Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1Grey, George
History
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 1
Grey, George
Natural history -- Australia -- Western Australia; Western Australia -- Discovery and exploration
After breakfast we continued our route through a barren, sandy district,
heavily timbered; and in the course of the afternoon met either the
Glenelg or a very considerable branch of that stream in south latitude 15
degrees 56 minutes, east longitude 125 degrees 8 minutes: it was 250
yards across and formed a series of rapids at this point, where it
emerged from a rocky gorge. Just above the rapids we found a good ford,
the average depth of which was not more than three feet. After crossing,
the banks on the other side were clothed with a species of Casuarina
which I did not observe elsewhere. The country on that side of the stream
was sandy and, as I found by the time we had proceeded two or three miles
that we were getting embarrassed in a sandstone range, I halted the party
for the night and went on to try if I could find a pass across it. My
exertions were not however very successful: I came upon a path which I
thought might be rendered practicable for the ponies over the first part
of the range, but found no line by which we could proceed without making
a road.
WEAKNESS OF THE MEN.
March 29.
At dawn this morning the men were at work forming the road; the poor
fellows were however so much enfeebled from constant fatigue and very
inefficient nutriment, whilst exposed to the great heat of a tropical
climate, that they were unable to exert the same energy as formerly, and
I could not but be struck with the great difference in their strength as
evinced in their incapacity to move stones and other obstacles, which a
few weeks ago they would have had little difficulty in lifting. The path
was however soon made as passable as our abilities permitted, and we
started along it with the ponies; some of them were however no less
reduced than the men and, in endeavouring to lead one of them up a rocky
hill, it fell, and from weakness sank under its light load without making
an effort to save itself; the spine was thus so severely injured as to
render it unable to move the hinder extremities; we therefore killed the
poor creature and moved on.
SANDSTONE CAVE.
Throughout the day we continued gradually the ascent of the range which
we had yesterday commenced. The large valley we were in led us by a
gentle slope winding higher and higher amongst the rocky hills; at first
it had been so wide as to appear like a plain, but by degrees it
contracted its dimensions, until, towards the afternoon, it suddenly
assumed almost the character of a gorge. Just at this point we saw in the
cliffs on our left hand a cave, which I entered in the hope of finding
native paintings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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