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  what is known as the poison plant of the

[centred] PENINSULAR QUEENSLAND.
THE Empire thus reviews the journal of
Mr. Richardson, surveyor to Messrs Jar-
dine's party:—
A considerable period has now elapsed
since anxiety was relieved by the announce-
ment that Messrs. Jardine had arrived
safely at Cape York, after their long and
arduous journey down the peninsular [sic].
It is known that the whole party left
Rockhampton in May last year; but we
take up Mr. Richardson's narrative at the
time when, in the month of October, they
left Mr. Macdonald's station, on the stream
then supposed to be the Lynd, and started on
a general north-westerly course. They
soon struck another stream, which some of
the party believed to be the real Lynd, but
which Mr. Richardson determined to be
a branch of the river Staaten, so named by
the Dutch. Throughout the whole of the re-
mainder of the journey, in the direction of
Carpentaria the country was very poor,
often broken and stony, and very badly
supplied with water. On the 20th Novem-
ber they had the first encounter with the
aboriginals. The journal says:—"In the
evening we were startled by a shout from
one of our black boys, who espied about
twenty natives coming up from the river
bank. The sun was nearly down, and they
took care to have him at their backs.
They were fully armed and painted;
danced and shouted a little while like
maniacs, and began to throw their spears.
Two shots from our rifles scattered without
touching any of them. Fortunately none
of the party were hit. On the 5th Decem-
ber the party left the Staaten, and pro-
ceeded in search of the River Mitchell,
near which, on the 16th, Messrs. Jardine,
who were in advance, again met the natives,
who attacked them, but were put to flight
without difficulty. Again on the 18th,
says Mr. Richardson, "About five miles
from camp our leader with his brother met
us, saying that a number of natives—
seventy or eighty—had disputed their pas-
sage, throwing spears at them, some of
which came unpleasantly close. Our rifles
and amunition were soon in readiness—
we could hear the natives coming up
around us—when we advanced to the
attack. Many of them lost the numbers
of their mess, but none of our party were
hit." The aborigines, however, seemed
by no means disposed to let the travellers
pass if they could help it. They were now
on the Mitchell, when, on the 21st Decem-
ber, according to the journal, "our black
boys reported that some natives were
hovering about, not far away, armed with
spears, watching our movements. In this
instance it was thought better to carry the
war into the enemy's camp than to have
them throwing spears at us in the night.
Most of our party went after them, and an
exciting chase commenced, so close that
the natives were obliged to throw away
their spears, two dozen of which were
brought into camp. Some are made of
reed, and others of hardwood, and most of
them pointed with fish bones. No one was
hurt on either side."
It is remarkable that notwithstanding
this repeated opposition to their progress,
none of the horses were speared, although
they strayed several times, and were miss-
ing for days together; but these animals
had soon to encounter a more deadly foe
than the blacks. At the commencement
of January the party had emerged from
the barren and inhospitable tracts which
they had been traversing, and came upon
tolerably good pastoral country, on and
near the River Batavia. Here, about the
middle of the month, the horses first
became affected by the poisonous qualities
of some plant or herb, quite distinct from
what is known as the poison plant of the
Flinders, which was never once seen
throughout the journey. The symptoms
exhibited by the horses were excessive
perspiration, blindness, contraction of the
stomach, and thirst. In two days six of
the horses died, and this, with previous
losses, reduced the number to twenty,
which were barely enough to carry the
packs, so that the party had to walk.
Several more horses died from the same
cause; but during all this time the poison-
ous herb seemed to have no effect upon
the cattle. The horses, in most instances,
kept walking round and round until they
dropped.
The party were now making over towards
the east coast, when, on the 15th January,
they again saw the natives, but were not
exposed to any danger. The blacks, to
the number of about fifteen or twenty,
approached the camp unarmed, gesticu-
lating vehemently, and making a great
noise. Mr. Richardson says: "They
would not allow us to come near—that is,
on our approach they retreated, and finally
getting their spears came up with the in-
tention of attacking us. Two shots only
were fired, some of our party then chased
[next column]
them, the natives, however, soon outrun-
ning everybody. They use the womme-
rah to throw their pears [sic], which are pointed
with fishbone; the shaft being made of
hardwood." Shortly after this the good
pastoral country terminated, and towards
the close of January they came to a
river which was called the Jardine, but
Mr. Richardson believed it to be the
Escape River.
