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 leaving the camp we left behind one carbine, a spade, some horse
hobbles, and a few small articles, to diminish as much as possible the
weight we had to carry. For eight miles we traced round the beach to the
most north-westerly angle of the Bight, and for two miles down its
south-west shore, but were then compelled by the rocks to travel to the
back, through heavy scrubby ridges for four miles; after which we again
got in to the beach, and at one mile along its shore, or fifteen miles
from our camp, we halted for the night, at a patch of old grass. The
afternoon had been hot, but the night set in cold and clear, and all
appearance of rain was gone. The native I had sent on before had not
succeeded in getting a fish, though he had broken one or two spears in
his attempts.
April 28.--After travelling along the beach for two miles we ascended
behind the cliffs, which now came in bluff to the sea, and then keeping
along their summits, nearly parallel with the coast, and passing through
much scrub, low brushwood, and dwarf tea-tree growing upon the rocky
surface, we made a stage of twenty miles; both ourselves and the horses
greatly tired with walking through the matted scrub of tea-tree every
where covering the ground. The cliffs did not appear so high as those we
had formerly passed along, and probably did not exceed from two to three
hundred feet in elevation. They appeared to be of the same geological
formation; the upper crust an oolitic limestone, with many shells
embedded, below that a coarse, hard, grey limestone, and then alternate
streaks of white and yellow in horizontal strata, but which the steepness
of the cliffs prevented my going down to examine.
Back from the sea, the country was rugged and stony, and every where
covered with scrub or dwarf tea-tree. There was very little grass for the
horses, and that old and withered. In the morning one of the natives shot
a large wallabie, and this evening the three had it amongst them for
supper; after which they took charge of the horses for the night, this
being the first time they had ever watched them on the journey, myself
and the overseer having exclusively performed this duty heretofore; but,
as I was now expecting a longer and almost more arduous push than any we
had yet made, and in order that we might be able to discharge efficiently
the duties devolving upon us, and make those exertions which our
exigences might require, I deemed it only right that we should sometimes
be assisted by the two elder boys, in a task which we had before always
found to be the most disagreeable and fagging of any, that of watching
the horses at night, after a long and tiring day's journey.
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