Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2) - George Grey (best free e book reader txt) 📗
- Author: George Grey
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Position Which We Had Selected Was However So Unfavourable That We Did
Not Succeed In Reaching The River, And My Wound Became So Painful That I
Was Scarcely Able To Crawl Back To The Pony.
We Then Returned To The Tents, Which We Reached In The Afternoon, And I
Sent Another Party Out To Examine The Country And To See If They Could
Find A More Favourable Position For The Tent Where We Might Be Less
Exposed To The Mosquitoes. The Remainder Of The Men Were Employed In
Repairing The Packsaddles And In Mending Our Shoes, Which Were In A Very
Dilapidated Condition. The Detached Party, On Their Return, Reported That
They Could Not Find A More Favourable Position For The Tents; And That We
Appeared To Be On A Low Marshy Tongue Of Land Which The River Nearly
Flowed Round. We This Day Saw The Tracks Of An Emu, And Of Several Large
Dogs, And Kangaroos.
Ascend A Hill.
March 4.
By Sunrise I Had Gained The Foot Of The Highest Hill Near Our Encampment.
It Is A Very Remarkable Rocky Eminence; In Height Above The Immediate
Base It Was Only 250 Feet, But It Rose By A Regular Steep Slope From The
River, Which Was Distant About Four Miles. I Do Not Think Therefore That
Its Height Above The Level Of The Sea Was Less Than 800 Feet. I Was
Unable To Ride Up This Hill, From The Rocky Nature Of The Ground, Which
Was Composed Of A Basalt Resembling That Of The Isle Of France; Its Sides
Were Slightly Wooded And Clothed With A Fine Grass Nearly As High As
Myself. From The Heaviness Of The Dew, Walking Through A River Would Have
Been About As Agreeable As Walking Through This Grass; But When I Had
Reached The Summit The View Amply Repaid Me For The Trouble Of The
Ascent.
View Of The Glenelg From It.
The River Flowed Through A Rich And Fertile Country At The Base Of The
Hill, Having In Some Places Hereabouts A Triple Channel Formed By Large
And Apparently Fertile Islands, And Its Width Must Have Been At Least
Three Or Four Miles; It However Ran Away So Much To The North-Eastward
That I Began To Fear It Might Be A Great Salt-Water Inlet, Communicating
In Some Manner With Prince Regent's River, And That We Might Thus Find
Ourselves Upon A Large Island. I Had A Good View Of The Valley For 10 Or
12 Miles In An Easterly Direction Over A Country Still Very Fertile, But
All That I Saw Tended To Make Me Believe That The River Had Some
Communication With The Sea, Somewhere Towards The North-East.
We Reached The Camp Before Breakfast; And, As This Was Sunday And Our
Ponies Were Rapidly Improving From The Goodness Of Their Feed, I
Determined To Halt Here For A Day Or Two Whilst A Detachment Examined The
Country To Ascertain, If Possible, Whether We Were On An Island Or Not,
And Whether It Was Possible To Cross The River Near Our Present Position.
Volume 1 Chapter 8 (To The Glenelg River) Pg 105
March 5.
This Morning Accordingly An Exploring Party Started; And, As It Was
Necessary That They Should Traverse The Country On Foot So As To Be Able
To Cross The Low Marshy Grounds Near The River, I Was, On Account Of My
Wound, Unable To Accompany Them, And Therefore Occupied Myself In Making
A Set Of Magnetic Observations.
March 6.
This Afternoon Mr. Lushington And The Party Returned, Having Found The
Northern Bank Of The River To Consist Of Low Marshy Ground Covered With A
Luxuriant Vegetation, And In Some Places With Such Forests Of Mangrove
Trees That It Was Impossible To Approach The Stream. They However
Succeeded In Reaching One Of The Channels Of The River, Which Was Upwards
Of 400 Yards Wide; The Rise And Fall Of Tide Was Here About Twenty Feet,
And The Current, Of Course, Extremely Rapid. They Reported The River As
Being, To All Appearance, Navigable, And That The Tide Only Set In From
The Westward.
The River.
As The Southern Bank Of The River Was Bordered By High Rocky Hills They
Saw Nothing Of The Country In That Direction. Their Report Was On The
Whole Satisfactory, For It Appeared That The Good Country Still Extended
Along The Northern Bank, And That We Were Upon The Mainland.
Porpoises Seen.
A Good Idea May Be Formed Of The Size Of The River Where The Party Made
It From The Circumstance Of Their Seeing A Large Shoal Of Porpoises.
Iguana. Denseness Of Vegetation.
March 7.
This Morning We Started Early In A North-Easterly Direction And Travelled
All Day Through A Very Fertile And Picturesque Country. On Our Left Lay
Hills Covered With Grass, And On Our Right Extensive Plains, Through
Which Ran The Glenelg. The Vegetation In These Was So Luxuriant That It
Choked The Fresh Water Up; And Whole Plains Were Sometimes Thus Inundated
Ankle Deep. The Country Was Thinly Timbered, But In General The Trees
Were Of A Very Great Size: One Particularly Took My Fancy, Having Very
Large Leaves About The Colour Of Those Of The Horse-Chestnut, And Which
Cast More Shade Around Them Than Any Other Which I Have Seen In
Australia.
