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
the interior to the south has been satisfactorily established, be
considered premature. If not, the features of the country certainly
justify my deductions; and it will be found that they were still more
confirmed by subsequent observation.--That the Darling should have lost
its current in its upper branches, is not surprising, when the level
nature of the country into which it falls is taken into consideration;
neither does it surprise me that it should be stationary in one place,
and flowing in another; since, if, as in the present instance, there is a
great extent of country between the two points, which may perhaps be of
considerable elevation, the river may receive tributaries, whose waters
will of course follow the general decline of the country. I take it to be
so in the case before us; and am of opinion, that the lower branches of
the Darling are not at all dependent on its sources for a current, or for
a supply of water. I have somewhere observed that it appeared to me the
depressed interior over which I had already travelled, was of
comparatively recent formation. And, by whatever convulsion or change
so extensive a tract became exposed, I cannot but infer, that the Darling
is the main channel by which the last waters of the ocean were drained
off. The bottom of the estuary, for it cannot be called a valley, being
then left exposed, it consequently remains the natural and proper
reservoir for the streams from the eastward, or those falling easterly
from the westward, if any such remain to be discovered.
From the junction of the Morumbidgee to the junction of the new river, the
Murray had held a W.N.W. course. From the last junction it changed its
direction to the S.W., and increased considerably in size. The country to
the south was certainly lower than that to the north; for, although both
banks had features common to each other, the flooded spaces were much
more extensive to our left than to our right.
CHANGE OF COUNTRY.
We started on the morning of the 24th, all the lighter from having got rid
of the skiff, and certainly freer to act in case the natives should evince
a hostile disposition towards us. As we proceeded down the river, the
appearances around us more and more plainly indicated a change of country.
Cypresses were observed in the distance, and the ground on which they
stood was higher than that near the stream; as if it had again acquired
its secondary banks. At length these heights approached the river so
nearly as to form a part of its banks, and to separate one alluvial flat
from another. Their summits were perfectly level; their soil was a red
sandy loam; and their productions, for the most part, salsolae and
misembrianthemum. From this it would appear that we had passed through a
second region, that must at some time have been under water, and that
still retained all the marks of a country partially subject to flood.
INTRODUCED FROM TRIBE TO TRIBE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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