we should have no difficulty in crossing to the main stream, and that however short our progress might be, it would greatly curtail our journey to Laidley's Ponds, I decided on trying the new route.
Mr. Browne saw a great many red kangaroos (foxy), some very young, others very large; and he chased a jerboa, which escaped him. He also saw a new bird with a black crest, about the size of a thrush.
The morning of the 14th had been cloudy, but the day was beautifully fine; so that we had really enjoyed our march, if so it might be called. From our tents there was a green and grassy slope to the shore of the lake, with a group of two or three immense trees, at distances of several hundred yards apart, and the tranquil waters lay backed by low blue hills.
On the morning of the 15th the barometer fell to 27.672, the thermometer standing at 56 degrees, at 8 a.m. The air was heavy, the sky dull, and the flies exceedingly troublesome. All these indications of an approaching change in the weather might have determined me to remain stationary, but I was anxious to push on. I therefore directed Mr. Poole to complete the survey of the lake, and at eleven moved the whole party forward.
The picturesque scenery which had, up to this point, adorned the shores of Lake Victoria ceased at two miles, when we suddenly and at once found ourselves travelling on sand, at the same time amidst reeds. The rich soil disappeared, the trees becoming stunted and low. As the travelling was also bad, we went along the margin of the lake, where the sand was firm, although marked with ripples like those left on the sea-shore by the tide, between the water and a line of rubbish and weeds inside of us, so that it appeared the lake had not yet risen so high as the former year. We had moved round to its eastern side, which being its lea side also, the accumulation of rubbish and sand was easily accounted for. We traversed about eight miles of as dreary a shore as can be imagined, backed, like Lake Bonney, by bare sand hills and barren flats, and encamped, after a journey of thirteen miles, on a small plain, separated from the lake by a low continuous sand ridge, on which the oat-grass was most luxuriant. The indications of the barometer did not deceive us, for soon after we started it began to rain, and did not cease for the rest of the day, the wind being in the N.E. quarter.
It continued showery all night, nor on the morning of the 16th was there any appearance of a favourable change. At nine a steady and heavy rain setting in we remained stationary.
The floods in the Rufus had obliged us to make a complete circuit of the lake, so that we had now approached that little stream to within six miles from the eastward. Our friend Nadbuck, therefore, thinking that we were about to leave the neighbourhood, rejoined the party. With him about eighty natives came to see us, and encamped close to our tents; forty-five men, sixteen women, and twenty-six children. I sent some of the former out to hunt, but they were not successful.
Amongst the natives there were two strangers from Laidley's Ponds, the place to which we were bound. The one was on his way to Moorundi, the other on his return home. Pulcanti had given us a glowing account of Laidley's Ponds, and had assured us that we should not only find water, but plenty of grass beyond the hills to the N.W. of that place. This account the strangers confirmed; and the one who was on his way home expressing a wish to join us, I permitted him to do so; in the hope that, what with him and old Nadbuck, we should be the less likely to have any rupture with the Darling natives, who were looked upon by us with some suspicion. I was, in truth, very glad to take a native of Williorara up with me, because I entertained great doubts as to the reception we should meet with from the tribe, on our arrival there, in consequence of the unhappy occurrence that took place between them and Sir Thomas Mitchell, during a former expedition; and I hoped also to glean from this native some information as to the distant interior. Both the Darling natives were fine specimens of their race. One in particular, Toonda, was a good-looking fellow, with sinews as tough as a rope. It also appeared to me that they had a darker shade of colour than the natives of the Murray.
Nadbuck turned out to be a merry old man, and a perfect politician in his way, very fond of women and jimbuck (sheep), and exceedingly good-humoured with all. He here brought Davenport a large quantity of the fruit of the Fusanus, of which he made an excellent jam, too good indeed to keep; but if we could have anticipated the disease by which we were afterwards attacked, its preservation would have been above all price. The natives do not eat this fruit in any quantity, nor do I think that in its raw state it is wholesome. They appeared to me tol ive chiefly on vegetables during the season of the year that we passed up the Murray, herbs and roots certainly constituted their principal food.
I had hoped that the weather would have cleared during the night, but in this I was disappointed. On the 17th we had again continued rain until sunset, when the sky cleared to windward and the glass rose. We were however unable to stir, and so lost another day. About noon Nadbuck came to inform me that the young native from Laidley's Ponds, who was on his way to Moorundi, had just told him that only a few days before he commenced his journey, the Darling natives had attacked an overland party coming down the river, and had killed them all, in number fifteen. I therefore sent for the lad, and with Mr. Browne's assistance examined him. He was perfectly consistent in his story; mentioned the number of drays, and said that the white fellows were all asleep when the natives attacked them amongst the lagoons, and that only one native, a woman, was killed; the blacks, he added, had plenty of shirts and jackets. Doubtful as I was of this story, and equally puzzled to guess what party could have been coming down the Darling, it was impossible not to give some little credit to the tale of this young cub; for he neither varied in his account or hesitated in his reply to any question. I certainly feared that some sad scene of butchery had taken place, and became the more anxious to push my way up to the supposed spot, where it was stated to have occurred, to save any one who might have escaped. I felt it my duty also before leaving Lake Victoria to report what I had heard to the Governor.
As the barometer fell before the rain, so it indicated a cessation of it, by gradually rising. The weather had indeed cleared up the evening before, but the morning of the 18th was beautifully fine and cool; we therefore yoked up the cattle and took our departure from Lake Victoria at 9 a.m. At first the ground was soft, but it soon hardened again. Shortly after starting we struck a little creek, which trended to the south, so that we were obliged to leave it, but we could trace the line of trees on its banks to a considerable distance. We traversed plains of great extent, keeping on the overland road until at length we gained the river, and encamped on a small neck of land leading to a fine grassy enclosure, into which we put our cattle. One side of this enclosure was flanked by the river, the other by a beautiful lagoon, that looked more like a scene on Virginia water than one in the wilds of Australia.
As we crossed the plains we again observed numerous cattle tracks, and regularly beaten paths leading from the brushes to the river, to the very point indeed where we encamped. The natives had previously informed us, as far back as the place where we shot the first bullock, that we should fall in with other cattle hereabouts; we did not however see any of them during the day. Our tents were pitched on the narrow neck of land leading to an enclosure into which we had turned our animals. It was so narrow indeed that nothing could pass either in or out of it without being observed by the guard, so that neither could our cattle escape or the wild ones join them. It was clear, however, that we had cut off the latter from their favourite pasture, for at night they were bellowing all round us, and frequently approached close up to our fires. We had no difficulty in distinguishing the lowing of the heifers from that of the bullocks; of which last there appeared to be a large proportion in the herd.
Some of our cattle were getting very sore necks, and our loads at this time were too heavy for me to relieve them. Flood therefore suggested our trying to secure two or three of the bullocks running in the bush. We therefore arranged that a party should go out in the morning to scour the wood, and drive any cattle they might find towards the river, at which I was to be prepared to entice them to our animals. Accordingly Mr. Poole and Mr. Browne, with Flood and Mack, started at sunrise. It was near twelve, however, when Mr. Browne returned with Flood, who had met with a sad accident, and had three of the first joints of the fingers of his right hand carried off by the
