Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/262

158 PHILLIP 1791 April. New country. Kanguoos. At the river. Ck)untiiigr paces. Heading a creek. lightwood for the purpose of punting tliem over on their return ; or if no wood could be found for that purpose, to help them across with lines which were taken with them. The first day^s travelling was directed towards the north- west, so as to cross a part of the country which had not yet been explored. After passing several deep ravines and going round the heads of others, over a barren but well-timbered country, they found some good land before them, but it did not last long ; for after a few hours walking they came to a dry, arid soil, mostly covered with loose stones. Having met with some pools of good water towards evening, they made their fires near them and laid down for the night. During the day they had seen large numbers of kangaroos — of which there were two varieties, a large grey one (pata- gorang), and a small red one (baggaray). So plentiful were these animals that in one herd alone there could not have been less than forty. Starting again the next morning, a few hours brought them to the river, which at that point was about three hun- dred feet wide, with high banks ; the soil about it being a light sand, extending several hundred yards from the river, and covered with fine straight timber. They were now eighteen and a half miles from Rose Hill. As the current in the river was running down, they set ofE to follow its wind- ings ; a man being told off to count his paces as he went, in order that '^ they might always know their situation in the woods, and the direction it would be necessary to take when they returned across the country. The party marched in Indian file, '^the person who went first always falling into the rear whenever he found himself fatigued." During the day they saw ^' several good situations, as Phillip termed them — ^meaning sites for farms — on both sides of the river. As they moved along its banks, wild ducks were seen in great numbers on the water, but they were too shy to give anyone a shot at them. In the afternoon, they came upon a creek which they found too deep to cross, and were therefore obliged to leave the river in order to pass round the head Digitized by Google