Excursion down the Karaula.
Its unexpected course.
Formidable insects.
Junction of the Gwydir.
Owls and Rats.
Natives at the camp during my absence.
Their attempts to steal.
Native dogs.
Tents struck to cross.
Arrival of Mr. Finch.
Murder of his men.
Loss of his horses.
And seizure of his stores by the natives.
Destroy the boat and retire from the Karaula.
Forced march to the Gwydir.
Numerous tribes surround the party.
Good effects of sky-rockets.
Funeral dirge by a native female.
Dog killed by a snake.
Numerous tribes follow.
The party regains the plains.
EXCURSION DOWN THE KARAULA.
February 2.
I left the camp with six men and four pack-animals, carrying nine days'
rations, and proceeded along the left bank of the newly-discovered river.
ITS UNEXPECTED COURSE.
I found the course much more to the southward than I had expected or
wished. The stream separated into branches which re-united, and the
channel was besides crossed in many places by large trees reaching from
bank to bank. After passing close by several southerly bends in following
a bearing of 20 degrees south of west, I met the river crossing that line
at rightangles. This was at a distance of 7 1/2 miles from the camp, and
near the point where the water broke over a rock of ferruginous
sandstone, interspersed with veins of soft white clay. The rock appeared
to be stratified, and inclined to the north-east. At 4 1/2 miles further
we again made the river on a bearing of south 10 degrees west after
crossing a small plain and passing through a scrub of tea-tree (or
mimosa). Two miles beyond that part of the river we crossed the junction
of a chain of ponds with it; and in proceeding on a bearing of 30 degrees
east of south we crossed, when about two miles from that junction,
another chain of ponds, apparently that on which we had encamped on the
22nd of January.
After riding about four miles beyond these ponds, according to the
windings of the river, but chiefly towards the south, we encamped on a
high point overlooking the stream, and where the grass was good. We here
caught a large cod-perch, this being by far the best of the three kinds
hitherto found by us. Latitude observed 29 degrees 12 minutes 3 seconds
South.
February 3.
The course of the river compelled me to travel still further southward,
which direction I accordingly pursued for seventeen miles, occasionally
taking slight turns south-eastward, in order to avoid either the bends of
the river, or hollows containing lagoons. One of these, which we arrived
at after travelling about thirteen miles, was a very extensive sheet of
water, a pleasing sight to us, still remembering how recently and
frequently we had sought that life-sustaining element in vain. This
latter had firm banks resembling the ancient channel of a river, although
the bed was evidently much higher than the water flowing in the channel
we were then exploring; and it was further remarkable in being contracted
at one part by masses of a very hard rock consisting of grains and small
pebbles of quartz cemented in a hard ferruginous matrix, probably
felspar.
FORMIDABLE INSECTS.
At seventeen miles we entered a plain where grew trees of the Acacia
pendula, and we traversed it in the most elongated direction or to the
south-west. On entering the wood beyond a sudden, extreme pain in my
thigh made me shout before I was aware of the cause. A large insect had
fastened upon me, and on looking back I perceived Souter, The Doctor,
defending himself from several insects of the same kind.* He told me that
I had passed near a tree from which their nest was suspended; and it
appeared that this had been sufficient to provoke the attack of these
saucy insects, who were provided with the largest stings I had ever seen.
The pain I felt was extreme, and the effect so permanent that when I
alighted in the evening from my horse on that leg, not thinking of the
circumstance, I fell to the ground, the muscles having been generally
affected. The wound was marked by a blue circular spot as large as a
sixpence for several months.
(*Footnote. Genus, Vespa; subgenus, Abispa; species, Abispa australiana
(mihi). Head, antennae, and feet yellow; eyes black; the scutellum of
prothorax yellow; the scutum of mesothorax black, with the scutellum
yellow; the scutum of metathorax yellow, with the scutellum black, and
the axillae yellow. The wings yellow, with dusky tips. The first segment
of abdomen has the petiole black. The second segment is black, and the
rest yellow.)
