e of old Nadbuck, who had turned back with some natives he
met on the way to our camp, with letters from Moorundi. The old man was
really overjoyed to see us again. He said he had left Camboli well
advanced on his journey, and that he would have reached Lake Victoria
before he (Nadbuck) had reached us. Some of the letters he brought
requiring answers, I was unable to arrange for my intended departure on
the 19th. The 20th being a day of excessive heat, we could not have
ventured abroad; but as I have stated, on the 21st we commenced the
journey under more favourable circumstances than we had anticipated. The
old boocolo took leave of Mr. Browne and myself, according, I suppose, to
the custom of his people, by placing his hands on our shoulders and
bending his head so as to touch our breasts; in doing which he shed
tears. Topar, seated on the cart, was followed by his mother who never
expected to see him again. I had given Topar a blanket, which he now gave
to his parent, and thus set off with us as naked as he was born. I
mention this the more readily because I have much to detail to his
discredit, and therefore in justice, I think, I am bound to record
anything to his advantage. At a quarter of a mile from the camp we
crossed the little sand hill which separates the two basins of Cawndilla
and Minandichi, from which we descended into the flats of the latter, but
at a mile rose, after crossing a small creek, to the level of the great
plains extending between us and the ranges. Our first course over these
plains was on a bearing of 157 degrees to the west of south, or N.N.W.
nearly. They were partly covered by brush and partly open; the soil was a
mixture of clay and sand, and in many places they resembled, not only in
that but in their productions, the plains of Adelaide. A good deal of
grass was growing on them in widely distributed tufts, but mixed with
salsolaceous plants. The trees consisted of a new species of casuarina, a
new caparis, with some hakea, and several species of very pretty and
fragrant flowering shrubs. At twelve miles we changed our course to 135
degrees to the west of south, or N.W., and kept upon it for the remainder
of the day, direct for a prominent hill in the ranges before us.
[Note 7. Coonbaralba Station, No. 2.] The hills Mr. Poole had visited then
bore a few degrees to the east of north, distant from twelve to fourteen
miles, and were much lower than those towards which we were going,
continui