Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — CompleteSturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Complete
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
Mr. Hume ascended the hill at sun-rise, and thought he could see mountains
to the north east, but at such a distance as to make it quite a matter of
uncertainty. Agreeing, however, in the prudence of an immediate descent,
we left our encampment on the morning of the 23rd, under Mount Foster, to
which we had removed from Mount Harris, and pursued a north-north-west
course to the spot on which we rest at present. We passed some fine meadow
land near the river, and were obliged to keep wide of it in consequence of
fissures in the ground. Traversing a large and blasted plain, on which the
sun's rays fell with intense heat, and on which there was but little
vegetation, we skirted the first great morass, and made the river
immediately beyond it. It is of very considerable extent, the channel of
the river passing through it. We are encompassed on every side by high
reeds, which exist in the woods as well as in the plains. Mr. Hume and
myself rode forward yesterday through the second morass, and made the
river on slightly elevated ground, at a distance of about five miles; the
country beyond appeared to favour our object, and we, to-morrow, proceed
with the party to the north-west. The river seems to bend to the
north-east; but in this level country it is impossible to speak with
certainty, or to give any decided opinion of the nature of it, beyond the
flats on which we are travelling. The reeds to the north-east and
northward extend over a circumference of fifty miles; but if Mr. Hume
really saw mountains or rising ground in the former point, the apparent
course of the Macquarie is at once accounted for. The country, however,
seems to dip to the north, though generally speaking it is level, and I am
inclined to think that the state of the atmosphere caused a deception in
this appearance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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