Beyond the wood a magnificent sheet of water lay before us and extended
like a noble river in a north and south direction. Keeping its eastern
bank I traced it southwards until I reached the termination, or rather an
interval, where some rocks occurred in its bed, of the same kind as those
last mentioned. The produce of gradual decomposition lay around the rocks
and seemed to prove that although these masses had been originally
denuded by the current which formed the channel, the current had not
flowed there for a very considerable time. We encamped between the two
lagoons, separated by this interval and these rocks, in latitude 29
degrees 27 minutes 27 seconds South.
February 4.
We continued along the bank of the second lagoon which, turning towards
the east, threatened to stop our progress. At length however we arrived
at the termination of the water, and passing over the soft mud we
proceeded southward to look for the Gwydir, which I knew could not then
be far distant. We rode through groves of casuarinae, and over small
plains and burnt flats. In one of the thickets we saw two small
kangaroos, the first observed since our arrival on the banks of this
large river. Emus appeared to be numerous but very wild; pelicans
abounded on the lagoons, and seemed to be remarkably tame, considering
the remains of them which we saw at the old fires of the natives. It was
obvious on various occasions however that the first appearance of such
large quadrupeds as bullocks and horses did not scare the emu or
kangaroo, but that, on the contrary, when they would have run at the
first appearance of their enemy, man, when advancing singly, they would
allow him to approach mounted, and even to dismount, fire from behind a
horse, and load again, without attempting to run off.
JUNCTION OF THE GWYDIR.
At length we perceived that the ground sloped towards the south, and at
the distance of about four miles from where we had slept we made the
Gwydir. The course of this river was as tortuous as at our last camp upon
it, which could not be distant more than fourteen or fifteen miles. The
volume of water was so much reduced that in shallows, where alone the
current could be perceived, I could step across it. This stream could not
therefore contribute much to that I was tracing, and in search of which I
now turned westward. On this course the windings of the Gwydir often came
in my way, so that I turned to north 25 degrees east, in which direction
I at length reached the large river, which had been the object of our
excursion. Here it was, indeed, a noble sheet of water, and I regretted
much that this had not been our first view of it, that we might have
realised, at least for a day or two, all that we had imagined of the
Kindur. I now overlooked, from a bank seventy feet high, a river as broad
as the Thames at Putney; and on which the goodly waves, perfectly free
from fallen timber, danced in full liberty. A singular-looking
diving-bird, carrying only its head above water, gave a novel appearance
to this copious reservoir: and there was a rich alluvial flat on the
opposite bank.
I could not however perceive much current in these waters, and I traced
the stream downwards, anxious to discover that this breadth and magnitude
continued; but I was undeceived on arriving at a slight fall where the
river was traversed by another rocky dyke similar to those seen higher
up, and over which it fell in a small body like that in the rapid near
the camp. Below this fall the river bore no such imposing appearance, but
assumed that which it wore at the various places where we had visited its
banks much higher up the stream. The meandering Gwydir terminated in this
river a little way below the fall; and I could not perceive any
difference in the appearance of the larger channel below that junction.*
(*Footnote. The situation of this junction afforded a curious
illustration of the principle which guided me in choosing my route from
the great Namoi Lagoon on the 14th of January. Having been then between
two rivers (at A) I chose the bearing of 20 degrees west of north, as
given by the bearing of the high land (B) in the opposite direction, and
this junction (C) was now found to be exactly in that line. That high
land was a projecting point of a range; the course of rivers is
conformable to the angles of such ranges, and therefore the rivers on
each side of me (at A) were not so likely to come in my way in the
direction of AC, as in any other direction I could have chosen. The
chance of finding firm ground in that direction was also better as the
rivers were only likely to continue separate by the protrusion of some
remote offset of ground between them, from the salient feature B.)
Thus terminated our excursion to explore this last-discovered stream; for
there was no necessity for extending it further, as I could not suppose
that it was any other than the Darling. Into this river we had traced the
Gwydir; the junction of the Namoi, also, could not be far distant; and
even that of the Castlereagh was only about 70 miles to the south-west,
which was the direction of the supposed general course of the Darling. It
was probable that the streams we had now explored formed the chief
sources of that river, and that we had connected its channel thus at an
intermediate point, with the basin of all those rivers which had been
crossed by Mr. Cunningham near the coast range above. It therefore
remained for me only to return to the party, which had probably, by that
time, finished the punt; and there to cross the river, in order to
ascertain, by extending our journey, the nature of the country forming
the northern or north-western side of this extensive basin.
