Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 5

That the lake is sometimes a splendid sheet of water was obvious in its line of sh.o.r.es. These were overhung on the south-western side by rocky eminences which in some parts consisted of a red calcareous tuff containing fragments of schist; in others, of trap-rock or basalt which was very hard and black. The opposite sh.o.r.e was lower, with water-worn cliffs of reddish clay. By these cliffs and the beaches of drifted sand under them, we perceived that the prevailing winds in all times of high flood came from the south-west; the north-east side being very different from the opposite, which was free from sand and bore no such marks of chaffing waves.

TRAP AND TUFF.

At two places the banks are so low that in high floods the water must flow over them to the westward and supply, as I supposed, Campbell's lake, called Goorongully, and that to the north-east of Regent's lake.

Upon the whole it appeared that the trap which originally elevated the western sh.o.r.e had either partially subsided, or that it was connected with a crater or cavity of which the only vestige is this lake. The calcareous conglomerate was unlike any rock I had seen elsewhere, consisting in part of a tuff resembling the matrix of the fossil bones found in limestone fissures. It is also worthy of notice that it appears in some low undulations which extend from the lake to the river, and that the channel conveying the waters to the lake lies in a hollow between them.

NATIVES THERE.

On first approaching the lake we saw the natives in the midst of the water, gathering the mussels (unio). I sent Piper forward to tell them who we were, and thus, if possible, prevent any alarm at our appearance.

It began to rain heavily as we rode round; and although detached parties of gins on the south sh.o.r.e had taken fright, left their huts and run to the main camp, I was glad to find, when we rode up, that they remained quietly there, under cover from the heavy rain. These huts or gunyas consisted of a few green boughs which had just been put up for shelter from the rain then falling. The tribe consisted of about a hundred.

WOMEN.

The females and children were in huts at some distance from those of the men. A great number sat huddled together and cowered down under each gunya, their skinny limbs being so folded before their bodies that the head rested upon the knees. Among the faces were some which, being hideously painted white (the usual badge of mourning) grinned horribly; and the whole was so characteristic a specimen of life among the aborigines that the heavy rain did not prevent me from making a sketch.

While I was thus employed the natives very hospitably made a fire in a vacant gunya, evidently for the purpose of warming poor Barney, our guide, who seemed miserably cold, having no covering except a jacket, thoroughly wet.

MEN.

The men were in general strong, healthy, and muscular, and among them was one who measured six feet four inches, as we afterwards ascertained at our camp. My chief object in visiting the lake was to cultivate a good understanding with these natives in the hopes that one of them might be induced to accompany me down the Lachlan. The facility with which Piper, then at a distance of 200 miles from his native place, Bathurst, conversed with these people showed that their dialects are not so varied as is commonly believed; and I had little doubt that he would be understood, even on the banks of the Darling.

THEIR ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTRY LOWER DOWN. OOLAWAMBILOA.

He ascertained from one of these natives of Regent's lake that after eight of our daily journeys, according to his comprehension, the bed of the Lachlan would contain no water, and that we must go to the right across "the middle," as Piper understood, reaching in four days more a lagoon called Burrabidgin or Burrabadimba: that there I must leave the carts and go with the native on horseback; and that in two days'

travelling at the rate we could then proceed, we should reach Oolawambiloa, a very great water. They also said that water could be found in the bush at the end of each of those four days' journey by one of their tribe who would go with us and who had twice been at the great water. All this news made me impatient to go on; but we had to remain a day or two for the light cart. It rained heavily during the whole afternoon; nevertheless a body of these natives accompanied us back, keeping pace with our horses.

GAIETY OF THE NATIVES.

Each carried a burning torch of the resinous bark of the callitris, with the blaze of which these natives seemed to keep their dripping bodies warm, laughing heartily and pa.s.sing their jokes upon us, our horses and particularly upon our two guides of their own race, Piper and Barney, who seemed anything but at home on horseback with wet clothes dripping about them.

COLOUR LIGHT.

These natives were of a bright copper colour, so different from black that one had painted his thighs with black chequered lines which made his skin very much resemble the dress of a harlequin.

MR. STAPYLTON SURVEYS THE LAKE.

Mr. Stapylton proceeded with a party to make a survey of Cudjallagong lake and creek, an operation which could be accomplished with less inconvenience as that gentleman's equipment could not come up to us until the 16th.

CAMPBELL'S LAKE.

He extended his survey to the small lake to the north-east, the first discovered by Mr. Oxley and named by him Campbell's lake. Mr. Stapylton found only a gra.s.sy plain without a drop of water. By an opening from Cudjallagong lake he proceeded to another likewise seen by Mr. Oxley. It had also become a verdant plain, nevertheless I thought it was necessary to distinguish it on my map by its native name of Goorongully, as Mr.

