Jardine

“ Jardine camped without water, sending old Eulah to try and find some. He soon returned with the welcome news that there was a well-watered creek on a-head, so saddling up again, they drove on and reached it in about three miles. It was well worth the extra fatigue to the stock. They were rewarded by an excellent camp, plenty of green grass, open country and water, which, after a drive of 23 long and dusty miles, was alike acceptable to men and beasts. The creek received the name of Eulah Creek, in honor of the discoverer. ”

“ At about 6 miles Galaa Creek was crossed at Alexander Jardine's marked tree (V in a square) , and the Rocky Island at its junction, before mentioned, were seen. At this point the ranges come into the river on each side. The camp was pitched at about five miles further on, at a fine waterhole, where there was good grass—a welcome change for cattle and horses. It was not reached, however, till about 9 o'clock. The river afforded the party some fine fish—cod, perch, and peel, and a lobster weighing more than half-a-pound. Its channels were very numerous, making altogether nearly a mile in width. ”

“ A. Jardine describes their appearance this morning as "rather neat" at the starting from the camp, the two Brothers, Mr. Binney, Scrutton, and the four black-boys having doffed everything but their shirts and belts. It was well for the whites that their previous habits on the journey had hardened their feet and enabled them to travel without shoes, with but little less hardship than their black companions. This they had acquired by the custom on coming into camp, of going out with the boys opossum and "sugar bag" hunting. ”

“ Alexander Jardine's journey down the Einasleih alone amounted to little less than 300. It may be imagined, therefore, that the return to the habits and fare of civilized life must have been an agreeable change.
After an interval employed by the Brothers in forming a station at Vallack Point, they returned with their father to Brisbane, in H.M.S. Salamander, leaving their younger brother, John, in charge of the newly-formed station, where the cattle were doing well. Mr. Richardson left in the same vessel, and on arriving in Brisbane immediately set to work to chart the route. ”

“ After travelling over a great deal of low scrub and brushwood, which, however, was better than boggy ground ("to be without one or the other," says Alexander Jardine "would have been too much to expect") during a heavy shower of rain, about three o'clock, whilst riding over some low sandy ridges they suddenly came on to a number of blacks, camped on the outside of a thick scrub, at a point where it abutted on a small creek. The travellers immediately unslung their carbines, very dubious however as to whether they would go off (for they were all damp,) and prepared for the customary "set-to." ”

“ Scrub was in sight during the whole of the stage, the crests of the broken ridges being covered with garrawon. (Camp XI.)
October 21.—Mr. Jardine describes to-day's stage as the best the cattle had experienced since taking delivery of them 230 miles back; the river banks along which they travelled were flat and soft, lightly timbered with box, poplar-gum and bloodwood. From a low table-topped range, which they occasionally sighted on the right, spurs of sandstone ran into the river at intervals, but were no obstruction. A cow had to be abandoned knocked up. ”

“ With great secrecy they made their way to Nagasaki, where they concluded an arrangement with the agent of Messrs Jardine, Matheson & Co. for passages on board a vessel which was about to sail for Shanghai (1863) . ”

“ October 14.—The distance travelled to-day was only 11 miles, but described by Mr. Jardine, as equal to 20 of fair travelling ground. The course lay over very stony quartz and granite ridges, which could not be avoided, as they ran into the river, whilst the bed of the stream would have been as difficult, being constantly crossed by rocky bars, and filled by immense boulders. The grass was very scarce, the blacks having burnt it all along the river. There were patches where it never grows at all, presenting the appearance of an earthern floor. ”

“ Returning to the camp they got fresh horses, and returned with the three to the party of the main camp.
December 10.—The two lost horses ("Lucifer" and "Deceiver") being Mr. Jardine's best hacks and favourites, he determined to make one more effort to recover them. Starting with Eulah this morning, he travelled down the creek on which the cattle were camped for six miles west, when he reached some large marine plains and downs, so large, that though they ascended a high tree they could see nothing between them and the horizon ”