RETURN TOWARDS THE CAMP.
Returning towards the camp with these intentions we halted to pass the
night by some ponds near the river, having observed the smoke of the
natives' fires in the immediate vicinity. At this place many trees bore
recent marks of their stone tomahawks, and the soft banks of the river
were much imprinted with their feet; nevertheless, to our disappointment,
none of the natives appeared; for a sight of our fellow-men, the
inhabitants of these deserts idle, had at length become a subject of
considerable curiosity.
OWLS AND RATS.
Owls were numerous in these desolate regions and I noticed many
varieties. I observed two in particular, of a very small description, not
much larger than a thrush. It was not unusual to find them half asleep
sitting on branches from which they seldom stirred until nearly caught by
the men. Rats and mice occurred in many parts under the surface in small
holes, which appeared filled with seeds of grass and plants; and the
scarcity of the former in some places seemed partly owing to the
provident instinct of these little animals.
February 5.
Proceeding on a bearing of 36 degrees East of North we made the line of
marked trees at a distance of about twelve miles from the camp, where Mr.
White remained with the party. The weather being excessively hot, and our
horses tired, I halted at the ponds which had formerly enabled the party
to quench their two days' thirst.
NATIVE DOGS.
Some fires of the natives were burning, and three of their dogs, which
were very tame, hung about our camp and would not be driven away.
NATIVES AT THE CAMP DURING MY ABSENCE.
February 6.
We reached the camp by nine A.M. and I learnt that the natives had
visited it during my absence. Burnett, having shot a duck, was swimming
for it to the middle of the river when a party of them suddenly appeared
on the high bank opposite. The white figure in the water, so novel to
them, continued nevertheless to swim towards the duck until he seized it,
apparently to their great amusement, and they were afterwards prevailed
on to cross the river. They sat down, insisting that our men should sit
also; they talked very much, and laughed at many things. They had taken
their seats in a place exposed to the sun's rays; and from this they did
not stir until they had by signs expressed their wish to remove, which
they then did, under the shade of a tree. At length they ventured to walk
about the tents, and they then insisted on presenting their clubs and
woomeras to our men. None of the names which we had written down from
Barber's statements seemed at all familiar to their ears; but Mr. White
obtained a vocabulary which showed that their language was nearly the
same as that of the aborigines at Wallamoul; the only difference being
the addition of na to each noun, as namil for mil, the eye, etc.
THEIR ATTEMPTS TO STEAL.
They were much disposed to steal. Mr. White observed one to purloin a
teacup from his canteen and conceal it very cleverly in his kangaroo
cloak. Another, notwithstanding the vigilance of our men, had nearly got
off with the carpenter's axe. They looked rather foolish when Mr. White
managed to shake his teacup from the cloak. The number of our party
seemed an object of their attention, and they explained, by pointing in
the direction in which I had gone, and by holding up seven fingers, our
number, that we had not gone down the river unobserved by them. They did
not appear to be acquainted with the use of bread; but they well
understood the purpose of the boat; and when Callide (the sea) was
pronounced to them, they pointed in the direction of Moreton Bay,
repeating very frequently the word Wallingall. They immediately
recognised Whiting, the top-sawyer at the pit, as was obvious by their
imitating, as soon as he appeared, the motion of sawing, and pointing at
the same time to him. They seemed rather struck with the thickness of his
wrists; indeed, they took some interest in comparing their limbs with
those of the party. One man had hair and features very different from
those of his companions, the hair being parted on the forehead, long, and
not curled. A sailor of our party thought he resembled a Malay. On the
discharge of a double barrel they seemed much terrified, and soon after
retired, making signs that they should return, and, by gestures, invited
some of the men to cross the river with them. Two tomahawks were
presented to them, and one of their number was dressed out with old
clothes. Their name for the river was understood to be Karaula. This
interview took place on the day previous to my return to the camp.
TENTS STRUCK TO CROSS. ARRIVAL OF MR. FINCH.
