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
March 26.--Upon moving on this morning we passed through the same
wretched kind of country for eighteen miles, to an opening in the scrub
where was a little grass, and at which we halted to rest. There was so
much scrub, and the sandy ridges were so heavy and harassing to the
horses, that I began to doubt almost if we should get them along at all.
We were now seventy-two miles from the water, and had, in all
probability, as much further to go before we came to any more, and I saw
that unless something was done to lighten the loads of the pack-animals
(trifling as were the burdens they carried) we never could hope to get
them on. Leaving the natives to enjoy a sleep, the overseer and I opened
and re-sorted all our baggage, throwing away every thing that we could at
all dispense with; our great coats, jackets, and other articles of dress
were thrown away; a single spare shirt and pair of boots and socks being
all that were kept for each, besides our blankets and the things we stood
in, and which consisted only of trowsers, shirt, and shoes. Most of our
pack-saddles, all our horse-shoes, most of our kegs for holding water,
all our buckets but one, our medicines, some of our fire-arms, a quantity
of ammunition, and a variety of other things, were here abandoned. Among
the many things that we were compelled to leave behind there was none
that I regretted parting with more than a copy of Captain Sturt's
Expeditions, which had been sent to me by the author to Fowler's Bay to
amuse and cheer me on the solitary task I had engaged in; it was the last
kind offering of friendship from a highly esteemed friend, and nothing
but necessity would have induced me to part with it. Could the donor,
however, have seen the miserable plight we were reduced to, he would have
pitied and forgiven an act that circumstances alone compelled me to.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account