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
On the morning of the 29th we moved away very early, passing over a rocky
level country, covered with low brush, and very fatiguing to both
ourselves and our horses. The morning was gloomy and close, and the day
turned out intensely hot. After travelling only fifteen miles we were
compelled to halt until the greatest heat was passed. Our stock of water
and provisions only admitted of our making two meals in the day,
breakfast and supper; but as I intended this evening to travel great part
of the night, we each made our meal now instead of later in the day, that
we might not be delayed when the cool of the evening set in. We had been
travelling along the summit of the cliffs parallel with the coast line,
and had found the country level and uniform in its character; the cliffs
still being from two to three hundred feet in elevation, and of the same
formation as I noticed before. There were patches of grass scattered
among the scrub at intervals, but all were old and withered.
At four in the afternoon we again proceeded on our journey, but had not
gone far before the sky unexpectedly became overcast with clouds, and the
whole heavens assumed a menacing and threatening appearance. To the east
and to the west, thunderclouds gathered heavily around, every indication
of sudden and violent rain was present to cheer us as we advanced, and
all were rejoicing in the prospects of a speedy termination to our
difficulties. The wind had in the morning been north-east, gradually
veering round to north and north-west, at which point it was stationary
when the clouds began to gather. Towards sunset a heavy storm passed over
our heads, with the rapidity almost of lightning; the wind suddenly
shifted from north-west to south-west, blowing a perfect hurricane, and
rendering it almost impossible for us to advance against it. A few
moments before we had confidently expected a heavy fall of rain; the dark
and lowering sky had gradually gathered and concentrated above and around
us, until the very heavens seemed overweighted and ready every instant to
burst. A briefer interval of time, accompanied by the sudden and violent
change of wind, had dashed our hopes to the ground, and the prospect of
rain was now over, although a few heavy clouds still hung around us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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