Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2 — John Shaqi
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2Grey, George
History
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2
Grey, George
Natural history -- Australia -- Western Australia; Western Australia -- Discovery and exploration
On waking up this morning I found that in the night a rat had gnawed a
hole in the canvas bag in which my little damper was placed, and had
eaten more than half of it; this was a very serious misfortune as all my
provisions were now reduced to three table-spoonfuls of arrowroot and the
morsel of damper left me by the rat. As I had shared my provisions with
the native my situation was far worse than that of any of the others, and
he, poor fellow, had become so dispirited and weak that he was incapable
of searching for his food. Indeed the productions of the country through
which he had hitherto passed were so different from those of the one in
which he had lived that the various kinds of roots and vegetables were,
with one or two exceptions, quite unknown to him.
We made a very good march of it this morning, having travelled nineteen
miles in a nearly south direction before 12 o'clock. Soon after starting
we sighted Mount Perron, distant about two and twenty miles and, seen
over the waste and barren plains which surrounded us, it was a very
remarkable object.
We halted at noon for about two hours, during which time I made my
breakfast with Kaiber, sharing my remaining portion of damper between us.
It was almost a satisfaction to me when it was gone, for, tormented by
the pangs of hunger, as I had now been for many days, I found that nearly
the whole of my time was passed in struggling with myself as to whether I
should eat at once all the provisions I had left or refrain till a future
hour. Having completed this last morsel I occupied myself for a little
with my journal, then read a few chapters in the New Testament and,
having fulfilled these duties, I felt myself as contented and cheerful as
I had ever been in the most fortunate moments of my life.
GAIRDNER'S RANGE.
Soon after two P.M. we resumed our journey, travelling for about eight
miles in a due south direction over plains similar to those we had passed
yesterday and this morning, and then began to ascend a red sandstone
range of the same description as the Perth ironstone and thinly studded
with black bay trees. I named this range Gairdner's Range after my friend
Gordon Gairdner, Esquire, of the Colonial Office and, after continuing a
gradual ascent for about four miles, I found that we were in the
neighbourhood of a forest, at the outskirts of which I chose a spot for
our halting-place, which afforded plenty of firewood but was deficient in
water. As we had now however marched thirty-one miles without seeing
water, and were all perfectly worn out, I judged it more prudent to halt
where we were.
FIND SOME EDIBLE ZAMIA NUTS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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