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
January 15.--At sunrise we arrived at the undulating plains, where twenty
gallons of water had been left buried for us. Here I found the overseer
with two fresh horses, according to the instructions I had sent him on
the 6th, by the man who returned. After resting for an hour or two, I set
off with the native boy upon the fresh horses, and rode to the water at
the sand-drifts, leaving the overseer to bring on the tired animals the
next day. It was nearly dark when we arrived at the plain under the
sand-hills, and very late before we had watered the horses and brought
them back to the grass.
January 16.--After breakfast, in returning from the water, we had a feast
upon some berries, growing on the briary bushes behind the sand-hills;
they were similar to those the natives had offered to us, at the head of
the Bight, on the 7th, were very abundant, and just becoming ripe. About
eight o'clock we set off for the depot, and arrived there at two, glad to
reach our temporary home once more, after eighteen days absence, and
heartily welcomed by Mr. Scott, who complained bitterly of having been
left alone so long. Under the circumstances of the case, however, it had
been quite unavoidable. Upon tasting the water at the well, I found, that
from so much having been taken out, it had now become so very brackish,
that it was scarcely usable, and I decided upon returning again to
Fowler's Bay, where the water was good, as soon as the overseer came
back.
January 17.--Spent the day in writing, and in meditating upon my future
plans and prospects. I had now been forty-five miles beyond the head of
the Great Bight, that point to which I had looked with interest and hope;
now, I had ascertained that no improvement took place there, in the
appearance or character of the country, but, if any thing, that it became
less inviting, and more arid. The account of the natives fully satisfied
me that there was no possibility of getting inland, and my own experience
told me that I could never hope to take a loaded dray through the
dreadful country I had already traversed on horseback. What then was I to
do? or how proceed for the future? The following brief abstract of the
labours of the party, and the work performed by the horses in the three
attempts made to get round the head of the Great Bight, may perhaps seem
incredible to those who know nothing of the difficulty of forcing a
passage through such a country as we were in, and amidst all the
disadvantages we were under, from the season of the year and other causes.
ABSTRACT OF LABOURS OF THE PARTY IN ROUNDING THE GREAT BIGHT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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