatis recurvis, glandula parva conica inter omnia, petiolo compresso herbaceo nunc aphyllo mucronulato, racemis paucifloris folio brevioribus, leguminibus oblongis planis obtusis papyraceis continuis aut varie strangulatis.)
June 7.
The ground had been so heavy for travelling during some days that the cattle much needed rest; and as I contemplated the passage, in one day of that dumosa scrub, occupying twenty miles along the tract before us, I made this journey a short one, moving only to our old encampment of May 26. The scrub here seemed more than usually rich in botanical novelties for, besides the Murrayana tree, we found a most beautiful Leucopogon allied to L. rotundifolius of Brown, with small heart-shaped leaves polished on the upper side and striated on the lower, so as to resemble the most delicate shell-work.* Piper discovered, on examining the ground where we had repulsed the Darling tribes, that they had left many of their spears, nets, etc. on our side of the river, and had afterwards returned for them, also that a considerable number did not swim across, but had retired along the riverbank. Upon the whole it was estimated that the numbers then in our rear amounted to at least one hundred and eighty.
(*Footnote. L. cordifolius, Lindley manuscripts; ramulis pubescentibus, foliis sessilibus subrotundis planis patentibus cordatis mucronatis margine scabris supra laevigatis subtus striatis, floribus solitariis sessilibus axillaribus.)
TRACES OF MANY NAKED FEET ALONG OUR OLD TRACK.
June 8.
As soon as daylight appeared this morning we commenced our long journey through the scrub; and we discovered to our surprise, by the traces of innumerable feet along our track, that the natives had not, as I till then supposed, come along the riverbank, but had actually followed us through that scrub. They have nevertheless a great dislike to such parts, not only because they cannot find any game there, but because the prickly spinifex-looking grass is intolerable against their naked legs. While we were encamped in the scrub on May 25 they must have also passed that stormy night there, without either fire or water. On our way through it now we discovered a new hoary species of Trichinium, very different from Brown's Tr. incanum.* The cattle, though they were jaded, accomplished the journey before sunset, and we halted beside the large lagoon adjacent to that part of the river which was within three miles of our former camp, being the spot where the natives, in following us from lake Benanee, first emerged from the woods. The weather being still boisterous, we occupied a piece of low ground where we were sheltered from the west or stormy quarter by the river berg.
(*Footnote. Tr. lanatum, Lindley manuscripts; incano-tomentosum, caule corymboso, foliis obovatis cuneatisque, capitulis hemisphericis lanatis, bracteis dorso villosis.)
CAMP OF 400 NATIVES.
On the brow of this height and just behind our camp I counted the remains of one hundred and thirty-five fires at an old encampment of natives and, as one fire is seldom lighted for less than three persons, there must have been at least four hundred. The bushes placed around each fire seemed to have been intended for that temporary kind of shelter required for only one night.
June 9.
We proceeded this morning as silently as possible, for we were now approaching the haunts of the enemy, and I wished to come upon them by surprise, thinking that I might thereby sooner ascertain whether any misfortune had befallen the depot.
NARROW ESCAPE FROM THE FLOODS OF THE RIVER.
Two creeks lay in our way and, from the flood then in the Murray, it was likely that they might be full of water, and the savages prepared to take advantage of the difficulty we should then experience in crossing them. The first channel we arrived at, which was quite dry when we formerly crossed, was now brimful of the muddy water of the Murray and before we reached its banks we heard the voices of natives on our right. We forded it however without annoyance, the water reaching only to the axles of the carts, but the current was very strong and FROM the river, that is to say, upwards. We next reached our old camp where we had passed that anxious night near Benanee. Here to my great satisfaction and indeed surprise, I found the bed of the larger creek, which occasioned us so great a detour when we first met the natives, still quite dry at our old crossing-place; being in the same state in which it was then, although the flood water was now fast approaching it. We got over however with ease and at length again traversed the plain which skirts the lake; and we were glad to find that tranquillity prevailed along its extensive shores.
PIPER OVERTAKES TWO YOUTHS FISHING IN LAKE BENANEE.
I perceived only one or two natives fishing, and I took Piper down to the beach to speak to them, being desirous also to examine at leisure this fine sheet of water. We found on arriving there that other natives had run off from some huts on the shore, but Piper pursued those in the lake, for the purpose of obtaining information about the tribe, until they ran so far out into the water that they seemed at length up to their ears, and I was really afraid that the poor fellows, who were found to be only boys, would be drowned in endeavouring to avoid him. I could scarcely distinguish them at length from the numerous waterfowl floating around. In vain I called to their pursuer to come back, Piper was not to be baffled by boys, and continued to walk through the water like a giant, brandishing a short spear, or, as the boys would probably say to their tribe;
Black he stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadful dart.
At length, when apparently near the centre of the lake, he overtook one; and while leading him towards the shore he ascertained that the Darling tribe had returned to the lake only on the day before, having been ever since their dispersion on the 27th May until this time, on the opposite bank of the Murray. That they were then fishing in a lagoon near the river (where in fact we afterwards saw smoke and heard their voices) and that they had despatched three messengers to a portion of the tribe on the upper Darling, with the news of what had befallen them, of our progress in that direction, and requesting them to join them as soon as possible at the lake.
DESCRIPTION OF THE LAKE.
