Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2) - George Grey (best free e book reader txt) 📗

Volume 1 Chapter 5 (At Hanover Bay) Pg 53

Had Received Made Me Feel So Stiff And Sore That The Slightest Movement

Was Painful; The Rainy Season Was However Now So Near That It Would Not

Do To Lose A Single Day Of Preparation. Directly After Breakfast

Therefore,  Whilst One Boat Went Off To Search For Fresh Water And A

Convenient Spot To Land The Stores At,  I Accompanied The Captain Of The

Vessel In Another Up Prince Regent's River.

 

Effect Of Tides.

 

In General The Openings To These Rivers From The Sea Are Very Narrow,

Forming Gorges Which Terminate In Extensive Basins,  Some Fifteen Or

Twenty Miles Inland; The Levels Of These Reservoirs Are Subject To Be

Raised Thirty-Seven Feet By Every Tide Through Their Funnel-Like

Entrances,  Along Which The Waters Consequently Pour With A Velocity Of

Which It Is Difficult To Form Any Adequate Idea. By Such A Tide Were We

Swept Along As We Entered This River By Its Southern Mouth.

 

On Each Side Of Us Rose Lofty Red Sandstone Cliffs; Sometimes Quite

Precipitous,  Sometimes,  From Ancient Landslips,  Shelving Gradually Down

To The Water,  And At These Points Covered With A Dense Tropical

Vegetation.

 

Green Ants.

 

At Several Such Places We Landed,  But Always Found The Ascent To The

Interior So Covered With Large Loose Rocks That It Would Have Been

Impossible To Have Disembarked Stores Or Stock On Any. The Thickness Of

The Vegetation Made It Difficult To Force A Way Through,  And Whenever,  In

Attempting So To Do,  A Tree Was Shaken,  Numbers Of A Large Green Sort Of

Ant Fell From The Boughs On The Unhappy Trespasser And,  Making The Best

Of Their Way To The Back Of His Neck,  Gave Warning By A Series Of Most

Painful Bites That He Was Encroaching On Their Domain. Yet It Was

Sometimes Ludicrous To See One Of The Party Momentarily Stamping And

Roaring With Pain,  As He Cried Out To A Companion To Hasten And Assist

Him In Getting Rid Of An Enemy At Once So Diminutive And So Troublesome.

 

Parrakeets.

 

We Saw A Great Number Of Beautiful Parakeets,  As Well As A Remarkable

Hawk Of A Bright Cinnamon Colour,  With A Milk-White Head And Neck. As

There Was No Apparent Probability Of Our Finding Hereabouts A Spot Suited

To Land Our Stock And Stores At We Returned In The Afternoon To The

Schooner,  And Found That The Party In The Other Boat Had Been As

Unsuccessful As Ourselves.

 

Description Of Landing-Place,  And Encampment At Hanover Bay.

 

December 5.

 

The Long-Boat Was This Morning Despatched To The Ravine Where We Had

Procured Water On The First Day Of Our Landing To Bring A Few Casks For

Volume 1 Chapter 5 (At Hanover Bay) Pg 54

Immediate Use,  And To Examine The Country Again In That Direction; Whilst

I Accompanied The Captain To Examine The Inlet At Which Captain King Had

Watered In His Visit To These Parts,  In 1821.

 

Watering Place At Hanover Bay.

 

The Approach To This Watering-Place Was Through A Deep Narrow Channel,

Bounded On Each Side By High Cliffs,  Against Which Our Voices Echoed And

Sounded Strangely; Whilst From The Quantity Of Light Which The Cliffs

Excluded A Solemn Sombre Hue Was Imparted To The Scene. Channels Similar

To The Main One Branched Off On Each Side; They Were However So Narrow

That The Dense Vegetation Which Grew On Their Sides Nearly Met In The

Centre,  Giving Them An Appearance Of Dark And Refreshing Coolness; Most

Of These Terminated In Cascades,  Now Dry,  But Down Which The Water In The

Rainy Seasons Pours In Torrents: At The Foot Of Some Of These Cascades

Were Deep Cavities,  Or Natural Basins,  Worn In The Solid Rock By The

Falling Of The Water,  And These Were Still Full Of The Clearest Cool

Water,  In Which Sported Small Insects And Animals Of Kinds Quite Unknown

To Me.

 

As We Were Swept Up The Main Opening By The Tide And Sea-Breeze Its Width

Gradually Contracted,  Till At Last We Came To A Small Island Bearing A

Single Large Mangrove Tree,  Which We Named One Tree Island. The Shores

Now Became Thickly Wooded With Mangroves,  From The Boughs Of Which

Depended In Clusters Small But Well-Flavoured Oysters,  And Soon After

Passing The Island We Found Our Farther Progress Arrested By Large

Rounded Blocks Of Sandstone,  From Amongst Which Fresh Water Came Pouring

In A Hundred Little Cascades.

 

Beautiful Ravine.