The boat was already in the water, and everything packed up for the
purpose of crossing the river, when Mr. Finch approached the camp, and I
hastened to congratulate him on his opportune arrival.
MURDER OF HIS MEN.
But he told a dismal tale--two of his men having been killed, and all the
supplies, cattle and equipment, having fallen into the hands of the
natives. This catastrophe occurred at the ponds of Gorolei, beyond Mount
Frazer, which Mr. Finch had reached after having been distressed, even
more than our party had been in the same place, for want of water.
LOSS OF HIS HORSE.
This privation had first occasioned the loss of his horse and several
other animals, so that his party had been able to convey the supplies to
these ponds, by carrying forward from the dry camp, only a portion at a
time, on the two remaining bullocks. Mr. Finch at length succeeded in
thus lodging all the stores at the ponds, but being unable to move them
further without the assistance of my cattle he left them there, and
proceeded forward on foot along our track with one man, in expectation of
falling in with my party, at no great distance in advance.
AND SEIZURE OF HIS STORES BY THE NATIVES. MURDER OF HIS MEN.
After ascertaining that we were not so near as he hoped, and having
reached the Gwydir and traced our route along its banks until he again
recognised Mount Frazer, he returned at the end of the second day, when
he found neither his tents nor his men to receive him, but a heap of
various articles such as bags, trunks, harness, tea and sugar canisters,
etc. piled over the dead bodies of his men, whose legs he, at length,
perceived projecting. The tents had been cut in pieces; tobacco and other
articles lay about; and most of the flour had been carried off, although
some bags still remained on the cart. The two bullocks continued feeding
near. This spectacle must have appeared most appalling to Mr. Finch,
uncertain, as he must have been, whether the eyes of the natives were not
then upon him, while neither he nor his man possessed any means of
defence! Taking a piece of pork and some flour in a haversack, he
hastened from the dismal scene; and by travelling all day, and passing
the nights without fire, he most providentially escaped the natives, and
had at length reached our camp.
DESTROY THE BOAT AND RETIRE FROM THE KARAULA.
Thus terminated my hopes of exploring the country beyond the Karaula, and
I could not but feel thankful for the providential circumstance of Mr.
Finch's arrival, at the very moment I was about to proceed on that
undertaking, trusting that I should find, in returning to this depot, the
supplies which I expected him to bring. We had now, on the contrary, an
additional demand on our much exhausted stock of provisions. The season
when rain might be expected was approaching, and we had behind us two
hundred miles of country subject to inundation, without a hill to which
we could in such a case repair. The soil was likely to become impassable
after two days rain, and our cartwheels were represented by the
carpenters to be almost unserviceable. These considerations, and the
hostile disposition of the natives in our rear, not only deterred me from
crossing the Karaula, but seemed to require my particular attention to
the journey homewards. We had at least accomplished the main object of
the expedition by ascertaining that there was no truth in The
Bushranger's report respecting the great river.
February 7.
The wheels of the carts requiring repair before we could commence our
retreat, the carpenters were employed on this work until three P.M. Our
boat (emblem of our hopes!) was sunk in the deepest part of the Karaula.
The natives were heard approaching during the morning; and crows and
hawks, hovering in the air, marked their place in the woods. At length, I
perceived them peeping at us from behind trees; but our feelings towards
the aborigines were very different then from what they had been before we
received the news brought by Mr. Finch, however innocent these people
might be of the murder of his men. I did not therefore invite their
approach, and they were too cautious to be intrusive. The wheels being
repaired at three P.M. we turned our faces homewards, and exactly at
sunset we reached the ponds where I had twice previously encamped.
FORCED MARCH TO THE GWYDIR.
February 8.
In our line of route back to the Gwydir we knew by experience that no
water was to be found. The distance to that river from our present camp
was twenty-three miles; but I considered it better to cross this dry
tract by a forced march in one day than to pass a night without water. By
this arrangement we could halt on the river during the day following to
recover and refresh the cattle after so long a journey. We were
accordingly in motion at half-past 5 A.M., and the early part of the
morning being rather cool we got forward very well. After midday the
weather was very hot. At four P.M. the bush of one of the wheels became
so loose that the cart fell down, and it was necessary to repair the
wheel before it could proceed. Mr. White undertook this with the aid of
some of the men, while I continued the journey with the rest; and it may
be imagined how cleverly the work was done from the fact that my zealous
assistant overtook us with the cart before we reached the end of the
day's journey.