“ September 17.—Resuming their journey, the party travelled 21 miles, to a spot about 4 miles below No. 5 camp, on Gaala Creek, and turned out. Here they met with wild lucerne in great abundance, and a great deal of mica and talc was observed in the river. During the day Mr. Jardine shot a bustard, and some fish being again caught in the evening, there was high feeding in camp at night. The bagging of a bustard, or plain turkey as it is more commonly called, always makes a red day for the kitchen. ”

“ It was determined, therefore, to stop and kill a beast, preparatory to a start north, the feed having slightly improved in common with the timber. In addition to the steer that was slaughtered, a shovel-nosed shark was caught and jerked in like manner with the beef. In the afternoon Alexander Jardine explored down the river for seven miles, seeking for a good spot for turning off. The country still improved: the river was completely salt, and in one continuous sheet of running water, in two channels 300 or 400 yards in width, and together about half-a-mile at the spot where he turned back. ”

“ They came on to Lucifer's tracks about 25 miles from the camp, and found the place where he had been drinking the salt water and lying down. From thence they followed his tracks for 15 miles through the tea-tree levels, and camped without water, after having travelled, walking and riding, over between 40 or 50 miles of the most miserable and desolate country imaginable, without finding any fit to drink. Meanwhile Alexander Jardine took another cast to find water and have a look at the coast. ”

“ HO TUNG, or HO HIU SHANG (HONGKONG) , J.P.; Merchant and property owner; I. Dec. 22, 1862; m. 1881. Editc.: Private Chinese Schools; Central School, Hongkong, and Queen's College, Hongkong. Joined Chinese Indoor Staff of I.M. Customs, Canton, after leaving school; resigned in 1880 and joined firm of Jardine, Matheson and Co., Hongkong, as assistant Compradore, and Manager of the native branch of the Hongkong Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., and Canton Insurance Co., Ltd. ”

“ The thunder caused them to rush about, whilst darkness caused the watchers to run against them, and add to their fright. So they were let go. (Camp LIV.) Distance 11 or 12 miles north.
December 29.—The cattle were all gathered this morning, save 10, for which Frank Jardine left two of the black-boys to seek and then follow the party. To his great annoyance they came on at night without them. The course to-day was N.N.E. over boggy tea-tree flats, and low stringy-bark ridges. ”

“ In the present instance, the fat was always devoted to the greasing of the saddles, pack-straps, etc., during the latter part of the journey, when clothing was at a premium; of the explorers themselves, "more aboriginum," who found that the protection it afforded them against cold, wet, and mosquitoes, far outweighed any slight redolence, which, after all, could only be offensive to anyone not equally anointed. At night the Brothers camped on the north side of the Deception, or Jardine, leaving the party again to await their report and return, the cattle being in charge of Scrutton. ”

“ December 15.—The grass was so coarse and dry at this camp, that the precaution was taken of watching the horses all last night, and the party started this morning by moonlight. For 5 miles they travelled over box and tea-tree flats, full of funnel ant-hills, melon and rat-holes, when they reached a narrow deep sandy creek, the course of which was defined by a line of dark green timber, presenting a strong and pleasing contrast with any previously crossed along the "Levels," where they could never be distinguished from a distance, being fringed with the same kind of timber. ”

“ They then returned to camp, and spent the rest of the day in "sugar bag" hunting, in which they were very successful, bringing in as much as made a feed for the whole camp, which was no small quantity. Scrutton and Eulah returned at dark, without having seen any traces of the missing cattle, so it was determined to go on without them, as it would have been madness to have remained longer in such dangerous country. At night they experienced a heavy storm, which is thus described in Frank Jardine's journal:—"We had one of most severe wind and thunder storms this evening that I ever saw. ”

“ You enter an unpaved yard, in fact after a few days’ rain you may call it a garden, for grass grows up without any other encouragement, just as it does in all Eastern gardens. Before you stands a wooden house, shrouded with vine and overshadowed by a fig-tree; there is yet another fig-tree in the garden, and a walnut-tree and another sitting-out-under tree, which finds that sufficient avocation, and therefore yields no fruit of any kind. ”

