Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume I Part 22

At dawn on Sunday the 1st the party started; and these two days I occupied myself in making magnetic and astronomical observations. Our lat.i.tude I found by two meridian alt.i.tudes of the moon to be 16 degrees 0 minutes 45 seconds south, and our longitude by chronometer 125 degrees 11 minutes east.

REPORT OF ADVANCED PARTY.

April 3.

Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton's party came in at 12 o'clock this day, reporting as follows: That they proceeded about eighteen miles from the camp upon a course of 195 degrees from the north, and the remaining half upon a course of 155 1/2 degrees; that the whole of their route lay over a country utterly impa.s.sable for horses owing to the steepness of the hills; that they crossed a great number of under-features at right angles to their route, between which lay small streams flowing away to the westward, and which under-features were so steep in their descent to the southward that, in going down, the men repeatedly fell: both gra.s.s and water were however everywhere abundant; and they saw, in the spots where the gra.s.s was most luxuriant, the root which I found on the hill at our first encampment on the good land. The last point they attained was a lofty hill which ran out from a range to the eastward, from which range sprang also all the under-features that they had crossed. From this hill they had an extensive view to the northward, eastward, and westward. The land they saw to the northward is laid down upon my map.

THEIR DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.

To the eastward they saw nothing but ranges of hills, precisely resembling those that we had crossed since entering this mountainous district; and to the westward others of the same nature, but gradually falling in that direction, whilst on the other hand the land seemed to rise gently to the eastward, though they saw no very high hills in an easterly direction. To the southward their view was impeded by a very high bluff point, distant six or seven miles, and a line of cliffs under which they conceived that a river or an opening of the sea may run, but if so, it could not be a stream of great magnitude. Their view of the base of the cliff was however impeded by the under-features of the hill on which they stood. They also noticed, as a very remarkable circ.u.mstance, that there were no signs of these mountains having been visited by the natives. The first part of their route lay over an extensive plain, four miles in width, which bore no appearance of the great native conflagrations having ever reached it. This was so generally the case that, when they halted, they were unable to obtain a sufficiency of firewood. They saw a native dog of the regular Australian breed; kangaroos were abundant, but these as well as all other game were much less wild than any of the party had before observed.

The foregoing summary of the information brought back rests not on the report of any one individual but expresses the opinions of the party with regard to those points on which they were all agreed; and the only one as to which I have any distrust is that of the distance they went, which I believe to be overrated; having always found the estimates of every one of the party as to the daily distance travelled very erroneous, and sometimes more than doubled. This indeed is a mistake well known to be of common occurrence, and very difficult to guard against in a new and wild country, and when I consider the diminished strength of the men's pedestrian powers, and the weights they had to carry, I am disposed to calculate that the total direct distance they made did not exceed, if it equalled, twelve miles.

WANT OF FIREWOOD.

Their report of want of firewood is singular as, in all other parts which we pa.s.sed over, even upon plains of a similar character though not so highly elevated or so difficult of access, we had always found the ground thickly covered with trees which had fallen from the effects of the native fires.

The only remarkable circ.u.mstances about the spot we were encamped in were the great coldness of the nights and mornings; and moreover that exactly at nine o'clock every morning a cold breeze, in character precisely resembling a sea-breeze, set in from the south-east and lasted until about half-past three in the afternoon.

RETURN. COMMENCEMENT OF MARCH BACK.

April 4.

We this day started on our march homewards. I was afraid, from the appearance of the weather, that we might soon have rain, and, as a continuance of it for even three or four days might have prevented our pa.s.sing the rivers for several weeks, it became necessary that this part of our march should be accomplished with the utmost celerity. I therefore made the first river before I allowed a halt for breakfast. On our route we pa.s.sed the spot where, on the 29th ultimo, we had been compelled to kill the horse; the native dogs had already made it a perfect skeleton and scattered its bones about.

NATIVE AND HIS DOG.

I committed unintentionally this day what must have appeared to the natives a very wanton act of aggression: as we were pa.s.sing the river, a dog, not of the Australian breed, came from a pa.s.s in the rocks on the opposite side, moving quietly towards us over some flat rocks; when he had advanced a few yards from the pa.s.s he stopped and looked back, so that from his manner I might have known that his master was near, but without reflection I fired and struck the ground close to him; he became alarmed and ran back in the same line he had come; I now took up my own rifle and just as he turned a point in the rocks I fired, and, although a very long shot, I struck him far forward in the shoulder. For a moment he staggered, then turned round and limped up a glen in the hills in quite a different direction. I had neither time nor strength to follow him, but on pa.s.sing the river I found from the tracks that minute made that a single native had been coming down to the river with the dog, and had (probably from hearing the shots) turned sharp off to the right and made his escape into some bushes. This day the weakness of our last sheep obliged us to kill it.

CONTINUATION OF ROUTE BACK. CHANGE OF TRACK.

April 5.

I continued on our old track this morning until I had pa.s.sed the other river, and then, quitting our former route, made a push straight over the sandstone ridge for our old enemy the marsh, as I felt sure after the present long continuance of fine weather that it would be now quite pa.s.sable. We encamped this night on the sandstone range under a group of lofty firs, or rather pines.

April 6.

