|
From Mr Wills,
Second in Command, Astronomer & Surveyor of the Party.
Forwarded from Torowoto,
October 30th 1860
Surveyor's
Report
The country, Bilbarka and
Tolarno, in the immediate vicinity of the eastern bank of the
River Darling, presents the most barren and miserable appearance
of any land that we have yet met with. It consists chiefly of mud
flats, covered with polygonum bushes, box timber, and a few
salsolaceous plants, of inferior quality. Above Tolarno there is
a slight improvement, and between Kinchiga and Menindie there is
some fair grazing country. All agree in saying that there is fine
grazing land back from the river; but the want of water will
probably prevent its being occupied, except in a very partial
manner, for many years; and I fear that the high sand ridges,
twenty to forty feet, and in some cases more than sixty feet
above the level of the river banks, will form almost insuperable
barriers in the way of any one who may attempt to conduct water
from the river by means of canals. It appears to me, from the
information that I have been able to obtain that the difficulties
with which settlers have here to contend arise not so much from
the absorbent nature of the soil as from the want of anything to
absorb. This last season is said to have been the most rainy that
they have had for several years; yet everything looked so parched
up that I should have imagined it had been an exceedingly dry
one.
Gales
I noticed that the forests for about
30 miles below Menindie had been subjected to severe gales from
W.N.W. This was so striking, that I at first thought it was the
effect of a hurricane; but I could find no indications of a
whirling force, all the trees and branches lying in the same
direction; besides which, they seemed to have been torn clown at
various times, from the different stages of decay in which they
were found; and Mr Wright has subsequently informed me that
almost every spring they have a gale from W.N.W., which lasts but
a short time, but carries everything before it. It is this same
strip of country, which is said to be more favoured with rain
than that lower down.
Sand Drifting.
One can perceive everywhere
in the neighbourhood of Menindie the effect of the winds in
shifting the sand by the numerous logs in various stages of
inhumation.
The Darling Pea
It appears to be a
disputed question, even on the river, as to the effect of the
Darling pea on horses, some asserting that they become cranky
simply from eating that herb, and others that it is starvation
that makes them mad. I could get no satisfactory information even
as to the symptoms, which seem to vary considerably; but this I
had from a reliable source, that horses will eat the pea in large
quantities without being injuriously affected, provided they can
obtain other food as well; but that when they are on portions of
the river where they can get nothing else to eat, then they soon
get an attack of madness.
Menindie to Scrope Ranges
The country
between Menindie and Kokriega, in the Scrope Ranges, a distance
of thirty-six miles in a northerly direction, is a fine open
tract of country, well grassed, but having no permanent water. At
Kokriega there is a well which may be relied on for a small
supply, but would be of no use in watering cattle in large
numbers. The ranges are composed of ferruginous sandstone and
quartz conglomerate, and as to vegetation are of a very
uninviting aspect. The plain to the south is covered with quartz
and sandstone pebbles. About five miles to the N.E. of the
Kokriega is a spot where the schist rock crops out from under the
sandstone, and the rises here have somewhat of an auriferous
character.
North of the Scrope Range
To the north of
the Scrope Range the country has much the same appearance, except
that there are more trees, and no stones until one reaches the
Mount Doubeny Ranges, a distance of nearly forty miles. At a spot
half way, named Botoga, there are some flats well calculated for
collecting and retaining rainwater.
Mount Doubeny Range.
In this range there
are, no doubts many places where permanent water may be found in
considerable quantities. Two places I may mention where the water
is certainly permanent -Mutwongee, a gully midway between camps
39 and 40; and Bengora Creek, the latter camp.
Country North of Mount Doubeny
From these
ranges up to our present position we have passed over as good
grazing country as one would wish to see; salt bushes of every
kind, grass in abundance, and plenty of water. Amongst the
ranges we found kangaroo grass as 'high as our shoulders, and on
the plains the spear grass up to our knees.
Naudtherungee Creek.
At this creek, which
takes its rise near Mount Lyell, and probably flows into the
M'Farlane's Creek of Sturt, we found a small shallow pond of
water, in the sandy bed of the creek. This did not look very
promising, but on digging I found that the whole, bed of the
creek was a mass of loose sand, through which the water freely
permeated, and that the waterhole we found was only a spot where,
the level of the surface of the sand being below that of the
water, the latter oozed through. I am informed by Mr Wright, who
was here in January last, that the creek contained much more
water then than now.
Country North of Naudtherungee Creek.
For
a few miles to the north of this creek the ground is very sandy,
and timbered with pines, acacias, and several descriptions of
trees with which I am unacquainted. There are two very handsome
trees that I have never seen in any other part of the country
-the leopard tree (called so from its spotted bark), and a tree
which in general appearance much resembles the poplar. On these
sandhills the grass is very coarse, but in the flats there is
good feed. Beyond the sand rises the country becomes more open
again; and at about twelve or thirteen miles one comes to quartz
rises, from which there is a fine -view to the E., N., and W.