 

We Here Quitted The Boat To Enter A Deep And Picturesque Ravine,  Of Which

The Mean Breadth Was Only One Hundred And Forty-Seven Feet,  Bounded On

Each Side By Perpendicular Cliffs From One Hundred And Fifty To Two

Hundred Feet High; In The Centre Ran A Clear Stream,  Sometimes Forming

Deep And Extensive Pools,  Sometimes Divided Into Innumerable Little Rills

Which Gurgled Along Through A Dense And Matted Vegetation; And Bordered

On Each Side Of The Main Bed By A Lofty Species Of Eucalyptus,  With A

Bark Resembling Layers Of Coarse White Paper,  And A Foliage Pendant And

Graceful; Whilst The Great Height Of These Trees For They Raised Their

Heads Above The Cliffs,  Contrasted Strangely With The Narrowness Of The

Ravine In Which They Grew. The Space Between These Trees And The Cliffs

Was Filled By A Dense Forest,  Principally Composed Of The Pandanus And

Wild Nutmeg Trees. Rich Grasses And Climbing Plants Occupied The Interval

And Twined Around The Trees,  Whilst Parakeets Of The Most Vivid Colours

Filled The Wood With Their Cries. Nothing Could Be More Striking Than

This Singular And Novel Scene; And We Were All Delighted As We Wound Our

Way Up The Beautiful Ravine.

 

The Same Character Continued For The Next Mile Or Two,  Whilst

Volume 1 Chapter 5 (At Hanover Bay) Pg 55

Occasionally Branch Valleys Of Similar Character Ran Off From A Main One,

Giving It At These Points A Much Greater Width. The Summit Of The Cliffs

Was Found To Be Generally A Rocky Sandy Tableland,  Thinly Wooded; And

From What I Had Seen It Appeared To Me That I Was Not Likely To Find A

Place Better Adapted For Landing The Stores Than The Main Ravine.

 

On Embarking To Return We Could Perceive No Sign Of One Tree Island; And

As We Swept Down Towards The Sea The Leafy Top Of A Tree Seen In The

Clear Water Under The Boat Was The Only Evidence Of Its Existence; Though

A Few Hours Ago It Had Formed So Prominent An Object.

 

Fate Of Two Of The Dogs.

 

The Long-Boat Returned To The Vessel Half An Hour After Us And Brought

Eighty Gallons Of Water; But The Spot Whence It Was Obtained Had Been

Found Very Inconvenient For The Purpose. At The Waterhole They Had Met

Ranger,  The Dog We Lost The First Day; But He Appeared Quite Mad,  And

Without Recognising Any Of Them Ran Wildly Away Into The Woods. The Body

Of Poor Ringhalz Was Also Found,  Who Had Died On The Spot Where He Fell.

 

Labour Of Disembarking Stores.

 

December 6.

 

A Party Landed With Me Soon After Dawn At The Same Point As Yesterday,

For The Purpose Of Selecting The Spot At Which To Fix Our Temporary

Encampment. We Traced The Valley For About Four Miles Through Scenery

Precisely Similar To That Which We Had Found Before; Many Branch Valleys

Ran Of From The Main One And Differed From It In No Other Respect But

That They Were Much Narrower. The Most Favourable Spot I Could Find For

Our Purpose Was Distant About Half A Mile From The Landing-Place And

Situated At The Junction Of Two Valleys,  Upon A Neck Of Land Which Ran

Out From The Base Of The Cliffs. This Was The Nearest Point To The Sea At

Which We Should Have Been Safe From Any Sudden Inundation; It Combined,

Moreover,  The Advantages Of Affording A Good Supply Of Food And Water For

The Stock,  Of Not Being Within Reach Of Missiles Thrown From The Cliffs,

And At The Same Time Of Being Situated Close To An Easy Ascent To Their

Summit. I Should Have Preferred Pitching The Encampment On The Tableland

At The Top,  But The Labour Of Carrying The Stores Up So Precipitous An

Ascent Would Have Been Too Great For The Men,  And Would Have Delayed Our

Movements For A Longer Time Than I Thought Prudent.

 

Preparations For Encamping.

 

Having Selected The Point For Our Encampment The Next Task Was To Form A

Pathway To And From The Landing-Place; And This,  On Account Of The Rocky,

Broken Nature Of The Ground,  Was One Of No Slight Difficulty. We First

Set Fire To The Bush,  And Being Thus Enabled To See Our Way A Little We

Commenced Moving The Rocks And Stones,  And Continued This Operation Until

Near Sunset,  When We Returned On Board.

 

Volume 1 Chapter 5 (At Hanover Bay) Pg 56

Natives Seen.

 

December 7.

 

We Landed Again Early This Morning And Went On Working At The Pathway.

The Men Dined On Shore At Noon,  About Which Time It Was Nearly Low-Water.

We Had Repeatedly Seen Footmarks Of The Natives In The Mud,  And This

Probably Was A Favourite Fishing Resort Of Theirs,  For This Day They Came

Upon The Cliffs Over Our Heads And Shouted At Us,  As If To Try And

Frighten Us Away. Finding However That This Produced No Effect,  They

Threw Down Some Large Stones At Us And Then Decamped.

 

In The Course Of The Night (2 A.M.) We Had One Of Those Sudden Heavy

Squalls From Off The Land Which Are So Common On This Coast. I Slept On

Deck And Was Called To Hear A Loud Roaring On The Shore: This Was

Evidently The Noise Of A Rushing Wind,  Which Gradually Drew Nearer And

Nearer And At Last Reached Us,  Accompanied By Lightning,  Thunder,  And

Heavy Rain; It Did Not However Last For More Than Twenty Minutes,  And We

Received No