I found a very easy route over the sandstone, quite pa.s.sable in fine weather, but after rains, I think, from the marshy nature of the ground, that it would present some difficulty. The marsh itself was perfectly pa.s.sable, could without any difficulty be drained, and consisted of good and fertile land. A remarkable circ.u.mstance connected with it was the great depth of the beds of its streams, the banks in some places being fourteen feet above the existing water level, whilst I could observe no signs of the water having ever risen to that height. In the afternoon I once more struck our old track, which I quitted again in the evening. We halted a few hundred yards from two remarkable heaps of stones of the same kind as those I have before mentioned.

CURIOUS NATIVE MOUNDS OR TOMBS OF STONES.

April 7.

This morning I started off before dawn and opened the most southern of the two mounds of stones which presented the following curious facts:

1. They were both placed due east and west and, as will be seen by the annexed plates, with great regularity.

2. They were both exactly of the same length but differed in breadth and height.

3. They were not formed altogether of small stones from the rock on which they stood, but many were portions of very distant rocks, which must have been brought by human labour, for their angles were as sharp as the day they were broken off; there were also the remains of many and different kinds of seash.e.l.ls in the heap we opened.

My own opinion concerning these heaps of stones had been that they were tombs; and this opinion remains unaltered, though we found no bones in the mound, only a great deal of fine mould having a damp dank smell. The antiquity of the central part of the one we opened appeared to be very great, I should say two or three hundred years; but the stones above were much more modern, the outer ones having been very recently placed; this was also the case with the other heap: can this be regarded by the natives as a holy spot?

We explored the heap by making an opening in the side, working on to the centre, and thence downwards to the middle, filling up the former opening as the men went on; yet five men provided with tools were occupied two hours in completing this opening and closing it again, for I left everything precisely as I had found it. The stones were of all sizes, from one as weighty as a strong man could lift, to the smallest pebble.

The base of each heap was covered with a rank vegetation, but the top was clear, from the stones there having been recently deposited.

Pa.s.s IN MOUNTAIN RANGE.

In the afternoon we proceeded on our route, travelling nearly north.

After marching some distance we traversed at right angles a variety of under-features terminating in sandstone cliffs, but the hills on our right were composed of the same black rock as the chain in which Mount Lyell lies. Private Mustard being ill, I gave him my horse and tried to walk, but injured myself materially by so doing. We were obliged to encamp at the head of a large mangrove inlet.

April 8.

It being Sunday I halted all the morning and only started late in the afternoon. Our route lay through a mountainous country and consequently our progress was slow. Quartz was here largely developed in rocks. We halted this evening in a valley surrounded by mountains.

Pa.s.s MOUNT LYELL.

April 9.

We started at dawn and soon found that the valley we had encamped in was the true pa.s.s across the range of mountains. It ran in nearly a south-west direction to the foot of Mount Lyell. Here I halted for breakfast; and, on finding my position by cross bearings, which I was now able to do, and comparing it with my position by dead reckoning, was glad to find that the error only amounted to 150 yards. The valley we travelled up in the morning was fertile, connected with several other large ones of similar character, and contained two small lakes, or large ponds of water, the least of which was elevated considerably above the low ground in the neighbourhood. In the afternoon we crossed the mountains by a narrow neck, which is the best pa.s.s over this range of hills for anyone travelling to the south and east. We crossed our old track twice in the afternoon and encamped in the evening under a conical hill.

April 10.

Started at dawn, travelling nearly north-west, and crossed the heads of all the streams which I had before seen emptying themselves into the river Glenelg in the opening lying between Mount Sturt and Mount Eyre.

Just under the point where we encamped for the night was a large marsh in which my horse got bogged and I had a severe fall.

CONTINUATION OF ROUTE.

April 11.

On starting this morning all the party insisted that they saw a hill, under which our old track had pa.s.sed. I felt convinced that such could not be the case; and, had it been so, an error of four miles must have existed in my map: yet all were so positive of their correctness that I felt it would appear like obstinacy in me not to yield to the general opinion. I therefore quitted our direct course to make for the foot of this hill, and there convinced myself that I was right; yet, even when we had now pa.s.sed it, proceeding on our route, I heard several remark, "We shall soon march back here again." But this evening I had the pleasure of halting under the sandstone range, and the very hill we had wished to gain.

RECOVERY OF BURIED STORES.

April 12.

We marched early, and on the way pa.s.sed more native tombs; when we came to the place where the horse had been left I found that, through inadvertence on the part of the man who led him, he had been starved to death, having been left tethered. This discovery shocked me much. Some of the stores which had been left where he fell and covered with a tarpaulinremained uninjured. We proceeded onwards to the camp where I had lain so long wounded, and, on arriving found all our provisions in good order, the natives apparently not having since visited the spot. We were not a little glad to find our preserved meats which had been left buried here. Halted for the night, and enjoyed our repast.

PRECAUTIONS ON REACHING HANOVER BAY.

April 13.

After digging up our supply of preserved meats yesterday we had made rather more free with them than was prudent in men who had been for so long a time compelled to subsist upon very scanty fare, and in consequence had been nearly all affected with violent sickness; and, as six of the party, including Mr. Lus.h.i.+ngton and myself, were now ill, we did not start very early; the remaining ponies were also so weak that they could scarcely carry themselves, and we therefore were only able to place very light loads upon them.

I have already described the very difficult nature of the country we had to traverse; but the roads we had previously constructed through it proved extremely serviceable. So little had they been injured that they formed a very fair and pa.s.sable line of communication. Early in the evening we crossed the Lus.h.i.+ngton and halted at the summit of the cliffs which formed its northern bank.

April 14.

I sent the most efficient of the party back with the horses for the remaining stores whilst with four men I remained in charge of the tents.