Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia Volume II Part 14

(*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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sing 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 GRa.s.s.

Not a spike of gra.s.s 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 s.p.a.ce 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 gra.s.s 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 circ.u.mstances.

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 compa.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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.

CHAPTER 3.5.

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 (Fusa.n.u.s ac.u.minatus) 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 ma.n.u.scripts; acaulis, foliis linearibus longissimis semiteretibus margine scabris dorso striatis: apice dentato tabescente, panicula mascula effusa abbreviata, bracteis ac.u.minatis scariosis pedicello brevioribus.)

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 antic.i.p.ate 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 a.s.sembled 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 pa.s.s 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 s.p.a.ce 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 circ.u.mstances 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 a.s.suming 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.sy 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.)

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 pa.s.sed 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 gra.s.s 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 gra.s.s 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.