Two creeks are distinctly visible by the lines of gum timber;
they take their rise near some hills to the eastward, and passing
around towards the north, join at a point about three miles N.
W., from whence the resulting creek continues in a W.N.W.
direction, as far as the eye can reach. The hills are composed of
an argillaceous schist. On several of the lower rises, quartz
reefs crop out, and some of the quartz which I examined had every
appearance of being auriferous, except the, main one-the colour
of the gold. There are some fine waterholes in the first creek
(Teltawongee), but I cannot say for certain that the water is
permanent. The whole of the country from here to our next camp, a
distance of twenty six miles, is the finest I have seen for
collecting and retaining water ; and the only question as to a
permanent supply of that essential liquid is, whether this part
of the country is subject to long-continued droughts; for the
water-holes that we have met with are not large enough to last
for any great length of time, in the event of the country being
stocked. At ten miles from Teltawongee, we came to the Wonominta
-a creek having all the characteristics of water-courses that
take their rise in hills of schistose formation. At first, the
numberless small waterholes, without the trace of a creek
connecting them, then the deep-cut narrow channel, with every
here and there a fine waterhole. The banks of the creek are
clothed with high grass and marshmallows. The latter grow to an
immense size on nearly all the creeks out here.
The Wonominta Ranges are high, bare-looking hills, lying to
the eastward of the creek; the highest peaks must be between two
and three thousand feet above the sea. The blacks say that there
is no water in them -an assertion that I can scarcely credit.
They say, however, that there is a fine creek, with permanent
water, to the east of the ranges, flowing northwards. At the
point of the Wonominta Creek where we camped there is a
continuous waterhole of more than a mile long, which, they say,
is never dry. It is from fifteen to twenty feet broad, and
averages about five feet in depth, as near as I could ascertain.
From this point Camp No. 43, the creek turns to the N.W. and
around to N., where it enters a swamp, named Wannoggin; it must
be the same that Sturt crossed in coming across from Evelyn
Plains. In going over to Wannoggin, a distance of fourteen miles,
I found the plains everywhere intersected by small creeks, most
of theni containing water, which was sheltered from the sun by
the overhanging branches of drooping shrubs, tall marshmallows,
and luxuriant salt bushes; and at some of them were hundreds of
ducks and waterhens. When crossing some flats of light-coloured
clay soil, near Wannoggin, and which were covered with box
timber, one might almost fancy himself in another planet, they
were so arid and barren. The Wannoggin Swamp is at present dry,
but I believe it is generally a fine place for water. Birds are
very numerous about there, and I noticed that by far the greater
portion of the muslka trees (a species of acacia) contained
nests, either old or new.
At about twenty miles from Wonominta, in a N.N.E. direction,
there is a fine creek, with a waterhole about a mile long, which
we passed; and Mr Wright tells me there is a larger one further
up the creek. The land in the neighbourhood of the Torowoto
Swamp is very fine for pastoral purposes. It is rather low and
swampy, and therefore better for cattle than for sheep. There
appears to be a gradual fall in the land from Totoynya to this
place, amounting to about 500 feet. This swamp can scarcely be
more than 600 feet above the sea, if so much. The highest ground
over which we have passed has been in the Mount Doubeny Ranges,
from Langawirra to Bengora, and that appears to be about 1000
feet above the sea. Mount Bengora is, by barometrical
observation, about 300 feet above the camp at Bengora, but it is
not the highest peak in the range by perhaps fifty or sixty feet;
and I think we may assume that the highest peak does not exceed
1,500 feet above the sea.
Meteorogical
We have been very fortunate
up to the present time as regards the weather, both in having had
plenty of water and moderate temperatures. The thermometer has
never risen above 88.5°' in the shade, and has seldom been
below 50°; the average daily range having been from 58°
to 80°. During our stay on the Darling, the temperature of
the, water varied very slightly, being always between 65°
and 67°. The winds have generally been light, frequently
going all round the compass in the course of the day; but in any
case it has almost invariably fallen calm after sunset. Cirri and
cirrostratus clouds have been very prevalent during the day, and
cummulostratus during the night.
Wells and Creeks
The temperature of the
water in the well at Kokriega, at ten A.M. Oct. 21st,
was 68.5°. being exactly the same as the temperature of the
air. That of the water between the rocks, at Bilpa, at five p.m.
on the same day, was 60° the temperature of air being
75°. The temperature of the water in the sand at
Naudthertingee, at seven A.M. on the 26th, was 59.5°, that
of the air being 62°. At five a.m. October 28th the temperature of the water in. Wonominta Creek was 63.5°,
that of the air being 62°.
Note.-The temperature of the water is always taken within six
inches of the surface. |
|
You are researcher:
