26 CROSS LIVERPOOL RANGE. [CH. I. 



by the natives Hecknadliey, but we left the beaten track 

 (which was so very steep that it was usual to unload carts in 

 order to pass) and took a new route, which afforded an easier 

 ascent. All had got up safely, and were proceeding along a 

 level portion, on the opposite side of the range, when the 

 axle of one of the carts broke, and it became necessary to 

 leave it, and place the load on the spare pack-horses, and 

 such of the bullocks, taken out of the shafts, as had been 

 broken in to carry pack-saddles. We reached at length, a 

 water-course called " Currungai," and encamped upon its 

 bank, beside the natives from Dart Brook, who had crossed 

 the range before us, apparently to join some of their tribe, 

 who lay at this place extremely ill, being affected with a vi- 

 rulent kind of small-pox. We found the helpless creatures, 

 stretched on their backs, beside the water, under the shade 

 of the wattle or mimosa trees, to avoid the intense heat of 

 the sun. We gave them from our stock some medicine; and 

 the wretched sufferers seemed to place the utmost confidence 

 in its efficacy. I had often indeed occasion to observe, that 

 however obtuse in some things, the aborigines seemed to en- 

 tertain a sort of superstitious belief, in the virtues of all kinds 

 of physic. I found that this distressed tribe were also 

 " strangers in the land," to which they had resorted. Their 

 meekness, as aliens, and their utter ignorance of the coun- 

 try they were in, were very unusual in natives, and excited 

 our sympathy, especially when their demeanour was con- 

 trasted with the prouder bearing and intelligence of the 

 native of the plains, who had undertaken to be my guide. 



Here I at length drank the water of a stream, which flowed 

 into the unexplored interior ; and from a hill near our route 

 I beheld, this day, for the first time, a distant blue horizon, 

 exactly resembling that of the ocean. 



Uec. 0. — At an early hour we continued the journey to- 

 wards the j)lains, guided by the natives, and along a cart 

 track, which led towards some cattle stations. We crossed 

 a low ridge of lich earth, iu which were embcdtJed nodules 