I perceived that the depth of water in this basin did not then in any part exceed 8 or 10 feet, although the surface was probably 20 feet below the level of the sandy beach, thus making 28 or 30 feet the extreme depth when full. Now that I could examine it at leisure, I found that this fine lake was much more extensive than I had at first supposed. The breadth was about four miles, and I could see along it in a westerly direction at least six miles. Part of the north-western shore seemed to be clear of trees but well covered with grass, and to slope gently towards the water. The whole was surrounded by a beach consisting of fine clean quartzose sand. This was an admirable station for a numerous body like that from the Darling. The cunning old men of that tribe seemed well aware that there they could neither be surrounded nor surprised; the approach to the lake from the river being also covered in both directions by deep creeks, passable only at certain places. Their choice of such a position was creditable to their skill in strategy, and consistent with their thorough knowledge of localities. I could spare no time to look at the country beyond this lake (or northward) as I wished to do. From what we learnt however we were satisfied that the depot was safe, and this fact relieved me from much anxiety. We had still to cross that creek or ana-branch which apparently supplies the lake, although it was then still dry. I had observed that such ana-branches* were deepest at the lower mouths, as if the river floods entered first there and flowed upwards; although before the river reached its maximum a strong current would probably set downwards in the same channel, which would thus become at last a branch of the main stream.
RETURN TO THE DEPOT.
We reached our former camp on the Murray by 3 P.M., and once more pitched our tents on the bank of this river. By comparing its height, as measured formerly, with as much of it as remained above the waters, I found that it had risen eight feet and a half. We were then within a short day's journey of the depot but anxious enough still to know if it were safe.
June 10.
We started early and, by crossing a small plain, cut off half a mile of our former route. When within a few miles of the camp of Mr. Stapylton we heard a shot, and soon discovered that it was fired by one of the men (Webb) rather a mauvais sujet, who had been transgressing rules by firing at a duck. We learnt from him however the agreeable news that the depot had not been disturbed.
GREAT RISE IN THE WATERS OF THE MURRAY.
It was now cut off from us by a deep stream which filled the creek it overlooked and which flowed with a considerable current towards the Murray, having also filled Lake Stapylton to the brim.
SECURITY OF THE DEPOT.
Mr. Stapylton and his party were well; and during the whole time that we had been absent the natives had never approached his camp. Such singular good fortune was more than I could reasonably have expected, and my satisfaction was complete when I again met Stapylton and saw the party once more united. The little native Ballandella's leg was fast uniting, the mother having been unremitting in her care of the child. Good grass had also been found so that the cattle had become quite fresh and indeed looked well.
SURROUNDED BY INUNDATIONS. CROSS TO IT IN A BARK CANOE MADE BY TOMMY CAME-LAST.
I was ferried over Stapylton's creek in a bark canoe by Tommy Came-last who also, by the same simple means, soon conveyed every article of equipment and the rest of the party across to the depot camp.
We had now got through the most unpromising part of our task. We had penetrated the Australian Hesperides, although the golden fruit was still to be sought. We had accomplished so much however, with only half the party, that nothing seemed impossible with the whole; and to trace the Murray upwards and explore the unknown regions beyond it was a charming undertaking when we had at length bid adieu forever to the dreary banks of the Darling.
SEARCH FOR THE JUNCTION OF THE MURRUMBIDGEE AND MURRAY.
The first object of research was the actual junction of the Murrumbidgee with the Murray. I knew that the creek on which I had fixed the depot camp came from the former and entered the latter; and that our depot thus stood on a tract surrounded by water, being between the creek and the main stream. We were already in fact on a branch-island, immediately adjacent to the junction we were in search of and, as I intended to across the Murray either at or below that point, I determined to make an excursion in search of it next morning.
June 11.
Riding southward I reached a bend of the river about two miles from our camp. While tracing the stream upwards from that point we saw some natives running away from their fires. One of them however held up a green branch in each hand and, though as he ran he answered Piper, and a gin had left a heavy bag near us, yet he could not be prevailed on to stop. When Piper took the bag to the tribe he was obliged to follow them nearly a mile, when a number at length stood still together, but at a considerable distance from us, and kept incessantly calling for tomahawks. From the number of huts along the riverbank it was obvious that the inhabitants were numerous, and I was therefore the more surprised that our depot could have continued so long near them without their discovering it. After following the river upwards of eight miles without meeting with the Murrumbidgee I came to a place where it seemed to have formerly had a different channel, and to have left a basin where the banks of the stream were of easy access, the breadth being only 110 yards. This spot was so favourable for effecting a passage that I determined on moving the party to it at once; and to entrust to Mr. Stapylton the further search for the junction of the Murrumbidgee, which could not be far from it.
MR. STAPYLTON REACHES THE JUNCTION OF THE RIVERS.
June 12.
While I conducted the party to the point at which I intended to cross Mr. Stapylton returned along our old route to where we first traversed the now flooded creek and, by tracing it downward to the Murrumbidgee, and that river to the Murray, he ascertained the junction to be little more than a mile from the encampment which I had taken up with the intention of crossing the Murray. Meanwhile no time had been lost there in pitching the boats and sinking them in the adjacent basin of still water that the planks might swell and unite.
June 13.
I crossed early in the morning and found the opposite bank very favourable for the cattle to get out; this being a object of much importance.