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
I now examined the tributary stream which here joined the Glenelg, and to
my chagrin found that it was so much swollen by the late rains as to be
utterly impassable. To attempt to construct a bridge over it would have
been useless for the adjacent ground was now so swampy the horses were
bogged before we got them near it. I wandered up its banks as far as I
could before nightfall, but could not succeed in finding any place in our
vicinity at which we might hope to effect our passage. Just as it got
dark the rain again began to pour in torrents; thus, if possible,
rendering our position worse than before, and I returned late to the
tents much dispirited at the unfavourable weather we had encountered.
RISE OF THE WATERS. MARKS OF INUNDATIONS.
On going down to the Glenelg the next morning I found it so swollen by
the heavy rain of the preceding night as to render it impossible to get
near the main bed. The river was now far beyond its banks, and in the
forks of the trees above our heads we saw driftwood, reeds, dead grass,
etc., lodged at least fifteen feet higher than the present level; and
which could only have been left there during some great flood. Whether
these had frequently recurred we had of course no means of judging, but
during such floods the whole of the very low country which we here saw to
the south-west of us must be inundated. I need scarcely add that in a
tropical country no ground could be conceived better adapted to the
growth of rice than the extensive levels which border the Glenelg.
A detached party now went of to search for a route by which we could
proceed. The stock-keeper came and reported that the sheep were suffering
greatly from the continued rain and exposure to wet, several of them
having died during the night; only five were thus left alive out of the
number we started with, and, one of these being in a drooping state, I
had it killed that we might not lose the advantage of it altogether.
NATIVES.
Immediately on the other side of the tributary stream which lay to the
south of us there rose a high precipitous sandy range, similar to those
we had fallen in with on first landing. This range completely overlooked
our encampment from a distance, and on it a party of natives had posted
themselves. We saw the smoke of their fires and heard their own cries and
the yelling of their dogs; and with the help of my telescope I once
distinguished their dusky forms moving about in the bush.
COCKATOOS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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