In The Afternoon, As We Were Passing Through A Densely Vegetated Bottom,
We Saw A Very Large Iguana Run Up A Tree. This Brute Was Of A Beautiful
Green Colour And Five Or Six Feet Long; It Sat On The Tree, Making A
Noise Somewhat Like A Snake, And Was The Largest And Ugliest Of The
Volume 1 Chapter 8 (To The Glenelg River) Pg 106Lizard Tribe Which I Have Ever Seen On Land. As We Could Make No Use Of
It I Thought It Would Be Wanton To Kill It; So, After Examining It As
Well As We Could, We Moved On, Leaving It Undisturbed.
The Black Flies On This Day Changed Their Character, And Became Much
Smaller Than Those I Had Hitherto Seen.
March 8.
We Made But Little Progress Today On Account Of The Denseness Of The
Vegetation, Which Was So Luxuriant That We Found Great Difficulty In
Forcing Our Way Through It; In Several Instances Indeed It Was Wholly
Impassable; And, After Making An Attempt To Penetrate Through A Jungle,
We Were Obliged To Turn About And Coast Round It. The Numerous Streams We
Met With Were Also A Serious Impediment, For Many Of These Were So Muddy
And Deep That We Had Great Difficulty In Finding A Place Where We Could
Cross.
Signs Of Natives.
We Halted For Breakfast Near A Stream Of This Kind, Under The Shade Of A
Large Group Of The Pandanus. This Was Evidently A Favourite Haunt Of The
Natives, Who Had Been Feeding Upon The Almonds Which This Tree Contains
In Its Large Complex Fruit, And To Give A Relish To Their Repast Had
Mingled With It Roasted Unios, Or Fresh-Water Mussels, Which The Stream
Produced In Abundance. The Remains Of Some Old Spears Were Also Lying
About, But The Natives Themselves Were Not Visible.
Immediately After Breakfast I Ascended A Hill To See If We Could In Any
Way Get Clear Of The Deep Stream On The Banks Of Which We Had
Breakfasted. The Glenelg Was Distant About Three Miles To The South, And
I Found That, In Order To Disengage Ourselves From The Waters Which
Almost Encompassed Us, We Must Turn Off To The North-West, And Thus
Almost Double Back On Our Former Track, As There Was No Other Resource. I
Returned At Once To The Party, And We Spent The Rest Of The Day In
Crossing Two Deep Streams, And Then Proceeded About A Mile To The
Eastward, Where We Halted For The Night On The Bank Of A Rocky
Watercourse, But Not Containing A Drop Of Water. The Timber Today Was
Larger Than I Had Yet Seen It, Affording Many New Kinds, And One In
Particular, Resembling In Appearance And Quality The English Ash.
March 9.
We Moved Through A Low Country, Densely Vegetated, And Still Abounding In
Deep Sluggish Streams, Almost Unapproachable, On Account Of A Dwarf
Bamboo And Other Tropical Plants Which Clothed Their Margins. Some Of
These Streams Were Twenty Feet Deep And Upwards, And Looked More Like
Canals Than Natural Watercourses.
Cascade Of The River.
The Point Where We Halted For The Night Was Not Very Distant From The
Volume 1 Chapter 8 (To The Glenelg River) Pg 107River, For Its Roaring, As It Forced Itself Over A Rapid, Could Be
Distinctly Heard. As It Was Important To Ascertain If It Ceased To Be
Navigable At This Point, As Well As Whether It Could Be Here Forded Or
Not, I Ordered A Party To Proceed At Daylight And Examine It, And In The
Interim We Laid Down To Enjoy Such Repose As Myriads Of Mosquitoes Would
Allow Us.
March 10.
The Party Started At Dawn And Did Not Return Until The Afternoon. They
Arrived At Low-Water At A Point Where The River Formed A Series Of Rapids
And Was Apparently Broken Into Several Channels; The One Which They
Reached Was Not More Than Fifty Or Sixty Yards Wide, The Tide At Low
Water Being Full Seven Or Eight Feet Below The Level Of The Rocks Which
Formed The Rapids, But At High-Water It Rose, Judging From The Marks On
The Rocks, As Many Feet Above Them. This Channel Would Therefore Cease To
Be Navigable For Vessels At This Point, But Large Boats Could Proceed Up
It At High-Water. There Was No Apparent Possibility Of Our Being Able To
Pass It Hereabouts On Account Of The Great Rapidity Of The Current. The
River Continued Fresh Below The Rapids, And Their Account Of The
Character Of The Country They Saw Was Most Satisfactory.
Inconvenient Halting Place.
Almost Immediately After They Had Entered The Camp The Rain Began To Fall
In Such Torrents That It Was Impossible For Us To Move; This Was
Unfortunate For Where We Were Halted Was Unfit For A Day's Resting-Place,
And We Should Consequently Be Compelled To Move On Sunday Morning Instead
Of Making It A Day Of Perfect Rest. The Point Where The Party Made The
River Today Was About South Latitude 15 Degrees 41 Minutes; East
Longitude 124 Degrees 53 Minutes.
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