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The supply seemed good, but it only drained in from the sides. Every time a horse drank we had to clear out the sand for the next; it therefore took until late before all were satisfied. The country was still open, and timbered with fine black oak, or what is so called in Australia. It is a species of casuarina, of the same family but distinct from the beautiful desert oak.
From the hill on which the hut stands, it runs away westward, almost in a direct line, for three miles, so that the position commands a view of both the reaches, which are overhung by the casuarina and flooded-gum. Rich alluvial flats lie to the right of the stream, backed by moderate hills, that were lightly studded with trees, and clothed with verdure to their summits.
After bathing, remounting, we made good another twenty miles, and camped in triodia and casuarina sandhills. We reached the camp at the pass by nine a.m. on the 19th, having been absent ten days. Gibson and Jimmy were there certainly, and nothing had gone wrong, but these two poor fellows looked as pale as ghosts.
The noble Bread-fruit tree its arching branches clothed with its peculiarly rich and glossy foliage; the elegantly shaped Casuarina, the luxuriant Pandanus, and the Palms, with their stately trunks, and green crests of nodding leaves, imparted to the scene a character of oriental beauty.
The paths across the plains, which varied in breadth from three to eight miles, were numerous; but they had not been recently trodden. The creek continued to have a thick brush of casuarina and acacia near it, to the westward of which there was a rising open forest track; the timber upon it being chiefly box, cypress, and the acacia longifolia.
It is made of casuarina wood, and is generally three feet in length, an inch and a quarter broad, and half an inch thick. At the end a double slip of melon shell, three and a half inches long, crossing diagonally, serves as a handle, and when used, the end rests against the palm of the right hand, the three last fingers grasp the stick, and the forefinger and thumb loosely retain the spear.
Its whorls are changed on the twisted parts into clearly visible spirals. The ironwood or Casuarina quadrivalvis is sometimes observed to produce the same anomaly on its smaller lateral branches. Coming now to the discussion of the way in which the twisting is the result of the spiral disposition of the leaves, we may consider this arrangement on stems in the adult state.
I followed the Casuarina Creek up to its head, and called it "Big Ant-hill Creek," in consequence of numerous gigantic strangely buttressed structures of the white ant, which I had never seen of such a form, and of so large a size.
May 1. We travelled west by north, to latitude 18 degrees 55 minutes 41 seconds, over almost a dead flat, which was only interrupted by a fine Casuarina creek, with a broad sandy bed, coming from the south-south-west. The soil was stiff, and the forest in which the Box tree prevailed, was very open.
The tone of Baudin's letters betrayed more annoyance than his language actually expressed; but assuming that his professions were true, it must be admitted that he had reason to feel offended. He had left Sydney on excellent terms with the governor, who had not only wished well to his undertaking, but had assisted in its prosecution by enabling the Casuarina to be purchased.
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