Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1: Sent By the Colonists of South Australia, with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of Their Relations with Europeans — Volume 01Eyre, Edward John
History
Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1: Sent By the Colonists of South Australia, with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of Their Relations with Europeans — Volume 01
Eyre, Edward John
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Ethnology -- Australia
Upon arriving at the place where I had left the horse, I found him in a
sad condition, but still alive. The other, left further away, in charge
of the man, had also been brought up to the same place, but died just as
I got up to him; there was but one left now out of the three, and to save
him, all our care and attention were directed. By making gruel, and
giving it to him constantly, we got him round a little, and moved him on
to a grassy plain, about a mile further; here we gave him a hearty drink
of water, and left him to feed and rest for several hours. Towards
evening we again moved on slowly, and as he appeared to travel well, I
left the man to bring him on quietly for the last five miles, whilst I
took back to the water the two noble animals that had gone through so
much and such severe toil in the attempt made to save the others. In the
evening I reached the camp near the water, and found the native boy quite
safe and recruited. For the first time for many nights, I had the
prospect of an undisturbed rest; but about the middle of the night I was
awoke by the return of the man with the woful news, that the last of the
three horses was also dead, after travelling to within four miles of the
water. All our efforts, all our exertions had been in vain; the dreadful
nature of the country, and our unlucky meeting with the natives, had
defeated the incessant toil and anxiety of seven days' unremitting
endeavours to save them; and the expedition had sustained a loss of three
of its best horses, an injury as severe as it was irreparable.
December 9.--At day-break, this morning, I sent off the man to the depot
at Fowler's Bay, with orders to the overseer to send five fresh horses,
two men, and a supply of provisions; requesting Mr. Scott to accompany
them, for the purpose of taking back the two tired horses we still had
with us at the sand-hills. Upon the man's departure, we took the two
horses to water, and brought up ten gallons to the camp, where the grass
was; after which, whilst the horses were feeding and resting, we tried to
pass away the day in the same manner; the heat, however, was too great,
and the troubles and anxieties of the last few days had created such an
irritation of mind that I could not rest: my slumbers were broken and
unrefreshing; but the boy managed better, he had no unpleasant
anticipations for the future, and already had forgotten the annoyance of
the past.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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