Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2Sturt, Charles
History
Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia — Volume 2
Sturt, Charles
New South Wales -- Discovery and exploration; Sturt, Charles, 1795-1869
and was bounded by the elevations that continued easterly from the left
bank of the Murray to the north, and by a line of rising-ground to the
south. The whole was lightly wooded, and covered with grass. The season
must have been unusually dry, judging from the general appearance of
the vegetation, and from the circumstance of the lagoons in the
interior being wholly exhausted.
Thirty-three days had now passed over our heads since we left the depot
upon the Morumbidgee, twenty-six of which had been passed upon the
Murray. We had, at length, arrived at the grand reservoir of those
waters whose course and fate had previously been involved in such
obscurity. It remained for us to ascertain whether the extensive sheet
of water upon whose bosom we had embarked, had any practicable
communication with the ocean, and whether the country in the
neighbourhood of the coast corresponded with that immediately behind
our camp, or kept up its sandy and sterile character to the very verge
of the sea. As I have already said, my hopes on the first of these
points were considerably damped, but I could not help anticipating a
favourable change in the latter, since its features had so entirely
changed.
DETAINED BY THE WIND.
The greatest difficulty against which we had at present to contend was
the wind; and I dreaded the exertion it would call for, to make head
against it; for the men were so much reduced that I felt convinced they
were inadequate to any violent or prolonged effort. It still blew fresh
at 8 p.m., but at that time it began to moderate. It may be imagined
that I listened to its subdued gusts with extreme anxiety. It did not
wholly abate until after 2 a.m., when it gradually declined, and about
3 a light breeze sprung up from the N. E.
We had again placed sticks to ascertain with more precision the rise of
tide, and found it to be the same as in the river. In the stillness of
the night too we thought we heard the roaring of the sea, but I was
myself uncertain upon the point, as the wind might have caused the
sound.
From the top of the hill from which we had obtained our first view of
the lake, I observed the waves breaking upon the distant headland, and
enveloping the cliff in spray; so that, independent of the clearness of
the horizon beyond it, I was further led to conclude that there existed
a great expanse of water to the S.W.; and, as that had been the
direction taken by the river, I thought it probable that by steering at
once to the S.W. down the lake, I should hit the outlet. I,
consequently, resolved to gain the southern extremity of the lake, as
that at which it was natural to expect a communication with the ocean
would be found.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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