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
One would have imagined that our perplexities would have been sufficient
for one day, but ere night closed, they increased upon us, although our
anxiety, with regard to the cattle, was happily removed. Mr. Hume with his
usual perseverance, walked out when the camp was formed; and, at a little
distance from it, ascended a ridge of pure sand, crowned with cypresses.
From this, he descended to the westward, and, at length, struck upon the
river, where a reef of rocks creased its channel, and formed a dry passage
from one side to the other; but the bend, which the river must have taken,
appeared to him so singular, that he doubted whether it was the same
beside which we had been travelling during the day. Curiosity led him to
cross it, when he found a small pond of fresh water on a tongue of land,
and, immediately afterwards, returned to acquaint me with the welcome
tidings. It was too late to move, but we had, at least, the prospect of a
comfortable breakfast in the morning.
JUNCTION OF NEW YEAR'S CREEK.
In consequence of the doubts that hung upon Mr. Hume's mind, as to the
course of the river, we arranged that the animals should precede us to the
fresh water; and that we should keep close in upon the stream, to
ascertain that point. After traversing a deep bight, we arrived nearly as
soon as the party, at the appointed rendezvous. The rocks composing the
channel of the river at the crossing place, were of indurated clay. In the
course of an hour, the animals appearing quite refreshed, we proceeded on
our journey, and at about four miles crossed New Year's Creek, at its
junction with the salt river. We passed several parts of the main channel
that were perfectly dry, and were altogether at a loss to account for the
current we undoubtedly had observed in the river when we first came upon
it. At midday D'Urban's Group bore S. 65 E. distant about 32 miles. We
made a little westing in the afternoon. The river continued to maintain
its character and appearance, its lofty banks, and its long still reaches:
while, however, the blue-gum trees upon its banks were of magnificent
size, the soil had but little vegetation upon it, although an alluvial
deposit.
We passed over vast spaces covered with the polygonum junceum, that bore
all the appearance of the flooded tracks in the neighbourhood of the
marshes, and on which the travelling was equally distressing to the
animals. Indeed, it had been sufficiently evident to us that the waters of
this river were not always confined to its channel, capacious as it was,
but that they inundated a belt of barren land, that varied in width from a
quarter of a mile to a mile, when they were checked by an outer embankment
that prevented them from spreading generally over the country, and upon
the neighbouring plains. At our halting place, the cattle drank sparingly
of the water, but it acted as a violent purgative both on them and the men
who partook of it.
NATIVE VILLAGE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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