Oxley had not supplied any to it.

April 15.

The sky had continued overcast although no rain fell after the evening of the 13th. This day however the wind changed from north-west to west and the sky became clear.

PIPER OBTAINS A GIN.

The surveying party returned from the lake by midday; and with it came also Piper, my aboriginal interpreter, who had gone there chiefly with the view of obtaining a gin, a speculation which I thought rather hazardous on his part; yet, strange to say, a good strong woman marched behind him into our camp, loaded with a new opossum-skin cloak, and various presents, that had been given to Piper with her. How he contrived to settle this important matter with a tribe to whom he was an utter stranger could not be ascertained; for he left our party on the lake by night, going quite alone to the natives, and returned from their camp in the morning followed by his gin. To obtain a gin at Cudjallagong was the great ambition of most of the natives we had left behind, among whom were two, friends of Piper, whom I compelled to return, and who were most anxious to accompany us that they might obtain wives at this place.

ASCEND GOULBURN RANGE.

April 16.

The morning was beautifully clear and I set out for the summit of Goulburn range, named Yerrarar, fourteen miles distant from the camp. The country we rode over was so thinly wooded that the hill was visible nearly the whole way. The soil was good and firmer than the common surface of the plains, the basis being evidently different, consisting rather of trap than of the sandstone so prevalent elsewhere. At exactly halfway we pa.s.sed a hill of trap-rock, connected with a low range extending towards still higher ground nearer Regent's lake, on the eastern side. This was the first trap-rock I had seen besides that of the lake during our whole journey down the Lachlan.

VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT.

On the summit I found hornstone and granular felspar. The whole of Goulburn range consisted also of the same rock. It was rather light-coloured, partially decomposed, and lay in rounded nodules and boulders which formed however ridges across the slopes of the ground, tending in general 12 or 14 degrees East of North. The hills were everywhere rocky, so that the ascent cost us nearly an hour, and we were forced to lead our horses; but it was well worth the pains for the summit afforded a very extensive prospect. The most interesting feature in the country was Regent's lake which, although fifteen miles distant, seemed at our feet, reflecting like a mirror the trees on its margin; and on the other side we looked into the unknown west, where the horizon seemed as level as the ocean. In vain I examined it with a powerful telescope, in search of some remote pic; only a level and thinly wooded country extended beyond the reach even of telescopic vision.

With the spirit-level of my theodolite I found that the most depressed part extended about due west by compa.s.s, a circ.u.mstance which first made me imagine the Lachlan might have some channel in that direction.

WARRANARY.

Of the Mount Granard range I could see and intersect only that remarkable cape-like point which was also the high land visible to the westward from Mount Granard itself, being named Warranary by Barney. Closer to the summit on which I stood were various ranges besides that of which it was the highest point, but even this was not, strictly speaking, a range, for it consisted on the southward of different ma.s.ses, separated by portions of low, level country.

A NEW CORREA.

I recognised many of my stations, such as Mount Cunningham, Bolloon, Hurd's Pic, Mount Granard, etc. and having taken all the angles I could with the theodolite, and gathered some specimens of a curious new correa,* and a few bulbs of a pink-coloured amaryllis which grew on the summit,** we descended and, just as it became quite dark, reached the camp where I found that the men had arrived with Mr. Stapylton's light cart, although his own horse, having strayed at Cordowe, did not accompany it.

(*Footnote. Resembling C. rupicola of Cunningham, but with larger and shorter flowers, and differently shaped leaves. Young shoots were covered with a white down which easily rubbed off. C. leucoclada, Lindley ma.n.u.scripts; ramulis albo-tomentosis gracilibus, foliis ovato-oblongis obtusissimis petiolatis supra glabris scabriusculis subtus tomentosis, floribus subsessilibus, corolla campanulata quadrifida, calyce cupulari truncato.)

(**Footnote. Calostemma carneum, Lindley ma.n.u.scripts; foliis...tubo perianthii limbo subaequali, corona truncata dentibus sterilibus nullis, umbellis densis, pedicellis articulatis exterioribus longioribus. Flowers pink.)

CHAPTER 3.3.

North arm of the Lachlan.

Quawys.

Wallangome.

Wild cattle.

Ascend Moriattu.

Leave the Lachlan to travel westward.

No water.

Natives from Warranary.

Course down the Lachlan resumed.

Extensive ride to the westward.

Night without water.

Continue westward, and south-west.

Sandhills.

Atriplex.

Deep cracks in the earth.

Search for the Lachlan.

Cross various dry channels.

Graves.

Second night without water.

Native tumulus.

Reedy swamp with dead trees.

Route of Mr. Oxley.