“ Except where the ridge ran up behind the house into a little crest topped by dark green pines glowing vividly on the vivid sky, and then plunged on into the mountains' heart, the garden stood isolated on the edge of the sheer ridge that fell from the sun-facing front in steep terraces of lemon orchard, vineyard, and garden down to the torrent bed, crawling slowly, slowly, among houses and gardens half hidden in trees, to the mass of clean, red-brown roofs, that lay with never a smoke-stain among trees by the sea, like an estuary of masonry. ”

“ There are green walks between Yew hedges and flower borders, Beech hedges, and a long green tunnel—the Allée Verte—so named in remembrance of a bower-walk in an old family place, no longer in existence. There are nooks and corners, and a grand, well-shaded tennis-lawn, and crown of all, there is the “Fantaisie”! This is a tiny plantation in the field—I mean the Park—date 1874, connected with the garden by a turf walk, with a breadth of flowers and young evergreen trees intermixed, on either hand. Here all my most favourite flowers grow in wild profusion. ”

“ In the garden the news is coming up from below, borne by those unfailing outriders of the spring, the snowdrop and the winter aconite. A modest company; but in their pennons is the assurance of the many-coloured host that is falling unseen into the vast pageant of summer and will fill the woods with the trumpets of the harebell and the wild hyacinth, and make the hedges burst into foam, and the orchard a glory of pink and white, and the ditches heavy with the scent of the meadowsweet, and the fields golden with harvest and the gardens a riot of luxuriant life. ”

“ Not only was there the kitchen garden to think of, but there were the glass-houses [28] as well, fruit grown inside and out, tomatoes, orchids, carnations, violets. Then down at the Hall there were the rose-gardens and lawns, tennis-courts and flower-borders, and the long yew and beech-hedges to be kept trim and close. And besides all these there was the big rock-garden across the river, full of plants which, however much you might suppress them, grew as giants grow in a single night. ”

“ In the spacious yard in front, tall shade trees and bright green grass were growing, while in the well-kept garden at the left, bloomed an endless variety of roses and flowering shrubs, which in their season filled the air with perfume, and made the spot brilliant with beauty. ”

“ My garden, they tell me, was once the garden of an old priory. Under one corner of the lawn is the well that provided the religious with water. It has been covered in with stone, and just over the stone the grass refuses to grow. It is like a tonsure. But though I have been in my garden I think at every hour of the night and of the early morning, I have met no shadowy figures counting their beads or reading their little illuminated books. These good people sleep long and quietly. ”

“ We follow the white, dusty road in the bright sunlight, with now and then glimpses of the mountains above, and come at last to the broad stone gateway of Le Jardin des Plantes, which, entering, plunges us at once into the deep shades and marvellous beauty of a tropical forest. ”

“ There are points in which the small garden has a pull over the large. Its owner can, for instance, remember just how many blooms a special plant afforded last summer, and feel a glow of pride in the extra two of the present season; she can water them herself, tie up their drooping heads, snip off the dead flowers, know them, and love them in an intimate, personal way which is impossible in the large, professionally-run gardens. ”

“ Every available garden wall will be covered with fruit-trees, beautiful in spring time with the pink flowers of peach and nectarine, or the white bloom of pear and cherry. Near the vineries will probably be the flower garden, divided into small beds by narrow gravel walks, and with long strips of garden stretching down along the side of the vegetables or gooseberry bushes, so that even here there will be something of fragrance and of beauty. Even the kitchen-garden itself may be so arranged as to keep the more homely kail-yard out of sight. ”

“ There is some excellent gardening in a long flower-border outside the forecourt wall. Here the size of the house is no longer oppressive, and it comes into proper scale a little way beyond the point where the broad green ways, bounded by noble hedges of ancient yews, swing into a wide circle as they cross, and show the bold niches cut in the rich green foliage where leaden statues are so effectively placed. ”