We perceived smoke arising before us when we had arrived within six miles
of our old encampment on the Gwydir, and soon after we found the grass
burning on both sides of our line of route, which, it should be observed,
had been marked by us throughout on advancing into this country, not only
by the wheel tracks in the soft soil, but also by chipping the trees on
both sides with an axe.
NUMEROUS TRIBES SURROUND THE PARTY.
We now found the track of wheels almost obliterated by the prints of
naked feet, as if a great number had followed us, or rather Mr. Finch. A
long-continued cooey was at length heard at a distance, apparently the
signal of our arrival, and from the confused sounds which followed, and
smoke ascending in various places, it was evident that a numerous tribe
was awaiting us. The wearied cattle reached the river just after the sun
had gone down. The crossing place was extremely bad, and the poor cattle
had accomplished a wonderful day's work; nevertheless I considered it
necessary, whatever efforts it might cost us, to encamp on the other
side. That bank afforded an admirable position on which I could with
safety halt the next day and guard our cattle within a fine turn of the
river; whereas the side on which we were was particularly exposed to
annoyance if the natives became troublesome; and it did not command any
favourable run for the cattle which might thus have strayed back towards
the Karaula. Our lightest cart, which was the first, stuck fast in the
bed of the river, the tired bullocks being unable to draw it further. The
moon was about five days old, and with the assistance of its light
everything was carried across by the men, so that by nine o'clock we had
established our camp where I wished, the empty carts alone remaining on
the bank which we had left. The party had been travelling and working
hard without intermission during 16 hours, some men not having even
breakfasted: but the next morning unveiled to them more clearly the
advantages gained by these exertions.
February 9.
I was awoke by the shouts of a numerous tribe of natives, and on going
out of my tent I found that they covered the opposite bank to the water's
edge. They stood on our empty carts in scores like so many sparrows, and
on every old tree or stump likely to afford them a better view of my
camp. But I overlooked them completely, and as they became more and more
vehement in their language and gestures the greater was our satisfaction
in being on the right side of the river. What they did say we could not
guess; but by their loud clamour and gestures all the leading men seemed
to be in a most violent passion. One word only they knew of the language
spoken by our stockmen, and that was budgery, or good; and this I
concluded they had learnt at some interview with Dawkins, who used it
ever and anon in addressing them. They were handling everything attached
to our empty carts, but some of our men went over to prevent any serious
injury being done. All the clamour seemed directed at me, and being
apparently invited by signs to cross to them, I went to the water's edge,
curious to know their meaning. They then assumed the attitudes of the
corrobory dance, and pointed to the woods behind them. "Come and be merry
with us," was thus plainly enough said, but as their dance is warlike and
exciting, being practised by them most when tribes are about to fight,
they must either have thought me very simple, or, as seems most likely,
the invitation might be a kind of challenge, which perhaps even a hostile
tribe dared not, in honour, decline, whatever the consequences might be.
These natives were the finest looking men of their race which I had seen.
The peculiar colour of their bodies, covered with pipe-clay, gave them an
appearance of being dressed. They were in number about 100, all men or
boys, the strongest carrying spears. None of the words of The Barber
seemed at all intelligible to them, but on mentioning the Namoi they
pointed to the south-west, which I knew was the direction in which that
river was nearest to the camp. I recognised the gigantic pipe-clayed man
who had presented his spear at me when we first reached the Gwydir much
higher up. That he was the man I then met he clearly explained to me by
assuming the same attitude and pointing eastward to the place. A good
deal of laughter (partly feigned I believe on both sides) seemed to
soften the violence of their speech and action; but when I brought down a
tomahawk, and was about to present it to the man whom I had formerly met,
and who was the first to venture across, their voices arose with tenfold
fury. All directed my attention to a dirty-looking old man who
accordingly waded through the water to me, and received my present.
