84 NOTES OF TRAVEL 1859-60 



at Dubbo, became very narrow as we followed it westwards. We 

 found plenty of good grass near its banks, but the country was 

 dry in most places and grass was scanty ; there was abundance 

 of stunted saltbush, but this the horses would not touch. About 

 90 miles from Dubbo, at Youngenbill, we left the river and 

 crossed in 12 miles to Gunendaddy on Dack Creek. The 

 country became more and more bare of grass as we travelled 

 down the creek. At Brown's Station, where was a large dam, 

 they gave me as much salt beef as I cared to take, and the 

 people who lived at the stations we passed were most hospitable 

 and considerate. At Brown's I learnt that the Commissioners, 

 having completed their work of inspection, had returned. I had 

 missed them, but was informed that they had not been molested 

 by the blacks ; they had seen a camping place, however, which 

 the blacks had deserted shortly before they reached it. I was 

 glad of my gun, though, for although no blacks attempted any 

 tricks upon my party of two, it helped to supply us with very 

 iine game, and this was infinitely more to our taste than the 

 everlasting salt junk that the occupants of stations so readily 

 supplied us with. From Duck Creek we crossed in about 20 

 miles on to the Marra. There was no road here, but we kept a 

 pretty good course and struck a track near Marra Creek which 

 took us on in the right direction. The country we passed over 

 between the creeks was partly scrubby and partly plain, and we 

 saw here large numbers of emus and red kangaroos as well as the 

 ordinary gray ones. Owing to the dryness of the country small 

 birds, budgerygars and galas excepted, and quadrupeds were scarce 

 and I observed very few insects. That night we camped on the 

 Marra, but our slumbers were disturbed by a heavy fall of rain 

 accompanied by lightning which was very vivid, and as we had 

 no tent our dunnage suffered. The heat next day soon dried 

 our belongings and we continued our journey through country 

 which, owing to an insufficient rainfall, looked very desolate. 

 It seemed, indeed, that the horses would starve ; they would not 

 touch the small saltbush, but what grass they found must have 

 been exceptionally nutritious, for hungry as they undoubtedly 

 were, they did not suffer seriously in condition. It is easy, hav- 

 ing seen the country as it then was, to realize the dismay of 

 early explorers who regarded such extensive areas as little 

 better than a desert. I had to think of my horses, which, up 

 to the time we left Dubbo, had been stabled and cornfed. With 

 the thought in my mind of what they might soon be reduced 