All the party were now suffering from
sore feet, and walking was difficult and
painful. Provisions, too, were running
short, and a foal belonging to a mare that
had been bogged and left behind was
killed and partly consumed for food, Mr.
Jardine not being disposed to slaughter
any of the cattle. Altogether, the journey
along the peninsular [sic] was far from being a
pleasant one. In some of the scrubs on
the banks of the creeks they found "many
wild and some luscious-looking fruits;
many eatable and good. These would no
doubt improve with cultivation." More
game was found here—that is on the
Jardine, or Escape River—than they had
seen for a long time—"kangaroo, wallaby,
scrub and plain turkeys, black cockatoos,
parrots, and many pigeons." The rains
were heavy, commencing always at mid-
day; but the nights were fine.
They were now approaching the termina-
tion of their journey, but were much de-
layed owing to the winding course of the
river, which led them to believe that,
after all, it was a western water. Finally,
however, they became satisfied that it was
really the Escape River, and accordingly
they retraced their steps, and after much
difficult travelling through a wretched
country, and being often stopped by creeks
and swamps, they crossed by means of a
punt, formed by stretching a bullock's
hide upon a frame. The sea was now
plainly visible, and also Prince of Wales
Island, and the blacks became more friendly.
"On the 10th March," says the journal,
"some natives came to the camp, during
_______________________________________
the morning, and were sent away to bring
some fish in exchange for tobacco. Five
of them returned in the evening, each
bringing his supply of shell-fish, receiving
some tobacco, of which they are all very
fond, in return. They smoked the leaf by
inhaling a long draught from a peice [sic] of
bamboo, which is previously filled by
means of a tube made of a large green leaf,
in which a leaf of the weed is rolled, lit,
and the smoke blown into the bamboo.
This singular method of smoking had
great effect on them, making them very
stupid." Two days afterwards, the whole
party encamped within two miles of the
settlement of Somerset, which Mr.
Richardson thus describes:—
The site of the town seems to be admi-
rably selected on the S. W. side of a chan-
nel, averaging perhaps 800 yards width,
which divides Albany Island from the
main land. The coast line is very irre-
gular. Ridges, 100 to 150 feet above the
sea level, end abruptly in the channel,
separating small sandy or muddy bays, the
shore of Albany Island also presenting
indentations and projections. The ridges
are generally clothed with scrub,
although on the S. E. side of
the town the slopes are bald.
The land between the ridges slopes down
gently to the beach of each bay, being in
some instances more openly timbered.
Small fresh water streams or rivulets find
their way slowly to the sea. Good water
is also to be found by digging a few feet
deep in the hollows. The soil is very poor
white sand, although vines and shrubs
grow very luxuriantly in the scrubs which
cover so much of the neighbouring country.
On the ridges the soil is very thin, iron-
stone frequently cropping out. Sandstone,
too, is laid bare, by the weather and time,
immediately above high water mark. The
views are picturesque from any point, and
a great relief to the eye after travelling for
five months through nothing but forest."
Bad as a portion of the route is, it may
be considered to have been now established
as practicable. Many will call to mind the
melancholy story of poor Kennedy dying
in the wilderness, and the faithful abori-
ginal Jackey weeping over him, and finally
interring the body, after his rude fashion.
They were the pioneers of the peninsular [sic]
and Jackey was the first, to all human
knowledge, who passed from the settled
districts to Cape York, where, to use his
own simple language, he was "very glad "
when he espied the ship that was waiting
to receive his unhappy master. The dif-
ficulty has now been conquered, and the
indomitable colonists have traversed, and
laid the foundations of civilization along
the whole of the eastern coast, from South
to North.