Several other stout fellows soon surrounded us, and with the most
overbearing kind of noise began to make free with my person and pockets.
I was about to draw a pistol and fire it in the air when White, mistaking
my intention, observed that their vehemence probably arose from their
impatience at our not understanding them, which I thought very likely.
They repeated so incessantly the words einer, einer, that I ran up the
bank for my book, remembering to have seen the word, and I then found
that einer meant a gin, or female, as will appear on referring to the
vocabulary I obtained at Wallamoul.* The translation of this word
produced a hearty laugh among our men, and Finch drily observed that some
would then be very serviceable. I was in doubt whether they meant to
inquire, by frequently pointing up to our tents, if we had any, or
whether they wished to accommodate us with wives. At length they rather
suddenly drew together on the bank, again making signs of the corrobory
dance, beckoning to some of the men to go with them, and expressing their
intention to depart, but to return again to sleep there, by saying
nangary, and pointing to the ground. This I understood clearly, and very
soon they all disappeared. Fortunately none ascended the bank to our
tents, as it was not desirable they should know our numbers exactly. It
did not appear that they understood the nature and effect of firearms.
Meanwhile our wheels had been found so frail that we must have halted
here under any circumstances in order to strengthen them for the tough
work they were to encounter. The carpenters therefore worked hard at them
this forenoon. In thus returning, I gathered for my friend, Mr. Brown, a
hortus siccus of such plants as appeared new to me; the field of research
being obviously, at this time, confined to our line of route.
(*Footnote. See Appendix 2.1 volume 2.)
PASSAGE OF THE RIVER.
As soon as the natives were gone I set all hands except the carpenters to
extricate the cart, still in the bed of the river; and it was at length
brought up the bank. We next yoked the bullocks to the empty drays and
cart on the opposite side, and all were soon brought safely through the
river. I preferred doing this work when the natives were absent because I
did not wish them to see the difficulties which the passage of a river
occasioned to us.
When the sun was near setting the voices of our unwelcome visitors were
again heard, and they soon appeared gaily painted white for the
corrobory; but foreseeing this return I had forbidden the men from
looking towards them, and in order to discourage their approaches still
more, I directed The Doctor to pace backward and forward on the bank
before our tents, with a firelock on his shoulder and the calm air of a
sentinel, but without noticing the natives opposite. They accordingly
also kept back, although one of them crossed to the bullock-driver who
was alone, watching the cattle on our left, and endeavoured to persuade
him to go over the river with him. The whole at length disappeared
without further parley. Under any other circumstances I should certainly
have been willing to have met their civilities at least halfway, but
recent events had weakened our confidence in the natives.
GOOD EFFECTS OF SKYROCKETS.
When night came on we saw their fires behind the trees at a little
distance from the river, and we also heard their voices; but to complete
the effect of our coolness in the evening, which certainly must have
puzzled them, considering our kindness in the morning, I sent up a
rocket, after which their very fires disappeared, and we heard their
voices no more.
February 10.
From this camp the first day's journey homeward along our old track was
parallel to the river; the second left its banks and led in a south-east
direction to Rodrigo Ponds, where we had encamped on the 17th of January.
On emerging from the wooded margin of the river this morning, I struck
into a new direction, leaving the natives to believe that we still
followed the beaten track towards our old camp on the Gwydir; where they
would no doubt await us that evening, while we pursued the bearing of 64
degrees East of South, in hopes to pass a quiet night at Rodrigo Ponds,
thus stealing a march upon them--a manoeuvre which we successfully
accomplished.
After proceeding some miles in the new direction we found some very bad
swampy ground before us. It was covered with holes brim full of water;
and we at length arrived where long reeds grew in extensive patches. The
inequalities of the surface owing to these holes required the nicest care
in conducting the carts between them, but after frequent halts I was glad
to back out of this swamp, and only regained the firm ground by
considerable turnings and windings. We were not far probably from the
Namoi in that reedy region, but it might have been very extensive. On
regaining its eastern skirts I resumed the course pursued in the morning,
and passed through a tract where the grass and trees were to a
considerable extent on fire. At length however we recognised the
park-like scenery which we had formerly crossed; and with no small
pleasure again we fell in with our former track, at a distance of about
three miles short of our old camp at Rodrigo Ponds.
