Feb. 28.—­Successive thunder-storms, with which this spot seemed more favoured than the country we had recently passed, had rendered the vegetation very luxuriant.  The rotten sandy ground absorbed the rain rapidly, and the young grass looked very fresh.  The scrub receded a little more from the river, and an open country extended along its banks.  The scene was, therefore, most cheerful and welcome.  Mr. Gilbert and Charley, who had made an excursion up the river in search of water, returned with the agreeable information that a beautiful country was before us:  they had also seen a camp of natives, but without having had any intercourse with them.

Feb. 29.—­It was cloudy in the morning, and became more so during the day, with easterly and north-easterly winds.  As soon as our capricious horses were found, which had wandered more than eight miles through a dense Bricklow scrub, in search of food and water, we started and travelled about ten miles in a north-east direction, leaving the windings of the river to the left.  The character of the country continued the same; the same Ironbark forest, with here and there some remarkably pretty spots; and the same Bastard-box flats, with belts of scrub, approaching the river.  At about nine miles from Skull Creek, which I supposed to be in latitude 21 degrees 42 minutes, the Isaacs breaks through a long range of sandstone hills; beyond which the country opens into plains with detached patches of scrub, and downs, with “devil-devil” land and its peculiar vegetation, and into very open forest.  The river divides into two branches, one coming from the eastward, and the other from the northward.  It rained hard during our journey, and, by the time we reached the water-hole which Mr. Gilbert had found, we were wet to the skin.

In consequence of the additional fatigues of the day, I allowed some pieces of fat to be fried with our meat.  Scarcely a fortnight ago, some of my companions had looked with disgust on the fat of our stews, and had jerked it contemptuously out of their plates; now, however, every one of us thought the addition of fat a peculiar favour, and no one hesitated to drink the liquid fat, after having finished his meat.  This relish continued to increase as our bullocks became poorer; and we became as eager to examine the condition of a slaughtered beast, as the natives, whose practice in that respect we had formerly ridiculed.

As I had made a set of lunar observations at Skull camp, which I wished to calculate, I sent Mr. Roper up the north branch of the Isaacs to look for water; and, on his return, he imparted the agreeable intelligence, that he had found fine holes of water at about nine or ten miles distant, and that the country was still more open, and abounded with game, particularly emus.

CHAPTER VI

Heads of the Isaacs—­the Suttor—­flint-rock—­indications of water—­dinner
of the natives appropriated by us—­Easter Sunday—­alarm of an old
woman—­natives speaking A language entirely unknown to Charley and
brown—­A barter with them—­mount M’CONNEL.