FUNERAL DIRGE BY A NATIVE FEMALE.
While I stood near this spot, awaiting the arrival of the party which was
still at some distance, I overheard a female singing. The notes were
pleasing and very different from the monotonous strains of the natives in
general. Just then I had been admiring the calm repose of the surrounding
landscape, gilded by the beams of a splendid setting sun, and
anticipating a quiet night for the party. The soft sounds, so expressive
of tranquillity and peace, were in perfect unison with the scene around.
Nothing could have been more romantic, nevertheless I could most
willingly have dispensed with the accompaniment at that time, so
associated were all our ideas of the natives, with murder and pillage.
When my men came up I directed them to give a hurra, in hopes that it
would put the party, whoever they might be, to flight. Yet after a cheer
about as rough as English throats could well utter, the sweet strain, to
my surprise, continued,
And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail.
But this was not the song of hope, but of despair, at least so it sounded
to me under the circumstances, and so it really proved to be, as I
afterwards ascertained.
Men's voices were also heard, as we proceeded quietly to our old ground,
and I could not help regretting that after having given the natives on
the Gwydir the slip, and seen no others the whole day, we should again
find the very spot on which we were to pass the night, pre-occupied by
natives. Our party set up their tents, and the song ceased, but I
proceeded with Mr. White towards the place whence the voices came. We
there saw several persons amid smoke, and apparently regardless of our
presence; indeed, their apathy, as compared with the active vigilance of
the natives in general, was surprising. A young man continued to beat out
a skin against a tree without caring to look at us, and as they made no
advance we did not go up to them. Mr. White, on visiting their fires
however at ten P.M. found that they had decamped.
All this seemed rather mysterious until the nature of the song I had
heard was explained to me afterwards at Sydney by The Bushranger when I
visited him in the hulk on my return. He then imitated the notes, and
informed me that they were sung by females when mourning for the dead;
and he added that on such occasions it was usual for the relatives of the
deceased to seem inattentive or insensible to whatever people might be
doing around them.*
(*Footnote. This custom is not peculiar to Australia, it prevailed also
in the East:
"A melancholy choir attend around,
With plaintive sighs, and music's solemn sound:
Alternately they sing, alternate flow
The obedient tears, melodious in their woe." Pope's Iliad, Book 24 verse
900.
The note here is: "This was a custom generally received, and which passed
from the Hebrews to the Greeks, Romans, and Asiatics. There were weepers
by profession, of both sexes, who sung doleful tunes round the dead."
Harmer Volume 3 page 31.
It is admitted by all that this last practice obtained, and the following
passages are proofs of it. Jeremiah 9:17, 18. "Call for the mourning
women that they may come, and let them make haste, and take up a wailing
for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out
with waters." Idem. pages 33 to 36.)
At the time however this behaviour of the natives only made us more on
our guard, and impressed the men with a sense of the necessity for
vigilance, especially during the night when a watch was set on the
cattle, and two men guarded the camp, while all the rest slept with their
arms at hand.
This day two of the dogs fell behind, and as the whole were miserably
poor we at first supposed that these had died from exhaustion; but as the
weaker of the two came up to us in the evening it appeared then more
probable that the dogs had been detained by the natives, who might be
following our track, and that this one had escaped from them.
DOG KILLED BY A SNAKE.
February 11.
On the march this morning we lost an excellent little watch-dog, named
Captain, by the bite of a snake. While the other dogs with the party grew
mere skeletons, Captain continued in good case, having fared very well on
the rats, mice, bandicoots, etc. which he, under the direction of The
Doctor, who shared the prey, had the sagacity to scrape out of the earth.
Captain was also a formidable enemy to lizards, et hoc genus omne; but
this morning his owner found him engaged with that venomous reptile known
in the colony by the name of deaf-adder, and although compelled instantly
to let it go, it was too late, for poor Captain stretched out his legs
and expired on the spot, having been already bitten by the poisonous
reptile.
BIRDS NESTS.
We repassed this day the place where only I had seen that bush of the
interior, the Stenochilus maculatus. It grew to the height of about four
or five feet, and we found the fruit and flower on the same twig.
Numerous small birds with red bills flew about these bushes, and we
found, slightly attached to the tender top-twigs, their tiny nests in
great numbers, some containing eggs. No instinctive sagacity, such as we
perceive in birds elsewhere, to conceal their nests, was here apparent,
nor was it required; but such nests must have fallen an easy prize even
to very little boys, had there been any; so that the security these birds
enjoyed seemed truly characteristic of the desert and absence of birds of
prey.
The party arrived at the old camp by Pelican Ponds early in the day.
Here, as the men were growing weak, I found it necessary to restore to
them the full allowance of rations, especially as they could no longer
derive any support from the hope of making great discoveries, for no
travellers could have felt more zealous in the cause than these poor
fellows had done throughout the journey.
February 12.
Our way to the next encampment was long, and great part of the ground
full of holes, and unfavourable for travelling. Indeed, I considered it
the worst portion of country intervening between us and the Liverpool
range. This was precisely where the effect of rainy weather on the soil
was to be most dreaded, and, after having been so long exposed to be cut
off in these low levels from any higher ground by floods; the lowering
character of the sky, now that we were about to emerge, only rendered me
more impatient to see the hills again. We accordingly set off at a very
early hour, and after travelling seven miles we halted for ten minutes to
water the cattle at some ponds, where, as the weather was uncommonly
warm, the men were also refreshed with some limejuice mixed with the
water. The cattle came on very steadily afterwards, notwithstanding the
heat.
NUNDEWAR RANGE.
The blue summit of Mount Riddell at length arose above the horizon, and
was as welcome as the sight of land after a long voyage.
NUMEROUS TRIBES FOLLOW.
When we had proceeded about halfway to the next camp we discovered that
we were followed closely by a numerous tribe of natives. One of our men
having dropped behind fell in with them, and was nearly detained by a
fellow who flourished a large iron tomahawk over his head. Another of our
party who came in contact with a native, and who requested him by signs
to come to me, understood him to express by similar means his intention
to go northward. The main body however amounting to one hundred or
upwards, continued to move parallel to our route, and in lines of twos
and threes. Fortunately we were approaching the open plains where I knew
we should be comparatively secure from any treacherous assaults, and it
was therefore probable that they would not follow us so far. We were
advancing however towards those who were feasting on my supplies, not far
from the base of the mountain cone, which was then our landmark. The
natives there were not unlikely to be formidable enemies, encouraged by
their late success; and, with such prospects before us it was by no means
agreeable to be thus followed in rear by others. I was accordingly much
inclined to question the intentions of these if they continued to
accompany our party beyond the woods. As we approached the plains we
perceived fire and smoke before us, on the banks of the large lagoon,
where we were to encamp, and on an angle of ground where our passage was
confined between the lagoon and a narrow muddy channel from the east we
saw seven new but deserted huts, which had been erected on our track, as
if to watch our approach. On reaching them we found one large hut in the
centre, and the others arranged in a semicircle round it, the whole being
of a very substantial construction, and neatly thatched with dry grass
and reeds.
THE PARTY REGAINS THE PLAINS.
We arrived at our old ground after a journey of nine hours, which was the
time exactly in which we had before traversed the same distance.
Our tents now commanded a view of the open plains between us and the
woods from which we had at length emerged. The bold outline of the
Nundewar range in the opposite direction was a comfortable prospect for
us; although we were still to investigate the particulars of the tragedy
which had been acted at their base. A very hot wind blew strongly in the
afternoon, and I was prepared to advance towards the natives had they
followed us into the plain. Mr. White in the meantime kept a sharp
lookout; but the natives prudently remained within their woods.
At the lagoon we again found the beautiful crested pigeon which seemed
peculiar to these parts, as on both occasions we had seen it here, and
only in this vicinity. The remarkable tree on which the fruit had been
before abundant bore now, with the exception of a young crop, one
solitary specimen; the rest having been pulled and eaten by the natives,
as appeared from the stones which lay about. That single specimen could
only be preserved in a drawing; and this I made as well as a very high
hot-wind and our critical situation with respect to the natives
permitted.